My students need 15 Chess sets to use during our Chess Club time, which is before school for 2.5 hours weekly and during lunchtime for 30 minutes daily.
Our students will be more successful in school if they increase their thinking and reasoning skills, their daily school attendance, their math scores, their motivation for school, and have opportunities for positive interactions with their peers. Playing Chess will achieve this and more.
This donation of 15 Chess sets will impact 30 of our high poverty students.
These 30 students are specially selected by their classroom teachers, who have identified them as having a history of behavior issues, low motivation for school, poor attendance, low math scores, low self-esteem, and who qualify for free lunch services. Many of these students are multiracial, African-American, or Asian. Most of the students in this group are from single parent homes. A high percentage of these students have a parent in jail. A few are in the Florida Foster Care system and are considered "homeless."
We have three Chess Club teachers who are volunteering their time to work with these students on a daily basis for the entire school year. Please open your heart to our wonderful students. They have so much potential to experience success in school and we as a society must do everything we can to give them that opportunity. I believe these Chess sets will change their lives!
My Project
I requested 15 Chess sets that will be used directly by our students during Chess Club time daily for the entire school year of 2011-2012. With these 15 sets, 30 of our specially selected group of high poverty students will be able to learn to play Chess, to interact with their peers in a positive way in order to decrease bullying issues, and to increase their thinking and reasoning skills. I feel that these students need to increase their sense of belonging to their school, to gain new skills, make new friends, learn how to have positive interactions with others, and to learn how to increase their predicting and reasoning skills. We expect to see an increase in their self-esteem as each of these 30 students feels much more successful in school.
This project is very special to me because our students lack so many skills and need support in so many ways.
After researching the benefits and the educational and emotional impact that Chess can have on a child, I was convinced that we need to have this club available to our students. All 30 students were asked two questions: 1. Do you want to learn how to play Chess? and 2. Are you willing to attend Chess Club on a regular basis? All 30 students responded with a "yes" to both questions.
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. Dreksler and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.