My students love to practice their orchestra instruments, but they don't love taking their instruments home. Why? Because the instrument falls out of its case nearly every time they pick it up. Please help us protect our instruments so we can focus on learning and not on fixing broken equipment.
Our school is a K-5 elementary school with a very diverse student population, including Hmong, African American, Latino, and Caucasian students.
Our students come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, including students who are homeless as well as students who have parents with advanced degrees.
Students in our district may start orchestra or "strings" in 5th grade. Since we are a K-5 school, all of our strings students are beginners. We are considered a high poverty school with over 75% of our students receiving free or reduced-price lunch. Our strings enrollment is consistent with that percentage.
The students in strings class are extremely excited to play their instruments, and they bring enthusiasm and energy to each class. They are eager to learn and practice, but they get frustrated when the equipment is old and difficult to use.
My Project
We currently have a mix of gently used, well-loved, and falling-apart instruments that students use. Our cases fall into similar categories, but a few are unusable or are actually damaging to the instruments.
When cases do not close properly, students will not take them home to practice. New cases will allow all students to take their instruments home, allowing for equal access to learning for everyone.
Some of our students struggle academically and/or have many challenges at home.
I would like their experience in strings to be a positive one, with limited barriers to their success. A working instrument case that students can take home should be an easy barrier to remove. We already struggle with instruments that are well past their usable life...another DonorsChoose project perhaps? Please help ease our students' frustration and allow them to focus on the excitement of learning. Thank you!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Felton and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
