Our children are second-grade students ranging in age from seven to nine years old. We are a high poverty rural school with many students riding 30 minutes to an hour on the bus each day. Since we are so rural, museums, large libraries, and cultural resources are not easily attended. Our nearest zoo is a two and a half bus ride away, which is way too far for our classes to travel.
Our town is set in the Ozark Mountains and is set apart by our topography and lack of factories and job opportunities.
Our school is rich in spirit but poor in opportunities.. Our children, like all children, are curious learners and would benefit greatly with more hands-on materials for the classroom.
I have been concerned about the population of the classroom and how poverty has affected the students and the students learning. I want them to be safe and have their basic needs of warmth met so they can concentrate on what learning is going on in class.
My Project
Our second grade classroom focuses on Science and Social Studies. We rotate between three teachers and I teach three classes of students. All and all there is about 66 students each with a different background and prior knowledge.
Science is by far the students favorite subject.
These magazines are perfect because they are visual, they contain curriculum handouts, and they are sent home with the student to read over and over again. One thing I love about these magazines is that they expose the students to information they aren't familiar with in such a rural area. Even though the students have heard of Ellis Island, no child in our small town has been there, or quite knows exactly what it means. This magazine gives literacy handouts too. It discusses main idea, details, compound words, and inferences, just to name a few. These magazines would be a definite positive addition to our learning and a resource that the students could keep.
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