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Goal

The goal of the mystery reader program is to encourage students of all academic levels to enjoy reading, to introduce them to professionals from the community and/or surrounding areas, and to provide books for home libraries. 

What will be done with my students

I began a mystery reader program in my classroom about 1.5 year ago, but I am looking to expand my vision. In the past, mystery readers have been invited to my classroom at Callahan Elementary School throughout the school year, and they have participated in the following: read a book to the class that correlated with his/her profession, completed a question and answer session with the students explaining what the mystery reader did for a living, taken pictures with each student, and enjoyed a thematic snack/drink with the students. I have had the following mystery readers in my classroom: Former Superintendent of Nassau County-Dr. John Ruis, Superintendent-Dr. Kathy Burns, State Representative-Cord Bryd, General Manager of Tijuana Flats at the River City Marketplace-Tyler Fort, Former President of Duval Ford-Dan Hodges. 

Benefits to my students

Callahan Elementary School is a Title I school, so many of our students do not have resources for a home library. This program will not only add a minimum of four books to their home libraries, it will also increase the excitement of reading. Students enjoy having guests in the classroom, and this program reinforces how important reading is as well as how fun it can be. Passing reading is a grade promotional requirement, so this program is in addition to the reading curriculum. It also is in conjunction with school reading expectations as the books that I desire to purchase through this grant will be included in the Accelerated Reader (A.R.) Program. Students will have the opportunity to take online quizzes which will assist them in meeting their A.R. goals for the school year. By meeting local professionals, students are provided with additional life experiences that they might not have had thus far if they have not left Callahan. This program has the potential to be replicated in other classrooms or schools, but it also has the potential to be developed into a grade level program. My proposal is designed to meet the needs of one classroom of students (approximately 18-20), however, I would be willing to entertain a notion of possibly creating a grade level program for future years where approximately 200 students could benefit from it. 

Budget Narrative

I want to develop this mystery reader program further by adding the following components: 1) Each student will receive a minimum of four books per school year that correlate with the mystery readers and can be added to their home libraries (4 or more mystery readers from September 2017-May 2018). 2) I am requesting a camera so that I can take pictures of the students with the mystery readers to display in my hallway and classroom at Callahan Elementary School. 3) Each student will take individual and class pictures with the mystery readers, and I will create a photo collage at the end of the school year for each student and mystery reader to have as a keepsake. 4) Each student and mystery reader will receive a mystery reader T-shirt that they can wear when mystery readers visit, to promote reading in the school and the community and to build excitement in meeting local professionals. 

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