Help, our pencil sharpeners have died! We have tried many times to resuscitate them but they will never turn their motors again. Save our pencils! They need their sharpened points to make magical words on paper. The pencils are so lonely without a sharpener or their cousins the mechanical pencil.
I teach sixth and seventh grade Integrated Science which includes atmosphere (weather), human biology, cells and heredity, space, earth's surface, rocks and minerals, and motion and forces.
I teach at a very high need, focus, and Title One school in North Carolina. The majority of the students in my school are in need of many things including school supplies.
Many of my students come from families that do not have a lot. Many of my students' parents can only buy the basic items needed for the family such as food and clothes. Many struggle on a daily basis just to keep a place to stay and be safe in their communities. Items for school are always left up to the teacher. With so many students many teachers cannot do it on their own.
My Project
I have two pencil sharpeners in my classroom and they both has stopped working. Let's save our pencils so we can eventually complete our work. In order for students to complete their work in my classroom they need something to write with at all times. When the sharpeners die, we need a back up plan!
The resources that I am requesting are the basic needs of all students. If they do not have anything to write with they cannot complete tests, homework, work in their interactive notebook, or complete any type of classwork. How will the students take notes if they do not have anything to write them down with? My students' lives will be less stressful if they do not have to worry about simple things such as a writing utensil to complete the many tasks they have to complete in class.
What is the point for a child to sit in a classroom but cannot complete work because the pencil sharpener is broken?
My students have enough outside issues to be concern with what they will use to complete their school work. Can they at least have a little peace and serenity at school? That's what I want for them. Many of them have great ideas that they want to put on paper but with out writing utensils that is not possible. I know they can do so more if they have the proper tools.
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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. Gilchrist and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.