The cost of a privacy cubicle for group work is $266, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
FULLY FUNDED! Mrs. Horner's classroom raised $285
This project is fully funded
I teach at a Title 1 school in rural North Carolina. I typically have about 25 students in my classes. Not only do we have a large population of minorities, especially Hispanics, but we also have a lot of special needs students. Many of our students are on medication for attention issues and problems with being able to focus during instructional time due to learning disabilities and require individualized instruction. We also have many students that have been diagnosed with attention problems but are not on medication.
In first grade we spend a large portion of time working in small groups for reading and math instruction and testing. Typically, we spend at least 1 hour a day rotating through reading groups. This works best because we can teach each child in a small group on his or her individual level instead of teaching above or below them. One drawback of having small groups for a lot of instructional time is dealing with the other students who are not in groups. Many teachers at my school give a folder full of seat work and worksheets to occupy the others during this time. I like for my students who are not in groups to have independent work centers, not just worksheets. These centers focus and review the skills that we have taught in an interactive way, such as folder games, shoebox activities, and partner activities. The students enjoy these and learn a lot from them. Although they are great, the can be distracting for students who are working in a group.
I would like to get a short cubical wall that is portable to set up around my group work table. This wall will be short enough to allow me to see the other activities in the room, but tall enough where the students seated at the table will not be able to see. This will especially work well for my students with attention problems that have trouble focusing and are easily distracted by other activities in the room. It will also muffle some of the noise from the students who are working in centers. Being portable will allow me to move it into place when needed and to pull it aside when I need to have the area open.
The purpose of this wall is to give an isolated, quiet work environment within the classroom so I can still teach each child on his or her level in a small group, while still maintaining and keeping the other students on task. This wall will eliminate many of the distractions of a large class size and allow me to teach them as if we had a smaller class size. Students have a very difficult time learning if they are constantly distracted and have other things in the room to attend to. My "Wall of Focus" will eliminate these other distracters.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Horner and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.