My students need hands-on materials to master the concepts of geometry, including two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes, and lines, rays and angles.
$519 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Geometry means, literally, "measuring the earth." It is all around us. My students start learning the most basic concepts in kindergarten - what are shapes? - while my older students take geometry to the next level for each grade. With games and manipulatives, I want my students to master geometry.
I teach students in grades 1 through 5 in an urban school in New York State.
Most come from families where English is a second language. Since I am a resource room teacher, the students I see are those identified with learning disabilities that keep them from performing at grade level within the regular classroom. Yet they are often articulate, motivated students who want to do well.
Some of these students have language processing problems, which means that they may have difficulty understanding concepts as explained to them the first time. Quite a few have memory problems, so that lessons must be repeated in different ways.
A great way to teach them is through multi-sensory approaches; not just through listening or writing but also through touching. When they can feel what they're studying in a colorful, concrete way, they can often grasp concepts more quickly.
The key to helping learning disabled students, often, is repetition - but with varied approaches that make learning fun!
My Project
The Lakeshore materials I'm requesting will improve my students' math lives by giving them more confidence in their efforts to master geometry. As a resource room teacher, I complement what they learn in the classroom, but in a more concentrated approach that is possible in small groups using lots of review and repetition.
They love the math games! Games help them improve their understanding of abstract concepts. The manipulatives provide opportunities to compare different types of polygons and visualize more challenging concepts of lines (and rays and line segments) and angles (what they are and the three types students learn about in elementary school). As they learn about area and perimeter, they'll be able to visualize it.
Lakeshore materials are great for small groups and independent work, so that I can focus on specific needs with one or two students while others play a game, assemble a puzzle, or do "work" at a work station. It's a win-win for everyone!
With budget cuts where I teach, it's impossibly expensive (and basically impossible) to get high-quality up-to-date materials that will help children with special needs improve their learning.
I've been really lucky with Donors Choose in the past and hope to be lucky again this time with my request for materials to improve my teaching of geometry.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Ms. Alperson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
