My students need styluses that are similar in shape and weight to pencils, headphones, multi listening jacks and clipboards to allow them to work on their student learning portfolios throughout the year.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students are in their first year in a French Immersion program. This means that my students are spending the first two hours of their day in an English classroom and they spend the remainder of their day with me in a total French Immersion environment. My kindergartners study math, social living, science and French language all in French. The students in this program are not from French speaking homes, however French is a heritage language in our state and learning French enables them to speak with grandparents and other older relatives that had grown up speaking French.
Our school is a Title 1 school with 100% free lunch.
More than one of the students in my classroom are considered homeless. Over half of my class come from single parent families. While these things may create challenges for them these students are all thriving learning in a second language. Learning in a second language helps create skills not only to communicate with a broader spectrum of people worldwide, students develop more advanced problem solving skills, are exposed to new ways of thinking and attacking problems, and are forced to find ways of rerouting their thinking to approach problems.
My Project
My students need styluses that are similar in size shape and weight to pencils so that they can continue to develop their small motor skills and writing skill while working on tablets to create their digital portfolios. Headphones with multi listening jacks will allow multiple students to listen and view teacher made recordings of books in French since these books are harder for us to get for our classrooms. The clipboards will allow the students the freedom of movement about their class while making observations and working in stations.
My students create digital working portfolios that are shared with their parents throughout the year.
These portfolios show the development of both their verbal and written language over time, as well as showcasing what they are working on in class for their parents. Often parents of immersion students want to hear their children speaking in their second language, but students can feel awkward when put on the spot to just "say something in French". The portfolios help parents see their child's growth in the language and allows the parents to be more active participants in their child's learning.
Many items created for their portfolios are done on tablets. While my students are able to use their fingers to draw somewhat, having a stylus would help not only with accuracy in drawing, but still allow them to work on their writing and fine motor skills even when not writing on paper.
French children's books are difficult to buy for our school. They must be ordered from Canada or Europe generally, and shipping raises the price of these books tremendously. Students having headphones to listen/watch videos of teachers reading French books allows a much more economical way for the students to have access to quality children's literature in the language of instruction.
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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. Moreno and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
