My students need instant learning centers to help build their independence skills while engaging them with hands-on learning opportunities in language arts, math and science.
Do you remember the feeling of riding your bike for the first time without training wheels? That last "push" forward given to you by your family member set you in motion and there was no turning back! I would like my young students to feel that way as they take their first steps toward INDEPENDENCE!
In a very large public school district, I teach at a Title One elementary school of about 1000 students who come from different socioeconomic and culturally diverse backgrounds.
My 25 kindergarten students come to school every day with an "I can!" attitude. They are hardworking, energetic 5 year old children who are excited to "show what they know!” They speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Armenian, and Farsi and most come from immigrant families. With a varied level of abilities, special needs, and foundations in language arts, math and science skills, one thing that my students all have in common is their need to develop INDEPENDENCE! They need to be able to work independently (alone) on a task and also collaboratively within a small group but without the constant "push" or direction of the teacher. Just like the independence of riding that bike on their own, my students need the opportunities to learn, investigate, and explore on their own and to be independent thinkers and workers.
My Project
As I face diminishing resources and larger class sizes each year, I need classroom learning centers to meet the increasingly diverse needs of my young learners. Perhaps no curricular areas are better served by the effective implementation of centers than literacy, math, and science, in which so many diverse skills must be mastered by students with equally diverse ability levels. While group instruction is an essential element in helping my young students learn, I am also challenged to keep students at various levels engaged while working with smaller groups on activities specific to each student’s level. These instant learning centers will help balance my time and attention time and will provide meaningful, confidence-building activities geared to help students at all literacy, math, and science levels. I will be able to work with students one-on-one or in small groups to target specific skills and meet individual needs and I will be able to make best use of parent helpers and volunteers.
These learning centers will help my kindergarten students learn how to work independently and in small groups and will help develop social interaction & collaboration skills and build self-confidence and esteem.
I will be able to better manage class time and gear literacy, math and science activities to the diverse needs of my students. Centers will allow me to multi-task more efficiently and to deliver differentiated instruction to all of my students as I try to meet their individual needs.
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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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. Perros Barrett and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
