My students need a listening center with headphones, CD/cassette player, and Tacky the Penguin Kit.
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I teach a gifted and talented first grade class at a school in New York. I have 24 children with extremely diverse needs, from children who are able to read on a 4th grade level to children who are reading on a kindergarten level. However, they are all brilliant thinkers with lots of ideas to share!
Our first grade G&T class has never existed in the school before this year, so materials were already scarce to begin with when I began setting up the classroom. This is my first year as a classroom teacher and I have already spent so much money to help my students have as many opportunities in the classroom as possible.
Though a lot of my children are reading at a much higher grade level, there are still many who need to work on building up their fluency. They can read the words on the pages of those 4th grade books, but the expression and excitement is not always in their voices - they read more like robots in monotone, choppy voices. We have spent a lot of time trying to "read like storytellers," trying to make our voices sound exciting! I read books aloud everyday to show the children how they can do this. However, I think a listening center in which children have an opportunity to listen to a book on CD and read along with the storyteller would really help!
Our learning centers, which we do a few times a week, provide many opportunities for enrichment. Children are able to really explore the things we have been studying during class lessons. I believe that if we had a really strong listening center in our room, my children would develop reading voices full of excitement and enthusiasm.
We need materials to build this listening center. We are starting with nothing so we need a CD/Tape player and junction box that will allow up to 8 children at once to listen to one CD or tape. We also need headphones that are compatible with the junction box. We will start with 4 sets of headphones and hopefully add on eventually. We are also desperate for storage space, so a Mobile Listening Center that can store all of the materials and be moved around the room is just what we need to get this listening center up and running. Tacky the Penguin is a story that my students enjoy, so having it on CD with extra copies of the book to read will be a good start to motivate them in building up their fluency and voice expression.
Your help will make it possible for my students to become the best readers they can be! Robot reading will be gone and storyteller voices will be all around the classroom.
Half of 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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