My students need classroom supplies, such as highlighters, glue, pens, markers, and scissors because they are economically disadvantaged and can't afford these supplies.
I teach four sections of 6th-grade language arts and two sections of reading intervention. I teach both reading and writing in 62 minute classes every day. The students do a mixture of activities in my class on a daily basis including daily fix it problems, journals, SSR, and group work.
Our school is located in a lower middle class neighborhood.
Half of the students are considered economically disadvantaged and on the free and reduced lunch plan. We are a district that does not offer "specials" in elementary school. When they come to the middle school they lack basic artistic, musical, and physical skills. I try to incorporate these into my classroom as much as possible. My team of students includes gifted students, special ed students, and students with emotional-behavioral disabilities. The kids are eager to learn because they enjoy the variation in my lessons. They love doing anything hands-on or working in groups. Our school facilities are in desperate need of renovations. Classrooms, supplies, and furniture are very old and run down. We have no air conditioning, which makes kids miserable in the warm months. We do our best to provide the best education we can for these kids with the resources we have. Fortunately, the students are well behaved and want to learn.
My Project
I use hands-on lessons in my classroom on a regular basis. One of the ways I engage students' interest in a language arts concept is by guiding them through interactive notebooks. The kids love making them because they combine art and language arts class. However, our lack of supplies is the biggest setback. About half of the class does not have the supplies, such as scissors, glue, or markers, they need to complete the interactive notebooks. Many of the students simply cannot afford the supplies. As a first year teacher, it is difficult for me to purchase enough supplies on my own to help all these students who are in need. We also need a pencil sharpener because our classroom does not have one that works. Kids ask to go to another room just to sharpen their pencils. We also need these supplies to continue our monthly project of sending letters to deployed troops. We use the AnySoldier program to send letters and pictures to troops, but without sufficient supplies, it's difficult.
Donations to this project will help students with completing their interactive notebooks.
They will use this class set of supplies so they will not fall behind the other students as they wait to borrow a peer's supplies. The faster and easier we complete these lessons, the more knowledge they can gain from additional lessons. It is often difficult to cover all the concepts for reading and writing in our short classes. The more lessons we cover, the more prepared they will be for state tests.
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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 Ms. Tomichek and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
