Supporting Literacy in Oakland Classrooms with Eat. Learn. Play. and DonorsChoose

Guest post by Ryn McLennan, DonorsChoose

Ms. Morgan teaches at the dual immersion school Melrose Leadership Academy, where her diverse group of students learn in both Spanish and English. In her project, “Authentic and Exciting Spanish Books for Middle Schoolers,” she requested dozens of books in Spanish, from classics like James y el melocotón gigante (James And The Giant Peach) to new favorites like El odio que das (The Hate U Give).

Ms. Morgan shared how the books inspired her students. “I have a few students who have always had a hard time finding and sticking with a book because they are still working on reading at grade level and can never seem to find a book that interests them or that is at their level. Even these students have found books that they like and feel successful with…. These books will create a lasting positive impact for years to come.”

”When students connect to something they read about, **their eyes light up**, they rush to another student, and share the text and their own experiences.”

Our Partnership

At DonorsChoose, we’ve long believed that teachers know best the resources their students need to thrive. Through our platform teachers working at any public, charter, or Head Start school request resources to help their students learn, and donors give any amount to bring those projects to life. We envision a nation where children in every community have the tools and experiences needed for an excellent education.

In 2021, DonorsChoose and Eat. Learn. Play. teamed up with the goal of igniting a passion for reading in Oakland students. Eat. Learn. Play. committed $1 million to funding literacy requests from pre-K–8th grade Oakland teachers, and has just committed an additional $1 million to continue supporting teacher-led literacy projects in Oakland public schools.

Thanks to this grant, 509 teachers at 89 Oakland schools so far have received thousands of picture books, novels, biographies, dictionaries, and more — each hand-picked by teachers to unlock their students’ love of reading.

Classroom Stories

The numbers can only say so much about the learning this grant inspired. All 509 classrooms supported through this grant have unique stories of student growth, excitement, passion, and more. Since we can’t give you a view into all those classrooms, here are two more examples of Oakland teachers using books to inspire and connect with students.

Ms. Cortes, “Literacy Through Black & Brown Joy!”

Over at Achieve Academy, Ms. Cortes requested a library’s-worth of books to fuel her class’s weekly reading Power Hour. She told us why she picked the books she did: ”When students connect to something they read about, their eyes light up, they rush to another student, and share the text and their own experiences. More importantly, when they read about worlds different from their own, but that somehow connects to the people in our classroom, they light up, and ask questions, or invite their classmates to teach them more.”

Ms. Shirley, “Graphic Novel Library!”

Ms. Shirley took an innovative approach to help her students at Elmhurst United Middle School get excited about reading. Instead of requesting traditional literature, she was hoping to get reluctant readers fired up through graphic novels — and she was right!

“‘Do we get to read today?!’ is a question students have asked me every day of summer school since students selected a graphic novel as their independent reading book. Through independently reading books in the graphic novel library, students have developed the skills of choosing books that are interesting and level-appropriate for them, summarizing plots to pitch books to peers, and analyzing character development. The graphic novel library has truly created a culture of excitement and confidence around reading.”

Teacher Trendsetters: Identity-Affirming Books

Because they spend so much time with students, DonorsChoose teachers have always had their finger on the pulse of pop culture. (Hunger Games was a trending request on DonorsChoose the year before its cultural explosion!) We dove into our data to see which books Oakland teachers are requesting for their students most often and discovered a list of beautiful, identity-affirming stories that belong on all our bookshelves.

Early Childhood (pre-K–1st grade)

Change Sings: A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman
I Am Enough by Grace Byers
I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes

Elementary School (2nd–5th grades)

Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood by Kwame Mbalia
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
When Stars are Scattered by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson

Middle School (6th–8th grades)

New Kid by Jerry Craft
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Fast Pitch by Nic Stone

By making sure that students across Oakland are surrounded by books they can fall in love with, we’re setting them up for success in school and beyond. Thank you to the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation for making so much learning possible!