Help Ms. Dorsey Purchase Instructional Books

My name is Melissa Dorsey, and I teach at Duluth Middle School in Duluth, Georgia.    We are a  Title 1 school where the majority of our students come from economically disadvantaged homes, and we work hard each year to close the  learning gaps our students struggle with.     I have created this GoFundMe account in hopes of raising enough money to purchase some new (and much needed) instructional books for my classroom.  

I have been teaching at this school for 22 years now, and I have taught Gifted, General Ed, and Co-taught for most of my career.   This past year, however, I volunteered to run the Reading Remediation/Intervention class for 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade.   In this class I target struggling readers, and work with them to improve their reading skills so that they can be successful in all academic areas.   Unlike other academic courses, my Reading classes have never had a textbook/workbook to utilize; everything my students get has to be created by me.

Of course, this year has been a challenge with teaching concurrently (part of the class in-person, part of the class digital), but next year my kids will be all in-person.   Looking ahead to this exciting opportunity to work more closely with my students, I have been researching instructional student guides/activity books/textbooks to help supplement instruction in my Reading classes.   Needless to say, they are all quite expensive, so my hope is that this GoFundMe will raise enough money for me to purchase whatever this class needs.  

I am still in the process of researching and vetting multiple instructional books, but to give you an example...  Here are some of the books I'm leaning towards.   ***Please note:  This would be a one time expense.   These books would be used over and over again for years to come!

1. From CurriculumAssociates.com:    CARS and STARS
---STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) focuses on specific Reading Comprehension strategies that make students better readers
---CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies) is the assessment companion to STARS.   Helps to pinpoint and target weak reading strategies which can then be practiced using the STARS practice book.

---Price for 15 books of both CARS and STARS per grade level, not including shipping:   $401.15
---Click here to see a sample from both resources:
STARS- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vq6hV-edGC6hWV_Q5cfNv_U3tU4YT-Yl/view?usp=sharing
CARS- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krcORFZY6ctoIW0gAj5CUI5SBJ_rLn5X/view?usp=sharing



2. From CurriculumAssociates.com:    Ready Georgia
-Focuses on key reading skills tied to the Common Core standards
-Quoted price for 15 books per grade level, including shipping: $801.58
-Click here to see a sample lesson from the book:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kdvWik5wxjvgsy8vWbJVwvtqGC1tjAbm/view?usp=sharing



Additionally, I would like to purchase...

---6 sets of Reading Strips (helps students focus in on what they are reading): $65.94       https://tinyurl.com/dhx3yfep

---Class headphones (for those who comprehend better with audio of text) with extra to allow for any lost/broken: $179.95
https://tinyurl.com/2288jbps


This puts my total around $1450.00 before shipping (to be added for the CARS and STARS books).    A huge amount, I know, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping there are people out there willing to help.    In advance, I can't thank you enough for donating.   Your donation will make a big difference in my Reading students' lives for years to come!