Imagine this: You have a great lesson plan with engaging pieces like cutting, gluing, coloring, etc. Now, once you have that "ideal" lesson in your head, imagine getting to the lesson and realizing that all of your students come without any supplies to school and rely on you to provide everything.
My fourth grade students go to school in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago.
Most of them are low-income students that come to school with a smile on their face, but come with very little materials that show they are prepared to learn. They crave engaging activities, but their lack of supplies make it difficult for us to get anything done because they often lose most of the materials I provide them because they never end up in folders.
My Project
If my students had folders that were all the same ,we would be able get ourselves more organized and would not lose supplies and papers as easily. I remember as a child having my parents help organize my stuff and made sure that I had a folder and notebook for each class. Sadly, many of my students come to class with one or two folders for four subjects, which makes it more likely for them to lose papers and assignments because they do not have organization that will help them be successful. They do not have access to supplies, which makes it harder on me when I ask them to take out assignments that we already started or homework I handed out three days ago. A lot of paper is wasted because half of the students misplace their work. If we had a blue "to do" folder, I would have each student label the folder: one spot for class work and one for homework. A class sharpener will help students get their assignments done because many do not come with their own pencil sharpener as well.
This donation will improve my classroom because it will help me get more instruction time in for learning and less time wasted on searching for papers that I passed out yesterday or asking someone for a sharpener .
This will help implement organization in my classroom. They are used to messy piles of paper and using the phrase "I lost it, can I have another?" over and over again. I would like to help save some trees and teach them organization skills.
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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. Baran and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.