I teach second grade in a diverse public school in Chicago. As a school in a large urban district where resources and funding are limited, my students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. As a result, there is already a wide range of academic abilities that present themselves in second grade causing a lot of differentiation of instruction to take place.
In order to bring my students together, I strive to cultivate a positive learning climate that is student focused using Responsive Classrooms, student choice and flexible seating.
This means that my classroom needs the resources to create a fun, friendly, and organized workshop atmosphere where learning can take place and transition time is minimized. It also needs to capture the students' attention early on and show them the joy of learning so that they become motivated to be life long learners.
My Project
During reader's and writer's workshop, my students are learning to be more independent. Students are given many options to allow them to choose the work and seating arrangements that suit them best in order for them to focus and make academic gains.
While my students love flexible seating and the ability to manage their own learning environment, they often struggle with the organization of their materials as they do not have an assigned working spot where they store their supplies.
In order to help my students minimize their movement during the workshop and maximize their productive time, I would like to provide each student with a personalized bin that they can use to tote their materials around. I'm requesting Lakeshore Clear-View Storage Boxes.
While our classroom library has many books it is often difficult for students to know where to find the books that interest them. If we have these Connect & Store Book Bins to store the books in the library, each category of books can have its own place to call home. This will help students more easily identify where the books they want to read are located. Also, the Big Beanbag Seats and the Calming Colors pillows will help to make the library an even more cozy place to read and to provide students with more flexible seating options.
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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. Birnbaum and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
