05/25/2026
The Washington Public Schools Education Foundation would like to congratulate our first Teacher Grant award recipient, Diane Portillo.
Mrs. Portillo has implemented a Free Voluntary Reading library in her Spanish I classroom, where students read in Spanish for the first 10 minutes of each class period — one of the most valuable learning opportunities of the hour. This year, she was able to add a few new novels, and they quickly became class favorites. Unfortunately, she only had one copy of each title.
To provide meaningful access and choice, Mrs. Portillo hopes to add 3–5 copies of each high-interest novel. The goal of this project is to expand her classroom library by increasing access to the most frequently read titles while also introducing new novels. Several new books have recently been published in the series her students enjoy most, and she is excited to make those available to students.
Expanding the library will also allow students to move into more advanced readers earlier in the year. Currently, students eagerly compete for a small collection of “confidence readers” — just seven titles with only one copy each. As a result, students often wait weeks for a book they are excited to read. Increasing the number of copies will reduce wait times and help keep students engaged in consistent, meaningful reading experiences.
