Our rural school serves roughly 300 students from grades Pre-K through 5th. We have a diverse student body with a significant number of English language learners, exceptional children, and students from low-income households. As the school's teacher-librarian, I get to work with every child regularly and learn first hand about their reading habits and how they feel about reading for pleasure as well as their reading preferences.
More than a few prefer to avoid reading altogether, which makes my crazy mission of turning them into voracious bookworms quite challenging.
My #1 priority is to ensure that students are comfortable in the library and that they find something that will spark and hold their interest.
My Project
This project is actually a small part of a much broader plan to update our library's furnishings, among other crucial elements, so that we can provide our students with a comfortable, welcoming, and inclusive space for creating, exploring, and, of course, reading. Aside from a couple of sofas and an armchair that were added to the space in 2018, nothing much has changed in the library since it was added to the school in the mid-1970s. The rest of our furniture consists of one-size-fits-all rigid wooden tables and chairs, which is not exactly conducive to curling up with a good book.
The floor rockers selected for this project have two primary purposes: A comfortable place to sit while independently reading and as an active seating option for my kids who love participating in our whole-class read-alouds but struggle to sit still alongside their classmates on our storytime rug.
This type of seating lets students engage in the movement that they need in order to be focused and alert while the low position keeps them with their classmates rather than on the outskirts of the group.
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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. P. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.