Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 90

This was my very first time applying for a grant after 20+ years of teaching. The gift of the donation helped make this school year an absolute success for my students! There were a number of ways that students were positively impacted by the grant. First, every student in my class read a minimum of three of the Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA) books. Several of my students read all fifteen of the 2016-2017 SSYRA books and now have the opportunity to go out to lunch with the principal of the school! Further, my school has a reading competition wherein each student's name is posted onto a school bulletin board after they've read a minimum of three SSYRA books - in addition to passing all of the reading tests that accompany this. My homeroom class has led the competition the entire school year and we were the first class to have actually read so many of the books in the history of the school!

One of the other exciting opportunities that students benefitted from as a result of this donation was to have the opportunity to officially vote for the 2016-2017 best SSYRA book of the year. Any student who had successfully read three of the books (or more) was able to cast an official ballot with the Supervisor of Elections for Collier County. Nearly everyone in my class was able to be a part of this special learning event! Students were so excited about this, and we are now looking forward to the official word from the state as to whom the winning author and book will be.

The books have also been a hot commodity in the classroom! Students sometimes have to wait until a classmate is finished with a book that they want to read. Its an absolute joy to have so many students excited and enthusiastic about reading! The love and joy of reading was certainly a theme of my classroom this school year!! I am beyond thrilled that I was a lucky recipient of the grant and now I know how amazing grant opportunities are! On behalf of my students and myself thank you!!