Who would like to sit still for an hour and quietly focus on reading and math skills which you are struggling with? Not us! My students engage in an hour long workshop time each day. During this time they rotate once, going to only two different activities that entire hour.
My students are a group of amazing kiddos from a rural, diverse area.
There is a large mixture of ethnicity, economic, religious and social diversity in our school. Our school also has 85% free or reduced price lunch. For several of these children, our school is the safest place for them to be during the day.
Even throughout their life struggles, students are still eager to learn and never give up. One of the amazing things about first-graders is their passion for school and learning throughout the entire school year. My favorite thing about first-grade is watching how much students can develop throughout the school year.
My Project
These specialized chairs will help us practice our focus and ability to maintain impulse-control while working. My students work for 30 minutes straight at two different centers. This workshop time is so crucial because it is time that students get to meet with me and work one-on-one. We focus solely on skills that they need to improve on.
This time is also important because it is time for me to show each student that I care about them and their future. All this time they are expected to work diligently and to also control their little bodies. Some of us are still struggling with this expectation and are working hard daily on it. I feel that these chairs will help my class to improve on self-control and motivation to complete work. If I can help these students be successful in one more area, like impulse-control, then I would feel like I achieved my goal as a teacher.
Donating to this project will not only benefit this particular group of first-graders, but it will also benefit first-grade classes for several years to come.
Obviously with only two chairs in the entire classroom, not every student will use them daily. However, we will rotate the chairs throughout the weeks so that every student has the opportunity to use these learning tools.
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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 Mrs. Welsh and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
