"Be organized. Be ready. Be awesome!" is what I tell my kids all the time. Efficient transitions make learning proceed smoothly. My 5th grade students work on this all year, getting ready for those four-minute passing times in middle school! With tables, not desks, we need materials close at hand!
My school is a wonderful place to be, and a great place to learn.
The staff has focused on changing the outcomes in life for our kids, and we are making great strides toward this goal.
Fifth graders are the funniest, goofiest, most brilliant bunch of kids! My incoming students are a very diverse group, culturally, racially, and economically. What they share is their excitement for learning "real stuff" and the feeling of personal achievement. They are tenacious in mathematics, and voracious readers. Sometimes they have five or six books stacked on their desks because they are "going to read that, too."
I am fortunate this year because I taught many of these same children as 3rd graders just two years ago! I know them already, and can't wait to see how they have grown. Are they still into coin collecting, model building, book making, and four-square? I'm excited to see them safely out of childhood and into the "tween" years!
My Project
My classroom is in a portable, so we have a bit less room than an inside classroom. We also have tables, which seat four kids each, instead of desks. Tables do take up less room, but the loss of storage space has become a problem.
Right now, composition books and folders (no binders) are kept in bins, which one person from each table must retrieve from the bookshelf at each transition and then return at the next transition. This can cause time to just zip by while waiting for all of this to be coordinated.
With seat pockets, each student could keep their essential materials at hand, resulting in smoother, quicker transitions between subjects. Students will have more personal responsibility for their own materials.
I'm looking forward to smoother transitions, without students relying on a group mate to get or return their materials.
Students will have some practice this year at keeping their materials organized and transitioning quickly. Middle school lockers are just around the corner.
With smooth transitions and good organization, we can get to learning all that "real stuff" even more quickly.
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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. Simpson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
