Our class consists of two dozen uniquely energetic, creative, motivated seven- and eight-year-old students, heading full STEAM ahead into second grade. Ours is a neighborhood school, serving the families of our city since 1953. Our class and the school has an amazing group of children from a fabulously diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. Unfortunately, high poverty is part of the experience for most of these young learners.
These wonderfully wiggly young learners deserve every advantage as we work together to improve achievement in reading, math, and science by focusing on the whole child - building confidence while fostering their creativity and curiosity.
Lifelong learners are created by lighting the spark of imagination that drives a passion to learn.
I teach my students through rich, integrated units that make connections between literature, science, math, social studies, and the arts. Every unit begins with all of us together at the carpet, with a rich piece of children's literature.
Thank you for taking the time to read about how we can work together to ensure these students have the technology tools for imaginative creation, collaboration, and authentic STEM learning experiences in our classroom!
My Project
We recently received a set of ten iPads through the very generous donations of people like you - the amazing donors of DonorsChoose.org. It has had an amazingly positive impact on our students' lives! I am really hoping to get some more iPads for my classroom to allow more of my students to use them while I conference with students one-to-one during writing, for example, or while I work with small groups.
Many students do not have internet access and computers at home, so getting more exposure to technology at school can have a huge impact in helping to close the opportunity gap!
We are using these amazing devices in many ways. We use a variety of apps to support students with reading skills at various levels; for some students, it is phonics that they need the most work with, for others, it is accuracy and fluency. RAZ-Kids is a great reading programs that I can customize for students and create assignments to support student learning across the curriculum.
In math, we use the browser to access things like Zearn.org, which is free and a complement to the Engage NY math curriculum. We can use them for apps like SumDog as well! We have been working on coding, with the Sphero robots and Sphero Education app, but currently, less than half the students can work on it at any given time, during our extremely limited time-frame allotted for science instruction. iPads can also be used with the WeDo robotics! Funding for these additional technology resources would help us to increase the amount of STEAM learning we're able to accomplish in class each week. Thanks for reading!
More than three‑quarters of 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
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Wilson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
