I teach Kindergarten in a low socioeconomic area with great students that don't have a lot. My classroom usually has at least 20 student ages 5 and 6. Many of my students come from broken homes while others come from non English speaking homes.
My students are all learning the importance of "community" and sharing, as well as how to be a responsible citizen in our school. They love to be helpers and to do things "themselves". This past year my students LOVED to use our white board easel, whether it was circling a word , writing a letter or even just erasing it for me. They were able to take ownership of their learning and share they work with their fellow classmates. The easel provides a safe place were they can explore and learn. Unfortunately the one we have is old and falling apart. I am almost afraid to let the students handle it too much, for fear it will fall over. We have very little resources given to us from our community (they do what they can) therefore I am not able to ask them for help in this situation.
I am asking for a more updated version of the white board easel my students love so much. This easel is large in size, sturdy and moves around easily for both the students and I to access. I use the easel everyday, all day. We start every morning with Morning meeting. I write a special message to the students and they begin to read it back to me. They build their confidence by reading and interact by circling words, pointing out letters, etc. We also use the easel for language arts, math, science and social studies. One of the students favorite games is called "build a bear" (much like "hang man") where they learn to spell words. The part they like most is keeping score on the easel. It's them against me and they almost always win!!
With your help my students will be able to have an interactive learning experience each and everyday. They will build confidence and develop self-respect. My students are very bright, unfortunately most of them do not get a lot of interactive experiences outside of the classroom. Your help is truly appreciated.
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