My school is located in an urban area. The school has an estimated enrollment of four hundred students for the 2017-2018 school year in grades TK-5 with fifteen classrooms. Additionally, we house a state pre-k program. About 92.5% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 48% are English language learners. At our school, forty-six percent of the students are Latino, thirty-five percent are African-American, ten percent are Asian and three percent are Filipino.
The school has established a culture of continuous school improvement and has a team of teachers, parents and administrators who are committed to creating the best possible learning environment for students.
Teachers meet weekly for a sixty-minute period during the workday in their professional learning community to analyze student performance data, set goals and share instructional strategies. These teacher teams follow a developed agenda and use protocols and defined roles to manage the meetings. These meetings are my school's cornerstone for building a professional learning community and improving student achievement.
My Project
Our students are great kids who often come from traumatic backgrounds. It is difficult for a student to focus on learning and maintain enthusiasm for school when their mind is cluttered with anxiety. We have seen that stress balls can really be a great assistance to children in this situation. Having an outlet, such as a stress ball, that is covert, non-judgemental, and accessible to a student at any time is a critical need for so many of our students.
It might sound silly, but access to a stress ball can be the difference in a student's entire academic career.
For some of our students, it means they are able to regain composure when triggered and continue with their learning when otherwise they would spiral down and be unable to regain the emotional state needed for learning.
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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 Ms. Kemp and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.