This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
On the first day of school, students come in proudly carrying new notebooks, binders, and folders. I also raid Target or Staples for highlighters and post-its that we use for annotation and close reads. By the end of September, most of those supplies are either missing or damaged.
My school is part of a 100 percent free lunch urban district, which contains 32 schools and more than 22,000 students.
Needless to say, resources are tight. My middle school students are diverse learners from diverse backgrounds, but they all share a love of learning. I want to empower them to keep track of lessons mastered and objectives they still have to tackle by providing a place for them to store data and notes.
My Project
My students are transitioning from class to class for the first time in their lives - but a school rule is that they are unable to wear backpacks. This means they must carry around binders and textbooks and folders and pencil cases in their arms - and this results in many lost things! We work hard in my class to take notes, collect data, write essays, and stay organized, but often on the journey from classroom to classroom important items go missing or are damaged. Having a place to store Language Arts-specific materials WITHIN my classroom - so they don't have to be carried around the school - will help students protect their supplies and always be prepared for class. Data binders, vocabulary notebooks, and portfolios will all be kept in these storage carts. Each cart will be located in the center of a group of desks. As I have four classes (two seventh and two eighth), each drawer of a cart will be designated for one class.
These carts will help teach students to be responsible, and to keep track of important notes and data for a sustained period of time.
The carts will also protect their notebooks and lessen their load as they travel from class to class. This is developmentally appropriate for seventh and eighth graders, and will scaffold them from the contained environment of sixth grade (where they stayed in the same desk all day) to the complete independence of high school.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Pocock and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
