My students need a classroom carpet to hold our morning community circles and to sit on throughout the school day during whole group instruction or workstations.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
"A community of active, engaged, and respectful learners" are words I have heard my principal use to describe what he observed when visiting my classroom.
My class is made up of diverse and excited 1st grade kids that can't make enough friends!
My school is extremely diverse. We have students and families from all over the world. Nearly 20% of my students are from homes where English is not the language spoken by their family. The majority of these children are from families that were refugees in Africa.
I teach at a public elementary school in Iowa. Nearly 80% of the student body at my school qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. Roughly 25% of the student body at my school qualify for our ELL program. My school has the highest percentage of African-American students at the elementary level in the district. Our families are from more than 15 different countries from around the world.
My Project
My students will use the "Around the World" carpet to sit on during our morning community circles, as well as during whole group instruction and small group collaborative workstations during math and reading. During our morning community circles, my first grade friends will participate in activities and discussions that will transform our classroom from a classroom of individual learners to a classroom family of learners. Our community circle help my students to learn that even though they each come from very different backgrounds and places around the world, each individual child is an important and valuable part of our classroom family. They will learn how to respect, honor, and cherish the rich diversity and uniqueness each individual child adds to our classroom family.
The "Around the World" classroom carpet will help aid in my efforts of creating a culturally responsive learning environment for my students.
By honoring each child's home culture in a respectful manner and integrating the various cultures into my classroom environment and instruction enhances each child's sense of belonging and importance to our classroom family of learners. When children feel valued and respected for who they are and where they come from, they become more engaged learners.
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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. Kelly and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
