Welcome To Our World: Assisting New Students' Assimilation
My students need books about moving schools to help with their transition. They also need a digital camera, banners, ID badges, pencils & bookmarks to welcome them.
Did you ever have to move to a new school? A student who moves to a new school faces special emotional and social challenges getting used to new home and school environments, making new friends, and achieving to his or her potential. This project will speed their successful transition to our school.
My students attend a large K-5 public suburban elementary school in Tennessee.
They are a diverse group culturally and economically. We are entering our seventh year, having successfully brought together students from four different elementary schools. They are a great joy to work with, and I wake up excited every morning to see what challenges they will bring my way!
We have become known as a school where children are loved and love to learn. Our students work hard, achieve well, and have fun! For this reason we are sought out by families moving into our area as a school of choice; and because of this, we welcome many, many new students each year who have begun their elementary-school experience somewhere else. While they are coming to a great school, each of these new students has left behind people and places that are familiar, making their move emotionally difficult.
My Project
Each year my school welcomes over 100 new students--not counting Kindergarteners--who come to us from other schools, cities, states, and countries. We strive to make them feel welcome and a part of our school community as quickly as possible in multiple ways. Fifth-grade peer ambassadors, identified by their lanyards and name tags, check on new students, welcoming them with special pencils and bookmarks. New students are identified with paw print stickers so that "old-timers" can say, "Hi," "Welcome," and "We're glad you're here." Welcome banners frame a bulletin board of new students' photos. New students meet with the school counselor and participate in New Student small-group counseling sessions where they listen to stories and participate in other activities that allow them to share their feelings about leaving friends, family, and other familiar people and places to come to a place where all is new. Taken together, these efforts speed the successful transition of our new students!
How well students transition into a new school impacts their ability to succeed emotionally, socially, and academically for years beyond the actual move.
For my new students, this project gives them a way to both grieve what they have lost and to assimilate into their new surroundings, promoting emotional and social health and supporting academic success.
For my peer ambassadors, this service opportunity supports the development of character traits such as responsibility, charity, and empathy.
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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 Dr. Taylor and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
