Won't YOU Take US to FuNky TowwWN in Reading and Writing??!!

My Students: Imagine a classroom filled with all girls. Pink, purple, red, yellow, and orange probably come to mind. Girls just love to experiment with color, especially in the classroom...

My Project: With wide smiles and bright eyes, my girls expressed to me the dream of using funky paints, composition spirals, binders, pencils, markers, stationary paper, erasers, and post... more»

My Students: Imagine a classroom filled with all girls. Pink, purple, red, yellow, and orange probably come to mind. Girls just love to experiment with color, especially in the classroom! We could really use some more markers, paints, and poster paper in our reading and writing projects!

My students are all fifth grade girls at a start-up public charter school. Most of our students come from low-income families that are eligible for the federal free and reduced-price meals program, and are made up of African American or Latina descent. Our national network of charter schools is free, open-enrollment, and college preparatory with a track record of more than 90 percent of our middle school students going to college-preparatory high schools, and over 85 percent of our alumni going to college.

My Project: With wide smiles and bright eyes, my girls expressed to me the dream of using funky paints, composition spirals, binders, pencils, markers, stationary paper, erasers, and poster paper to display their work. I try to use poster paper as often as I can, however, the challenge becomes the expense. We can only afford so much within our budget and so I have to plan ahead for what specific purposes I will use the paper for during instruction. The poster paper has become my new wall paper in the classroom to serve as reminders for the girls of concepts we have discussed. Students are so motivated by knowing their work will be displayed with pride. These are great opportunities for the girls to express their creativity and exchange ideas through presenting their work to the class. Projects like these help build their communication skills!

Please help us take our reading and writing instruction up a notch in the classroom. Kids are inspired by color and have visions they want to share with the world, too! Remember what Pablo Picasso once said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” hide»