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Developing Wild Readers

School:: DeLand High School
Subject:: Language Arts
Teacher:: Kathryn Battaglino
: Heather Carter; Sheila Butchart
Students Impacted:: 100
Grade:: 9-12
Date:: September 11, 2023

Investors

Thank you to the following investors for funding this grant.

FUTURES Foundation - $800.00

Let Our Kids Read - $200.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 100

The graciousness from our investors had such an impact on our book club and Developing Wild Readers initative this year. Our students read 11 books (in addition to required books for school). All the students on the book club team, plus others on campus were given their own copy of the book to read, so that the group could come back together and have conversations surrounding the plot, characters, and author's craft. The students met once a week during lunch for the entire school year and had academic and recreational discussions. Students used materials from the grant to highlight and write notes on the post-its. In the second semester we started to prepare for entering the Battle of the Books district compeition. We used BattleQuestions.com and students competed in teams to answer questions based on the Teen Read novels.

Last week, we finally went to competition and won 1st place in the High School Battle of the Books competition for the 2nd year in a row!! This boosted student morale and confidence and has spread the importance of reading around our DeLand High campus. This could not have been possible without the support of our investors. Thank you from the DeLand High Book Club!

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

In her book, "Reading in the Wild," Donalyn Miller writes that when students read and identify as readers, they are often more successful academically and socially, with an enhanced sense of future goals and how they can contribute to a civic community. Since the pressure of covering curriculum often does not lead time for students to choose books and engage in authentic reading in class, we would like to offer students the opportunity to read books as a community book club. We want to foster "wild readers" who are passionate about reading and who can participate in a school culture of conversation surrounding topics in books.

Last year, our school (DeLand High) won first place in the Battle of the Books competition for our district. Our team of students would like to continue our forward momentum and invite new students into the book club. This grant will help support funding and active reading resources so we can compete in the competition again this year.

The following BEST ELA benchmarks will be utilized as a foundation for discussion and activity surrounding the books :
~ELA.10.R.1.1 – Analyze how key elements add layers of meaning/style in a text
~ELA.10.R.1.2 – Analyze and compare universal themes and their development throughout a literary text
~ELA.10.R.1.3 – Analyze coming of age experiences reflected in a text and how the author represents conflicting perspectives.
~ELA.10.R.3.1 –Analyze how figurative language creates mood in text(s)
~ELA.10.V.1.1 – Integrate academic vocabulary appropriate to grade level speaking and writing
~ELA.10.V.1.2 – Apply knowledge of etymology/derivations to determine meanings of words and phrases
~ELA.10.V.1.3 – Apply knowledge of context clues, figurative language, word relationships, reference materials/background knowledge to determine connotative & denotative meanings of words/phrases

What will be done with my students

Students will choose books from the 2023-2024 FAME Teen Reads list which has been pre-approved by our Media Specialist and Principal. The reading initiative is led by the students and guided by the club sponsors. Students will read the titles as a group, writing quotes and tracking literary elements in their reading log notebooks, using highlighter tabs and other resources to support thinking. Students will generate questions to pose to opposing teams during the district Battle of the Books at the end of the year.

Benefits to my students

Students will be granted an opportunity to read for pleasure during the school day, a behavior that has shown to yield positive results in reading performance. In addition, students will make friends through community building and discussion, and foster a collaborative sense of competition as we go to district finals at the end of this school year. Students will get practice with BEST benchmark skills that will reinforce concepts in the ELA and Reading classrooms before state testing.

Budget Narrative

The budget includes 5 copies of each of the Teen Reads books, readers notebooks for each member of the club, and highlighters/note tabs for students to track thinking during reading.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	The Agathas (5 copies)	$50.00
2	Ain't Burned All The Bright (5 copies)	$65.00
3	Blackout (5 copies)	$50.00
4	The Cost of Knowing (5 copies)	$58.00
5	Defy the Night (5 copies)	$55.00
6	The Getaway (5 copies)	$52.00
7	I Must Betray You (5 copies)	$60.00
8	In Harm's Way (5 copies)	$75.00
9	Live, Laugh, Kidnap (5 copies)	$60.00
10	The Mary Shelley Club (5 copies)	$60.00
11	Mirror Girls (5 copies)	$55.00
12	Roxy (5 copies)	$50.00
13	We Weren't Looking to be Found	$55.00
14	The Weight of Blood	$55.00
15	Reader's Notebooks	$140.00
16	Highlighters/Note Tabs	$60.00
	Total:	$1,000.00