I teach in a wonderful area! After 17 years teaching fifth grade, I am making the jump to sixth grade math only! My students' levels range all across the spectrum! I will have limited resources in my new classroom and the support from my last Donors Choose project has inspired me to reach out to others to help fund our classroom needs! Our school does not have the support we need to compete with other schools in our district. We have many low-income families who are doing all they can to meet the needs of their children. School fundraising is limited and those resources earned often go to other priorities. I am looking for some help with math manipulatives, such as K'NEX building pieces, fraction bars/circles, and counting pieces to give my kids the chance to learn and grow, just as those who live in a more privileged area.
My students want to learn and be successful.
I believe they deserve the same opportunities as students in other areas that can afford more.
My Project
As I start a new adventure, I want to make sure the new students that I serve will have the same opportunities as students from my past. Confidence with numbers is what makes kids successful with math. Hands-on manipulatives can help math come to life. When students only see numbers on paper, sometimes, they struggle to see the actual value. Fraction bars, geometric shapes, building blocks, integer lines, and hands-on equations will SHOW the kids what the numbers mean.
Hands-on is not just for younger students.
As kids get older, they still need to get a feel for the task they are being asked to complete. If I am doing a lesson on fractions, I want students to be able to see what that part looks like and having fraction pieces in front of them will allow them to do that. If we are working with surface area and perimeter, I want students to be able to build those shapes and directly touch the image they are solving for and the K'NEX pieces will allow students to do that.
I believe students need to physically be involved with the math problems they are attempting to solve and these math manipulatives will help bring math to life.
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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. Karr and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.