These students are resilient and special. These students live in an urban neighborhood that has a ton of mobility. The students are from high poverty families and do not have a lot of experiences outside of their neighborhood.
Our school is one of the oldest schools in our district but was remodeled and enlarged 6 years ago.
Our school has one of the highest percentages of homeless families in the district. We even have our playground on the roof as we have no green space around our school.
We participate in a fresh fruit and vegetable program at our school with 100% of our students eligible for free textbooks, breakfast and lunch. Our school has an after school program that is extremely popular, run by a local church/nonprofit organization.
My Project
I ask my students to sit using rug rules which include the "criss-cross applesauce" seated position with their hands in their laps. To get by, I bought $11 carpet markers to make sure they stay in their positions on the carpet to maintain rug rules, but they are ineffective for many reasons. I must put down the carpet markers every morning and remove them after school every day. The carpet markets use Velcro, and the students tend to play with them even though they are reminded to sit directly on them. This is distracting to the learning environment.
This rug would be useful for many reasons.
First, the students would have a routine place to sit. Second, students would have specific boxes to stay in that would give them boundaries to maintain the rug rules I expect of them. This would provide structure for them to remain focused during a lesson and sit in a confined area rather than sitting by friends and leaning against desks. Finally, the design of the rug would allow me to use the colors to pair up partners or make groups to provide an interactive lesson.
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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. Mason and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
