"Ms. B, I never thought I would be able to read." A 5-year-old boy enthusiastically shouted those words with a big grin on his face. He continued by stating that his family told him he would never be able to read. My heart immediately sank as I pictured his family telling him those words. At the beginning of the year, he entered our kindergarten class not able to recognize any letters or sounds in the alphabet. Just like many other students in my class, my students lack the instructional support at home.
They live with family members who are working around-the-clock to make ends meet and constantly bounce back and forth between relatives and friends, resulting in lack of instructional and resource support in the home and at school.
All of my students qualified for free lunch, as well as breakfast this year. My students are able to have the consistency of 2 meals a day, which positively impacts their learning and focus throughout the day. I feel greatly responsible to maximize the instructional time that I have from 8am to 4pm with my students. I believe that every child has the greatest potential!
My Project
All 20 of my students receive free breakfast and lunch on a daily basis. They come to school every day and expect us to meet their basic need of food. Many of my students are afraid to miss school because they know that food will be scarce if any is provided. Many of my students receive snack packs on Friday before they go home for the weekend to provide meals for the 2 days they are not in school. They rely on the Kansas City Neighborhood Academy to provide their source of food.
These snacks will be used to boost focus and productivity in their learning.
Many of my students continue to have an appetite even after breakfast and lunch. If students are hungry and worried about where food will be coming from, then learning will not be effective. No matter how hard I try to teach and continue with curriculum, my students will not be retaining information if food is on their mind. I want my students to feel safe and have their needs met in my classroom, and these snacks will greatly help!
Although something as small as a snack seems silly, these snacks are very needed. In the past years I have been teaching, I taught one year of Kindergarten without providing snacks. I then continued the next year providing a snack in the afternoon for my students. It was highly effective for learning and behavior! I would love it if you would help support my Kindergarten kiddos! Thank you so much for your consideration!
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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. Bornhorst and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
