My students love to "rock out" with their wacky science teacher. Nothing gets them on their feet and singing their hearts out faster than the sight of my old guitar. As they bellow the lyrics to our educational songs, we often have visitors join us. We sing about science, grammar, math and more!
I am greeted every morning by smiling faces.
Our students are excited about school and they love learning. For so many of our children, school is a safe place where they are fed, and cared for. They want to do well, but sometimes, life gets in the way.
Our school is in a high poverty area in Kansas. Our building is comprised of 3rd - 5th grades with approximately 22 students per classroom. Our children range from upper middle class to extreme poverty, with the majority coming from very low-income families. They come to school from large, older homes and small RVs 'temporarily' parked in a local campground but we strive to put them all on equal footing when they walk through our front doors each morning. One way I accomplish this in class is with music.
My Project
My students love to sing and are especially attentive when I am able to bring a guitar to school. I would love to have a guitar in the room at all times. Not only would we be able to sing even more educational songs, but this would also allow me to begin giving (free) guitar lessons to interested students. With so many distractions in their lives, students often need tricks to remember information. No one can forget the different parts of a green plant after singing about it (usually at top volume) over and over again. And why would they willingly sing the same song five or six times? Because I accompany them on the guitar, complete with guitar solos, arm swings and big finishes. They love it! And when asked to recall the information later, students are able to do so, often humming under their breath as they write it down.
With your help, there will be active learners who never imagined how much they could remember until they sang the information in a song.
Your donation will not only impact current students, it will also affect the lives of many students in future classes as we continue to learn and recall information using music.
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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. Burrows and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
