As a choice school my students come to here because they want to, not because they are zoned here. They drive, walk, and take the city bus from all over the Reno and Sparks area because they feel appreciated, heard, and like they belong here. Most of my students come from the district middle schools because they felt lost in the big school, didn’t fit in, or were bullied. My students come to my school to try something different, they stay because they love it!
My students love to be apart of a small school community.
My school serves students from daycare/preschool up till eighth grade. We have two to three classes per grade from Kindergarten to seventh grade and one eighth grade. We are a small school community which means we are a tight-knit group both with our teachers and our students. Throughout the school year we have school wide events where the older middle school students help teach the younger elementary and preschool students about various topics. This helps create that community feeling as kids advance through each grade level.
My Project
For some kids, the transition from basic math functions to algebraic expressions and equations is like learning another language. Every year I hear my students exclaim, "What are these letters doing in here?", "This is math class, not English!", "How am I supposed to know what x is?" They become frustrated, closed off, and decide they hate or are bad at math. When students use a calculator, it simplifies the arithmetic, allowing them to focus more on the new algebraic concepts. In my experience, helping them focus on only a few concepts at a time helps reduce their frustrations with math as a whole.
Using personal devices in a middle school classroom presents an obvious problem: it quickly becomes more about their phones & tablets than about the calculator.
Technology today puts a calculator on every device available, therefore, having a classroom calculator available will eliminate the temptation to use one’s personal device for non-classroom activities.
I am asking for basic four-function calculators so students can preform arithmetic calculations quickly and accurately, but the calculator cannot do all the work. Today, kids can find fraction calculators, algebraic problem calculators, apps that take a picture of a problem and immediately provide the answer, and the list goes on. By avoiding advanced calculators and apps, I can ensure that students understand their solutions while still giving them some reprieve from tedious operations.
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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. Kirkwood and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
