Reading Comes Alive: Making Connections Beyond the Pages
Holly Auckerman
ID-4063
School Name:Lely Elementary
Grant Request Grade:4
Grant Request Subject:Language Arts
Additional Details
My goal is simply to make reading to come alive for my students. Throughout our fourth-grade reading series, we read stories that take us to different places, introduce us to new cultures, and teach important lessons about friendship, perseverance, identity, and understanding others.
I'd love for my students to do more than read these stories and answer questions about them. I want them to make connections, create, experience, and remember what they have read. This project will provide hands-on materials that help turn the stories we read into meaningful experiences students can connect to long after we finish the last page.
The materials in this project will be used throughout our reading modules in different ways. Markers and chart paper will help students create character posters, infographics, and collaborative projects. Sticky notes will allow students to track their thinking and collect text evidence to defend their responses.
Other materials will connect directly to the stories we read. When we read My Diary From Here to There, students can write in diaries of their own. Friendship bracelets will help students creatively represent themes found throughout our literature.
A world map and location stickers will allow us to track our reading journey around the world. Students can see where the stories and cultures we learn about originate—from the Chinese and Taiwanese culture represented in The Year of the Rat to East Africa in Kitoto the Mighty, St. Augustine, natural wonders, and many more places we will discover through reading.
Even our Food for Thought module can become an experience! After learning about cultures where insects are eaten, students who choose to participate can try edible bug lollipops and make a memorable real-world connection to the text.
The requested funds will purchase markers, chart paper, sticky notes, student diaries, friendship-bracelet supplies, a world map and location stickers, edible bug lollipops, and small Real Reader Rewards for student achievement, growth, and creativity.
These may seem like simple classroom materials, but in the hands of students, they become powerful learning tools. A map turns a story into a journey. A diary helps students understand perspective. A sticky note helps a child prove an answer with evidence. A hands-on project can make a theme finally click.
Most importantly, these materials will help my students connect what they are reading to the world around them. I want them to leave fourth grade remembering not only the stories we read, but where those stories took them, what they taught them, and how reading made the world feel a little bigger.
Funding will be used to purchase:
Markers, chart paper, and classroom creation supplies for collaborative character posters, infographics, text-structure displays, theme projects, and visual responses to reading.
Student diaries/journals to accompany My Diary From Here to There and provide an authentic connection between reading and writing.
Friendship-bracelet materials for creative projects connecting colors, words, and designs to literary themes, character development, and important messages within texts.
A classroom world map and location stickers to track the settings, cultures, historical locations, and origins of stories we encounter throughout the year.
Edible insect-themed lollipops to create a memorable real-world connection during our Food for Thought module and its exploration of foods eaten in different cultures.
Sticky notes for students to annotate their thinking, collect evidence, identify relevant details, and defend their responses during daily reading instruction.
Small Real Reader Rewards to recognize achievement, growth, effort, and creativity on Module Assessments and reading projects.
277.89
Crayola Broad Line Markers (12pk)
11.88
180 Highlighters No Bleed Through 6 Assorted Colors
34.99
Post-it Super Sticky Notes 24 pads
16.99
Chart Paper Post-it Super Sticky Notes 4 pack
59.78
Student Diaries 50 pack
31.29
Friendship Bracelets
12.99
Landmass Scratch off World Map, Deluxe Travel Tracker
