The Literacy Games

I am a middle school teacher; it is the most exciting and challenging career in the world. Most educators run away from adolescents during this age; I run toward them. Being in the middle is tough. That's why it is my duty to find ways to help students through the transition. My goal is to make English class a fun and memoriable journey. My challenge is to make each class feel special with new ways to inspire reading. No two classes have the same experience.


Since 2012, I have introduced students in grades 6 through 8 to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The classroom becomes an academic arena where there can be only one winner. Students collect game tickets that help them through obstacles or to stunt other classmates while playing trivia games connected to Common Core State Standards using the novel, The Hunger Games. Our classroom becomes a battlefield for academic survival. Our culminating event is a trip to see the movie whichever movie, in the series, comes to the theater during that teaching year.

In 2012, I was able to solicit the support of teachers to pay admission fare for the winning tributes. In 2013, I was able to get generous donation from the Sandy Springs/College Park Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. (the complete series for my entire class), financial support from my family, friends, school, and facebook community ($480 to see Catching Fire). In 2014, I was only able to finance tickets for two students as time was not on my side to campaign for a full-scale field trip; Only the winning tributes were able to attend a screening with me. There were, however, more winners than funds available.

We finished our Hunger Games lesson in November 2014. However, there is still student interest in the series in February 2015. One student recently asked if we're still going to see part I of the third installation in The Hunger Games series--Mockingjay Part I. My students are still hungry for the work.  This is what brought me to Gofundme.com. I want to surprise the students with an epic spring field trip still focused on The Hunger Games. They gobbled the literature, so with your help, I'd like to offer victors with prizes for their continued interest in reading.

The requested funds will support the following needs:

1. $120 for 20 Oscar-like tropies for the students who scored 90% or above on The Hunger Games summative assessment
2. $36 for 1 set of mockingjay replica pins as worn by Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (one set for the runner up winner)
3. $100 for two $50 gift cards to Amazon for the second and third place winners
4. $124 (1) Kindle Fire-HD tablet as a prize for the top winner.
5. $100 for a trip to see Mockingjay Part II for the next class of winners and previous victors
6. $1320 for a field trip--includes a pizza lunch--to Terrapin Adventures where my seventh grade students will learn team building skills as they compete in the final battle of The Literacy Games (see the link for more information on Terrapin Adventures
place http://www.terrapinadventures.com/adventures/terrapin-challenge/) This will offset the cost for the 20 competing volunteers.

Please share this link throughout your network or feel free to donate a monetary gift, a tablet, or gift card to support the efforts. 

For more information about me and the work I've done with students since 2001, please visit my online portfolio below. Thank you, in advance, for your time and resources.

All the best,
Yolonda D. Body
www.ycbody.wix.com/ydbsportfolio