This fall, the BEF awarded a grant of $1,611 to the Kindergarten and First Grade Teachers at Pembroke Elementary School for the purchase of nonfiction books for their classroom. In the grant application the teachers explained that they are trying to incorporate nonfiction literature in to their curriculum all year long, but found that their classroom libraries contained far more fiction than nonfiction.
Funds from the grant were used to purchase 6 books packs, each with 60 books, for a total of 360 new books for their classes!
Ms. Djokaj said "Our new nonfiction books have given our students the opportunity to dig deeper on concepts. The class is eager to learn and record their findings after each read! We are so grateful for the BEF! Students are constantly telling me that they have learned new ideas from our grant books! Thank you so much!!"
Ms. Djokaj asked the students what they thought of the books. They said:
“I like our new books because I can learn about new things I didn’t know about.”
“I like that we have more new books in our classroom”
“I like our new non-fiction books because they teach you things!”
“They have really cool pictures!”
The common core standards are heavily based on non-fiction, informational texts and the strategies that students need to learn from nonfiction texts. Having these exciting new books in their class will help the students to develop skills that will help them throughout their education!