I am privileged to teach 22 energetic, motivated, and excited first grade students at a large elementary school in Austin, Texas. Our classroom is very diverse with many different countries and languages represented. This unique make-up provides us with a rich opportunity to learn from one another and build a strong classroom community of mutual respect and appreciation of differences. We are ONE family and enjoy learning from each other.
Students need the opportunity and encouragement to be in charge of their own learning; therefore, our classroom is student-centered and driven by student needs.
My students thrive on having a voice and a choice in their learning and being able to discover their own unique learning styles. Communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking are most important for preparing students in the 21st century.
My Project
Our classroom values student voice and choice in order to increase student engagement and facilitate student-centered learning. As a result, my first graders voted via Google Forms to acquire flexible seating options for our classroom in order to utilize more of the space in our room and meet diverse student needs. They researched options they would like to have and even visited classrooms that already had flexible seating to "test drive" it! It was decided that we would begin our transformation with a reading couch and cushions.
Flexible seating gives students the ability to self-discover their preferred learning style and does not restrict them to a single choice.
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 Mrs. Turner and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
