My 23 fourth grade students need quality art supplies such as markers, colored pencils, pastels, felt tip pens, and sketch books.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Wang's classroom raised $1,169
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
The community that we serve is racially and ethnically diverse. The majority of our students speak English as a second language. Our community has high rates of poverty. Many households have multiple wage earners contributing toward a single household income and over 90% of our students qualify for free or reduced school lunch. A harsh condition of life in our neighborhood is that we have one of the highest crime rates in the city. The lack of sufficient community resources, programs, and activities that are safe, stimulating, and accessible poses a significant challenge to the physical and emotional development of our students and families. The majority of our students work hard to achieve at school, however, many of our students enter with huge challenges that impede them from succeeding academically. I am a K-5 support teacher and serve the entire school. I will co-teach this project with a fourth grade teacher.
Our students need every opportunity to help them be successful and excited about school. It is ironic that public schools such as ours that strive to serve 100% minority children are often not supported in providing education in the arts to our students. As a staff, we are committed to our students' academic achievement. However, we also passionately believe that our students do not differ from other students in needing art, music, and physical education, as well. Devoted to our students' education, we know that the arts and academics are not mutually exclusive. Art, while often viewed as an extracurricular activity secondary to the basics such as reading and mathematics, has been shown to help students in subjects other than art. We seek to provide our students with such an outlet to foster and develop creativity and to work synergistically and complement their academic education.
Our project will uphold the Fourth Grade Visual Art Content standards so often ignored in our public schools. Funding will provide our students with high quality art materials to use with guided drawing lessons. We will foster our students' creativity and teach them the basics of drawing prior to the critical age when children often conclude (often by age 8 or 9), "I can't draw,""I am not artistic," and will no longer try. Students will have at least one guided drawing lesson a week using Mona Brook's book, "Drawing with Children." The method (MONART)has been tried and trued. The method involves training children to see that all objects are made up of one or a combination of five elements of shape. Students will draw from graphics and from a still life. They will be introduced to volume drawing, and drawing people and faces. Students will develop an art portfolio, write reflectively, and put on an art show to showcase themselves and their work.
In this educational climate of high stakes testing where virtually everything other than the "basics" are being stripped away from schools such as ours, we know that our students need art in their education as well. Not only do our students need to have the space to explore on their own, but like all disciplines, there is much to be learned. Among other things, educators recognize MONART as a teaching system that helps to students to: increase visual perception and concentration; build confidence and improve self-esteem; learn to make decisions and solve problems; and develop a creative outlet which will hopefully last a lifetime! Funding for this project will make a positive difference in our students' education. We know this from experience. Last year a second grade class was funded for a similar project and the results were so inspirational that we are working to integrate art classes in every classroom.
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 Ms. Wang and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
