More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
Support his classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Support Mr. Garza's classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Make a donation Mr. Garza can use on his next classroom project.
At the end of this historical fiction book club unit, we want our students to know that history is not just a bunch of boring facts to be memorized but rather a collection of fascinating stories that can help us understand our modern life and offer lessons about how we should strive to shape our collective future. We want them to celebrate the achievements of those that came before us and also understand the hard truths of how those achievements came about. We want them to grapple with these stories in partnership with each other through lively and rambunctious book clubs. And to do that, we need books, books, and more books!
The curriculum we're using to guide our instruction this quarter is from Columbia University's Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project - a rigorous, culturally relevant, flexible curriculum that will help our students practice the reading skills we teach in their own historical fiction novels. This way, they can reinforce our daily lessons in a book at their level so that, no matter their current reading level, they will be in a position to grow their skill set quickly and do so while focusing on 2-3 different historical eras - and novels - throughout the unit. The vast majority of our students are reading behind grade level and we know that this unit will push students to continue making rapid progress this year and, most importantly, spark their joy for reading!
As adults, we know the value and necessity of understanding our own history and the history of those that are different from us - and the costs when we don't. Your financial support of these book clubs will help put students on the path towards being critical historians and lifelong readers - exactly what we need right now!
About my class
At the end of this historical fiction book club unit, we want our students to know that history is not just a bunch of boring facts to be memorized but rather a collection of fascinating stories that can help us understand our modern life and offer lessons about how we should strive to shape our collective future. We want them to celebrate the achievements of those that came before us and also understand the hard truths of how those achievements came about. We want them to grapple with these stories in partnership with each other through lively and rambunctious book clubs. And to do that, we need books, books, and more books!
The curriculum we're using to guide our instruction this quarter is from Columbia University's Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project - a rigorous, culturally relevant, flexible curriculum that will help our students practice the reading skills we teach in their own historical fiction novels. This way, they can reinforce our daily lessons in a book at their level so that, no matter their current reading level, they will be in a position to grow their skill set quickly and do so while focusing on 2-3 different historical eras - and novels - throughout the unit. The vast majority of our students are reading behind grade level and we know that this unit will push students to continue making rapid progress this year and, most importantly, spark their joy for reading!
As adults, we know the value and necessity of understanding our own history and the history of those that are different from us - and the costs when we don't. Your financial support of these book clubs will help put students on the path towards being critical historians and lifelong readers - exactly what we need right now!