My school is in a high poverty area and is bursting at the seams with children. A small minority of our children attend a preschool program before coming to our school. Due to an increase in expectations, most of them will be considered "behind" academically when they start kindergarten. Our dedicated kindergarten teachers struggle to teach them the things that the state claims they should already know before starting kindergarten (fine motor skills, social skills, how to cut, how to hold a pencil, etc.) despite being given no time in the pacing in which to do this. When they begin first grade, a good chunk of my students haven't mastered the ability to write a sentence and are reading below grade level.
Despite their disadvantages, my students demonstrate resilience and an innate desire to learn.
They have no idea that other children have advantages that they don't but they take pride in their accomplishments because they know how hard they worked to be successful. These students inspire me to dedicate my extra time and money to help them reach their goals and achieve their potential.
My Project
I realize that the title, if grammatically correct, should say, "My Students Need to Write Correctly." Please forgive my attempt at being witty. I promise that I take writing very seriously... while being a bit silly about it at the same time.
My students have stupendous, sad, silly, and shocking stories to tell but their handwriting is holding them back.
Not holding the pencil correctly causes them to be fatigued quickly while writing and they get frustrated when you still have to ask them to read their writing for you at the end of the year. If they don't learn to form the letters correctly soon, it will be harder and harder to change with every year that passes. When your hard hurts and you're ashamed of how your writing looks, you tend to try to avoid writing.
I want my students to love writing as much as I love to read their writing! Having these journals will help motivate to do their best on their writing and help them to continue to learn how to form their letters correctly. The journals have the appropriate lines for their development and give them a large space to they can add a picture which, besides being fun, helps their fine motor skills and creative process. I even have a few pencil grips on my wishlist to help the students who don't have the fine motor skills necessary to hold a small pencil for more than a couple minutes.
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. H. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.