My students need one class set each of crayons, color pencils, markers, and glue sticks, with 3 printer cartridges with photo paper and 4 packs of batteries.
I teach a great group of third graders at a Title 1 school near a large military base. Three-fourths of my students have ties to the large military base in our town.
Whether it is their father, mother, uncle, or aunt, they experience a person they love being away for a long period of time.
When we ask our children what they learned in school, they will always tell us, "Nothing!". They can't remember what they have learned or don't know how to tell about it in a way that is interesting to them. Writing about themselves helps them to recall what they have accomplished and be able to communicate it to their relatives through letters and pictures.
My students spend 7 hours each day at school. Their day is a natural subject for them to write about when communicating with their military relatives. Eight-year-olds need a starting point for their writings. Pictures are the starting point I use.
We have digital cameras in the classroom and a photo printer. We have weekly photographers to take pictures of the students participating and learning. Once each week we print the pictures, distribute them, and brainstorm what we learned that week. The students then use their journals to glue their photos and write about what they learned. These journals are then read by their relatives and they respond to the pictures and writings by writing their own responses back to the student. An ongoing communication is built for the entire year between them with education being valued.
This project has many benefits. The relatives get regular letters from the students and get to know how they are spending their time. The students practice writing about their learning and how to communicate with a reader. By showing the students how to correspond with someone far away, they learn how to stay connected and talk about themselves.
With so many military families in my school, my contribution to them is to help their children stay connected. With your help of art supplies and print cartridges, my students and their families will benefit. Using their experiences, pictures, and their artwork, my students and their families communicate, share praise, and stay connected while apart.
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