Where can we gather in small groups to teach the ELLs (English language learners) and support the low-achieving students simultaneously in our classroom? There are twenty-five students in my 1st grade classroom. They sit at their rectangular desks with their partners in three pods. Five students are ELLs who need daily ELD (English Language Development) lessons. Two of the twenty-five students who receive the RSP services are low-achieving students.
We need a kidney table when it is ELD time for my ELLs and when the RSP (Resource Specialist Program) teacher comes into our classroom for push-in lessons with students far below grade level.
The Native English-speaking students need their own space at their desks to focus on their independent class assignments during the ELD and RSP push-in time. It would be very distracting for them if we tried to teach the ELLs and RSP students next to them. Another reason to have a kidney table in the classroom would be to have parent conferences. Instead of using one of the students' desks, we can conveniently have parent conferences at the kidney table, where I can easily share student work samples and go over the report cards with the parents. The last reason for having a kidney table is that the parent volunteers could use it to work with the students who need extra support in developing reading skills. We have take-home books that parent volunteers help the students with, where the students read their weekly take-home books to the parent volunteers and get new books every week until they can proficiently read the book the students checked out. Parent volunteers can also use the kidney table to prepare the 1st-grade lessons and crafts for the students. Thank you for your generous and thoughtful support in getting us a kidney table.
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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 Mrs. Choi and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
