In less than two weeks I will be home. It is such an overwhelmingly joyful thought for me and the best Christmas gift I could ask for. The opportunity to be home with family and friends (and hot showers and delicious food and a cozy bed and no grading) is way more than I deserve and will be appreciated so much more than any other time I can remember in my life.
However, I also want to ask for your help to be able to give a gift to my students and the school. After break, I'm hoping to start something new for my class-- I want to create small groups for reading with groups of 4-5 students reading a book together and having discussions 3 times a week about the book. It's something the 6th grade teacher does with her class, and I love what she's been doing with it. I'm really hoping it will be a means of encouraging their English and independent learning skills, as well as a way of opening up their eyes to other worlds, peoples, places, (dis)abilities, and ideas. Needless to say, I'm really excited about it, and hopefully my students will be as well.
“I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” J.K. Rowling
Upon arriving here at ALCS, I was mildly surprised and pleased with our library here-- it was better than I was expecting, even if it isn't up to par with a typical school library. One thing it does lack, though, is class sets of books. There are a few, but not many. Not too big of a surprise considering the lack of English book stores or means to get large amounts of books here... and the fact that the school prefers that we use our curriculum readers with students in the classroom, which are horribly inappropriate for Honduran ELL's (seriously, one of my readers for 5th grade is all about America the beautiful and wonderful...)
The sixth grade teacher has started to change this lack, as she has now added 8? different book sets to the library with plans for more after Christmas. With your help, I would like to be able to bring at least a couple sets back here with me after Christmas as well to use in my classroom. Any books I would not be using would be shared with 6th grade as well as with other students in the school.
If you are able and willing, there are two ways you can help me and give a gift to these children and many more to come. The first is to buy some coffee from me while I'm home. The money from that will go towards buying books and other supplies and especially for shipping them from my home in Illinois to Gracias. The second is to choose one of the books on my book wish list to buy on Amazon (or elsewhere if you prefer) and ship it or hand deliver it to my home (or possibly a different address), where I can pick it up and pack it up for Gracias.
Being the bibliophile I am, my book wish list is probably unnecessarily long. I have a lot of ideas on class sets I want, and hope to take back at least 8 different book sets. I believe that between that and the few that are available here already I'll be prepared for next semester. There are a few books on my list that I do not want sets for, but would enjoy having a single copy of for the library. If you do buy a book or a book set, please comment on my blog, email me, or facebook message/comment me so that I can take it off the list, to avoid having multiple sets of only one book. I can also then give you the shipping address for the books. Finally, paperbacks are preferred as they are lighter and therefore less expensive to ship.
For me, my class, and the school, thank you for reading this and taking the time to check out the books on my list!
Wish List for Class Sets (5 copies of each book):
(*** means it's at the top of my wish list)
Holes by Louis Sachar
***The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
Wish List for a single copy:
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
***Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
