This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Students enter my kindergarten classroom ranging in age between 4 years old to 5 or 6 years old by the end of the school year. While some children have had previous experience in a preschool setting, not all students enter kindergarten with the same exposure to letters, numbers and the background knowledge needed to do their very best in school.
Our students deserve the best education we can provide them every day!
I want to provide my students every opportunity to learn in ways that are the most meaningful and engaging; where they can use their incredible imaginations and creativity to express their learning through the use of a variety of media. This type of learning requires supplies and materials.
Our school is a Title I school in New Haven, CT and almost all our students receive free or reduced lunch. Many students receive food for the weekends through a backpack program that is offered to ensure they have food to eat so they can return to school focused on learning. These children arrive each day with a smile on their face because they are happy to be in school. Let's make their learning experiences as special as they are!
My Project
Our students love reading books online that connect to our current topics of learning and this helps them extend their knowledge and become "experts" on any given topic. Our public library offers a link that is like Netflix but is for books. It is called Bookflix. This is a free online resource that pairs up a fictional text with an informational text covering a variety of topics. Many of these topics mirror our units of study each quarter. In order for students to pair up with a friend and "buddy read" together, they need headphones and a splitter so they can both plug in to the same computer. In addition to the 10 iPads we have, our classroom has four desktop computers. Since the desktop computers are not portable, use of the headphones and splitters allows two students to pair up on each computer. This allows up to eight students at a time to be in the "library" online!
Watch the excitement soar as students extend their learning!
Students click on a link and can listen to an audio book and follow the words as they explore a variety of topics we are learning about each week. I love to hear them calling me over to show me something they are learning. This level of engagement fosters meaningful discussions between students that carries over into their writing! It is also a great opportunity for the kids to take turns deciding which book to read and to share the responsibility of who will work the mouse for navigation. It is a great way of exposing kids to many different authors and text features, as well as, allowing for student choice. The icing on the cake is the added benefit of increasing students' vocabulary and reading fluency!
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 Ms. Holzbar and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
