Our scholars come from one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city, but despite their difficult circumstances, they are triumphing. These seventh and eighth graders burn to succeed but they can't do it without your help. Their families lack the resources needed to provide basic school supplies, as many struggle to even put a meal on the table.
One resource which our school has run short on is notebooks. Each day we write in our notebooks, so they serve as our most intimate and important supply. These kids love to write, draw and document their brilliant ideas. They have been especially successful composing persuasive essays. It seems they always have persuasive ideas for how to make school more fun, or what field trips we should go on. Last year one of our students' letters, created in their notebook, even convinced the principal to send the class to the Exploratorium.
This is the cause of the shortage; the students work in their notebooks so diligently and effectively that we have run through over 150 notebooks last year. We even created a classroom library of "completely finished notebooks"! We desperately need more notebooks in order to facilitate more writing.
Sadly, many of our students' families cannot afford to purchase these basic items and the school's supplies are minimal. I have no notebooks left to distribute and I see there are excellent students who only have a few blank pages left.
When I see a student who has covered his/her notebook in insightful and original writing, it hurts to inform her/him, "I'm sorry, but we don't have anymore". I can see the passion in their eyes darken just a little as they are forced to ask a friend for a piece of looseleaf, a piece which both the student and I know will disappear into the whirlwind that is a middle-school classroom. In contrast if you can provide these young minds with a solid tool they will continue to be motivated each day to read and write.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mr. Kreniske and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.