My students are very diverse ethnically and culturally, and they primarily come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Students now receive free breakfast and free lunch. We often send home backpacks with food items for the weekend. In addition, our students have a high transiency rate of approximately 38% throughout the year. We work to make sure our students have the skills to succeed in their grades regardless of the fact that they may attend several schools during the year. Our students love school and have a very dedicated group of teachers and staff who make them feel appreciated and valued. It is not uncommon for staff members to donate clothing and other items as needed by our families.
With our school becoming 100% virtual for at least through the end of 2020 and continuing in some capacity throughout the year; I am looking to make that experience as engaging and seamless as possible.
Engaging live or taped lessons and activities will be an integral part of my students' learning experiences. I want our virtual face-to-face lessons to be seamless and give students the ability to interact in groups, lively discussions, and my ability to share via my screen and doc camera.
My Project
We are still checking out books to students and currently they select with my help through Zoom in the library and also searching our online catalog. With cash strapped funds for library book purchases many of our books are in paperback format. They are excellent books, however, many early readers are very think and have a thin spine. Titles can not be seen when placed on the shelf with hardback books. As such, we have tried tubs, however, there really is no where to place them for kids to readily search through these books.
A forward facing book cart with ergonomically correct height would give my students the ability to easily search through our paperback books.
I do think that by organizing books in a child friendly book book cart, students will be able to see and select what they want. Another factor to be considered is that when school is in session, students have limited time to search for books due to scheduling. As such, I want give students the opportunity to not feel rushed and to use their time selecting books and not struggling due to lack of organization. Library book selection and ease of searching is key to the best use of our my students' time.
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