The cost of various literacy aids from Lakeshore Learning, including a set of Language Instant Learning Centers, a Say It with Dough Language Kit, extra dough, craft trays, I Can Build Simple Words!, Picture-Word Phonics Puzzles, Word Bank Flip Books, and a High Frequency Word Wall is $524, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a language arts teacher for kindergarten and first grade in a low-income area in Brooklyn. Our school consists of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade students, seventy five percent of whom are below poverty-level standards. These children are bussed daily to our school because their neighborhood school is overcrowded and has become a second-to-fifth-grade school, which our school leads into. I serve over two hundred fifty students per week in forty-five-minute intervals, encouraging student learning through the use of dramatic play and learning center activities.
Last year I taught in a vacant hallway area. It was very difficult to teach Language Arts with so many distractions. I am very excited to be in a classroom setting this school year. Having a classroom to work in allows me to set up the students' learning environment the way I feel a classroom should be set up, with different learning centers around the room.
I want the children to enjoy learning and to be engaged in it. There is no better way to engage children than to have them work in learning centers with hands-on activities.
This is my second year teaching language arts. Many of my students are English language learners. I'd like these students to have the opportunity to participate in class lessons. I'd also like them to fully interact with proficient English speakers, as well as participate in interesting, beneficial activities. I'd like to equip my learning centers with age- and skill-appropriate material. All the materials I'd like to acquire through this proposal are related to language acquisition. These activities will also benefit my students with special needs. They will be used in learning centers so children can engage in hands-on language arts.
Kindergarten and first grade are when children acquire most of the skills needed for future success. Early teaching of language arts helps to develop strong building blocks for all future reading and writing endeavors. I love teaching and I love watching children grow and learn, even though sometimes working in a hall is less than ideal. The materials I am asking for would improve this situation, heightening the response I get from the children and, in turn, increasing the learning that takes place.
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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. C. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.