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Goal

Learning to read is a fundamental rite of passage—as powerful as learning to speak or walk. This is especially important to relay a love of reading to students who come from homes where there is typically a lack of any sort of collection of wonderful books. It’s hard for a child to become a reader if they don’t have anything to read at their fingertips. Let’s be honest too, children also have more access to technology than ever before. The print climate in homes is decreasing faster than ever. Newspapers are rarely delivered to front steps and magazines aren’t showing up in mailboxes anymore. Kids would rather buy a video game at the store than a book. They are more inclined to pick up a phone than a new story. Because reading for enjoyment is almost nonexistent for most of my students, this grant will provide my students a change of atmosphere, a quiet comfortable setting unlike a traditional classroom, to share this love of reading with other students and just the right touch to make reading independently novel-free. Digital distraction no more! “Flashlight Friday" will be used to enhance independent reading and reading stamina by reading to self and others by incorporating flexible seating and small flashlights to create "flashlight readers"—like kids who want to read under the covers at night because they can't wait to see what comes next but in the classroom!
 

What will be done with my students

I am currently a Reading Resource teacher for a low socioeconomic school for grades 3-5. Students that pull for reading remediation are 2-3 years below grade level and struggle their way through school every day. While doing learning profiles on each of my students, I concluded that only 3 of the 37 students I work with read at home for enjoyment, they typically had little to no books of their own at home, It was obvious that the love or enjoyment l for reading when outside of school hasn’t been embraced by my students as a result.

How students earn Flashlight Friday: Through this grant, students will earn this Flashlight Friday reward by accomplishing their nightly at-home reading log. Students will not be required to have a parent signature because many lack parent presence at home so instead, students will record the title and author of their book and respond to a question embedded in a grade-level standard that was being taught concurrently. The goals for the number of minutes captured on students reading logs will be determined by each class themselves and will increase over time in the number of minutes and grade level standard response that is required.

Students will self-select flexible seating from a variety of choices (café tables reminiscent of Starbucks lounges, small cushions, and partner areas) and find a space each felt they could do their best reading. Students will use flashlights to help them highlight intrinsic and extrinsic character traits of their independent fiction characters and escape into the world of reading.

Timeline for Flashlight Fridays: The project will initially be implemented once a month for each grade level (grades 3-5) for students I work with, but could be changed to be more frequent as the academic calendar allows.  

Benefits to my students

Currently, I have 34 students, but as the year progresses, it would include more students and integrate the project schoolwide. The goal would be for students who earn Flashlight Friday would also be able to invite a primary buddy from grades Prek-2 to join them in the activity. On Fridays, students who have completed their reading logs will be invited to Flashlight Friday where they will receive a flashlight, find a cozy spot to read when the lights are turned off. There will be some light from a fireplace or seasonal background being projected on one wall in the classroom. We will read for 25-30 minutes. This is such an easy and exciting task that will motivate kids to be more disciplined during the week to read for enjoyment. Students get to enjoy a book together, instill a love for reading, build stamina for reading, and be exposed to different genres of texts in a fun yet untraditional classroom. Buddy will write student buddy's name and personal note with fun colored pens. The PreK-2 primary buddy could then keep the book that was shared, allowing both students to begin to build a collection of wonderful books to read.
Positive reading attitudes are certainly linked to achievement in reading as well as greater self-confidence as a reader, leading to pleasure reading in later life. When exploring my student’s reading habits at the start of the school year, I found that only 19% of my students age 9+ read an average of only 1 book a month for pleasure. I also found that the amount of books being read decreased with age with only 8% of my 5th graders reading for enjoyment outside of school. While I anticipate many benefits of this project to directly correlate to a higher proficiency in reading for each student, I will specifically be collecting data to support each subgroup as noted below:
By May, 2022, students in the following subgroups will demonstrate growth in reading grade level text with accuracy and fluency. Students should read 70 wpm with 95% accuracy in the fall on grade level text.
1. Subgroup (A) Students who scored significantly below benchmark reading 54 wpm or less at an accuracy rate of 88% or less will increase in the spring to reading between 80- 99 wpm with an accuracy rate of 94-96%. Students will read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
2. Subgroup (B) Students who scored below benchmark in the fall reading 55-69 wpm with an accuracy rate of 89%-94% will increase in the spring to benchmark with a reading rate of 100+ wpm and an accuracy rate of 97% or greater. Students will read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
3. Subgroup (C) Students who scored below benchmark in the fall reading 70-89 wpm with an accuracy rate of 89%-94% will increase in the spring to benchmark with a reading rate of 110+ wpm and an accuracy rate of 98% or greater. Students will read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. 

Budget Narrative

Flexible seating: 2 58" loungers, Wayfair, $680.00
bean bag chairs, Amazon, $240.00
cling film to darken classroom, Amazon, $122.00
500 Finger flashlights, Amazon, $175.00
Reading Log 1/2 size composition books, Amazon, $76.00
ForceField Fire Retardant spray for carpet and seating, Amazon $42.00
80 books, primary library, Scholastic, $150.00
Donated Items: rug, string lighting, 165 grade 3-5 books
colored pens, Office Depot, $65.00
colored paper for invitations, Office Depot, $65.00
Double-sided magnet board for event announcements, Office Depot, $140.00
alphabet magnets for signage, Office Depot, $65.00 

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