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Goal

The goal of this project is to motivate all of my 5th grade Cambridge students to read all 15 Florida Sunshine State Young Readers (SSYRA) during the 2022-2023 school year. The Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA) Program is a statewide reading motivational program for students in grades 3 through 8. The purpose of the SSYRA Program is to encourage students to read independently for pleasure and to read books that are on, above, and below their reading level in order to improve their reading fluency. Sunshine State books are selected for their wide appeal, literary value, varied genres, curriculum connections, and/or multicultural representation. I want to give my new students the opportunity to set a challenging and exciting goal for themselves while in the Cambridge setting as well as participate in activities that will include reading, writing, speaking, and presenting about the books.  

What will be done with my students

Students will be encouraged and challenged to read all 15 of the SSYRA books while earning a special sticker on their SSYRA Bingo Board for each book completed. In order to officially complete a book, they will need to pass a Reading Counts test (comprehension quiz) for that book. When this is done, they will receive a sticker that has a special meaning related to the story to be put on their bingo board. Throughout the year, they will be encouraged to continue reading the books and earning stickers, while receiving special recognition and rewards for each completed row on their bingo board. They will also receive recognition and rewards for completion of all 15 books and finishing their SSYRA Bingo Challenge. Upon completion of the SSYRA books, students will be able to vote for their favorite using real Collier County voting booths and machines which is exciting in itself, but I will also be adding a special classroom debate before we vote in which students will share their ideas about their favorite book and “argue” with their classmates, trying to persuade others to vote for the book they think is the best. This is a Cambridge strategy that gives the opportunity for reading, research, writing, revising and speaking which will be an awesome time to invite families into our classroom to hear about the reading that has been completed!  

Benefits to my students

I plan to challenge my class to become the first class ever at our school to have ALL students finish ALL 15 SSYRA books in a school year! I want to challenge my students as readers and encourage them to explore authors and genres they may not be familiar with. Students in fifth grade are exposed to very rigorous standards and testing and assigning this challenge to read as much as possible, in particular with good quality literature, gives each child more practice and experience with the higher level reading and vocabulary they will be expected to do on the FSA assessment. A motivating program like the bingo boards, stickers, and rewards enables me to help all of my students, whether they already love to read or are hesitant to pick up a more challenging book, get excited about reading. This is always my ultimate goal every year that I teach!. And finally, an added bonus to completing all 15 of the books is that they will be invited on a special field trip to Barnes and Noble with our media specialist at the end of the school year!
 

Budget Narrative

Books priced at Barnes and Noble with Educator Discount 

Items