A typical day in my classroom includes conversations! My students learn to turn-and-talk the very first week of school. Their thoughts, ideas, and creativity are fostered in my classroom!
My school believes in metacognition and teaching students that their thinking is valuable.
Reading comprehension and thinking strategies are the crux of our teaching in all subjects, and a large part is students listening and speaking to explain their ideas. My school is suburban and built just a few years ago. We are already at capacity and will be expanding into trailers next year. Our students are diverse economically and culturally. Most families have two working parents, and many students live with extended families. We are fortunate that despite busy schedules, the vast majority of parents support homework routines and enjoy emails about the classroom's current units and programs.
My Project
Gratefully, I was able to order materials for a classroom science center through a previous project on Donors Choose. Also, a dear friend and multiple trips to local library book sales, have provided my classroom with books on CD. However, the furniture in my classroom is limited in allowing multiple students to enjoy these centers. In this project, I am requesting a desk with multiple drawers as a science center. Our school has some microscopes, and the desk is long enough for four or five microscopes. In the drawers, I will store the preserved bugs, seashells, feathers, pennies, sticks, snake skins, and rocks, as well as new specimens collected by students throughout the year! My students also love listening to books... especially sing-along books with song lyrics! The table I am hoping for will become the listening center because it easily allows 4 students to listen at the same time. There are also places to store the books right in the table!
First graders are budding scientists with natural curiosity.
The desk provides them a proper space to work together to observe the world! Also, the table for the listening center will provide them with the joy of sharing books with each other. Listening centers improve student fluency and comprehension! Both of these centers are increasingly important as our new Common Core curriculum requires engaging independent activities while the teacher works with small groups.
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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. Yablonski and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.