Our community is a small elementary school in the Richmond District of San Francisco. Because we have the blessing of being a part of the unique and overwhelming diverse entity that is San Francisco Unified School district we aren't your typical elementary school.
If you were to enter our play-yard on a typical morning you would hear a diversity of languages and dialects that reveals a lot about what kind of school, no, what kind of family that we really are.
Our students speak Mongolian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and a variety of dialects stemming from those languages. With over 50% of our student population being categorized as English Language Learners, we pride ourselves on the wide variety of students we serve and large continuum of ways we support them to be the best learners they can be. We don't have one typical student that best represents us - we have many.
Because our students come from such diverse backgrounds we are not just teaching them every day, but we, as a staff, are also learning from them. I, myself, just today learned what the Mongolian alphabet looks like! We want you to help us learn even more.
My Project
As a native English speaker I never quite realized how lucky I was in that until I began teaching students who were English Language Learners. Have you ever taught students who just moved to your country? Not only did they leave their old homes behind, they are experiencing a whole new culture, climate, geography - on top of having to learn a new language! And when that language is English, it becomes even harder.
It's trite and it's cliche - but we know one of the best ways to learn is to make it fun.
The tools and activities that I've chosen for this project are going to help my English Language Learners with special needs to enjoy learning a new language, to have fun learning a new language, and to embrace that learning. Using the 'Find the Evidence,' clips, my students will have a tactile and fun way to learn to annotate what they read. We will be able to have a game group during lunch to play games from the 'English Language Learner Games Library.'
As the Special Education specialist at our school site I'm determined to build a tool-kit that will help my students learn and love the subject that they are taught. But to help build that tool-kit, I need you. The items in this tool-kit will help my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders build their literacy, develop their english skills, and learn to love reading and writing.
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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. Fedorko and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.