"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." [Nelson Mandela]
Every year, we meet an eager crop of new Kindergarten students. Each year, more and more of these children are just learning English.
Our diverse community is quite international with almost 70% of our students coming from homes where English is spoken as a second language.
One-fifth of our students receive extra support for learning English. We also provide communications to parents in 4 home languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, and Korean.
We are a New York City Public School where nearly 60% of our students qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
Our commitment to differentiated instruction supports Students of all ability levels in every classroom by integrating 4 groups:
1) English Language Learners (ELL students)
2) English as a Second Language (ESL students)
3) Students with Special Needs
4) General Education students
The challenges of such a diverse school community are amplified in Kindergarten. Most of our kids are learning English as a second language and many have never spoken a word in English before starting at our school.
My Project
LITERACY IS INTEGRATED INTO ALL CURRICULUM AREAS. Our Kindergarten class focuses on building early literacy skills: developing reading and writing abilities in English for all students.
All of our school's instruction is in English, but we support our English Language Learners with help from specialists many times during each day. However, we need new technology to bridge the initial gaps with our ELL students and their families.
We are requesting a VPT-100 Value Pack System with Turnkey Upgrade from Lexicon-Global. This simultaneous translation equipment will allow us to speak in English, but simultaneously provide translation to our students in Chinese, Spanish or Korean.
We are requesting (30) multichannel receivers to allow our students to hear their home language in their ear WITHOUT DISTRACTING from the larger class or assembly.
Portable system will be used for daily instruction and various school events, including parent-teacher conferences as well as parents as learning partners.
Our school's high poverty/high need classification has never stopped our students from doing their best.
Last year, the vast majority of our 3rd Grade students performed at Level 3 or above on NY English Language Arts (86%) and Math Assessments (90%).
New technology will further accelerate students' learning in Kindergarten. We can significantly improve focus for all students by reducing distractions and noise. We'll also improve critical needs in our ELL Parents' involvement and understanding.
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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. Saraceni and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.