My students need books, puzzles, art supplies, soft seats, pocket charts and manipulatives to celebrate the differences in cultures and how we learn in our classroom.
I am looking forward to September and meeting a new class of little ones. It is most rewarding to watch them grow from timid children in September to confident thinkers, readers, writers, scientists, and mathematicians in June. Also important, they become respectful and responsible members of our community.
My children will be a wonderfully diverse community of learners.
Many students will have moved here recently or be first generation Americans. While my class is taught in English, I know that many of them will speak Spanish, French, Arabic, Twi, and many African dialects. We respect and celebrate the differences in how we look, speak and the celebrations we have. This means we celebrate everything.
Not only are we different in the obvious ways, we also learn very differently. Some of this is due to our prior schooling, culture, and life experiences. Unfortunately, many of my students have not been able to have the life experiences most take for granted.
My Project
As I mentioned we are a community of learners that are quite different from one another. The first unit of the year we talk about schools in different countries and how they are similar. We celebrate all the different cultures and learn about them so we can understand and respect them. The books, puzzles, and art projects will help us do this in an engaging memorable way. There is a sign in my classroom that my children all learn quickly, "Fair isn't everyone getting the same thing. Fair is everyone getting what they need in order to be successful." It is my job as the teacher to quickly figure out what my children need to be successful, grow as independent learners, and give it to them. The soft seats, pocket charts, and wipe-off charts allow me to differentiate instruction. By working independently in these centers, they learn not only the content but how to follow rules, be responsible and respectful of others. My little ones respect their differences and the fact that we all learn differently.
The items I have asked for will help us learn about our differences and respect them.
There are also items that we would use several times a day in the differentiated learning centers. This project will allow me to implement the centers more effectively. It will help my little ones be responsible for their own learning as they work independently while at the same time respecting those that learn differently.
More than half 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
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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. Ranieri and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
