Sheila Branham
Snapshot
Traveling Student Totes
I am concerned about my kids losing the play and exploration that comes with being inside an elementary classroom. As you walk into my resource classroom, you will see the tables arranged in collaborative groups with endless supplies for the children to share while they are working creatively with their small groups. Unfortunately, this will not be able to be the case this year for the safety of our classes and to ensure each child has the necessary at home during distance learning instruction. My district has made the decision to utilize remote learning to begin school. Even though our children won’t be working side by side with their classmates this school year, we still need to make sure they know we believe in them, they have the necessary materials, and that they will be successful in everything they attempt! This year I will be teaching a special group of K-6th grade students that will face a school year like no other. They are going to be learning in a mixture of ways and I need to make sure they have all of the materials they will need to experience success. My students need to be able to access a variety of resources each day even though they do not have an in person teacher! My students want to learn how to read independently and discuss books, they will learn to successfully multiply and divide challenging problems and many other math concepts, they will conduct meaningful science experiments, and they will learn about what is happening in their neighborhoods and world and what they can do to make them both a better place. This will not be possible if they do not have the authentic physical supplies that they will need to be engaged learners while participating in distance learning/blended learning. They are going to need items such as pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencil cases, glue, folders, scissors, highlighters, dry erase markers, lanyards, tote bags, and stress balls to use while socially distancing at their home. They also need copies of the story books we will be reading for fluency and comprehension. While using these story books, I will be asking my students to find story evidence to respond to higher level questions, to solve math problems with their dry erase boards, to illustrate story elements and enhance science and social studies lessons with their art supplies. We will help them stay organized by sorting these supplies into their cases and safely delivering them in their own bags ensuring no transmission of germs to their homes.
My objective for my Traveling Student Totes (TST Program) is to be able to engage students and parents in their house, with a assortment of tools that will reach the different learners- whether they are learners that just need enrichment, or learners that need extra support. Each TST is a tote bag will contains directions, various reading material from books for Reading A-Z, poems and/or songs Teachers Pay Teachers, along with hands-on activities, manipulatives and/or games. Each TST will focus on the particular area of study (examples: fractions, multiplication…). Even though each bag centers on one key subject matter, each bag will be cross-curricular. After 20 years, I have found that parents love to be involved in their child’s academics but with work schedules, are unable to do so as much as they’d like to. With this program, not only will the children be able to experience academic engagement, but they’ll be able to do so at home, bringing together the home-to-school connection. The students will be given a pre-test and post over basic math facts, high frequency words and reading comprehension relative to the materials sent home and being used over remote learning.
These will be hands-on activities to immerse themselves in the academic content. There are many “important matters” concerning education. Two of which that I consider far above the ground the rest are what I base most of my thinking of education around. To pull off a successful education for each child, I feel that all teachers have to take into concern two pieces that I believe very important: each student is a different learner, and that student’s need learning support outside of the classroom. My Traveling Student Tote program does exactly that. It benefits student’s at all scholastic levels by focusing on the content they are expected to learn, by including a variety of activities to get to all students, and by offering the parents a platform to assist them.
Help me give my students the tools promote educational advancement and resources they need to be successful remotely and in the classroom and fun while at home! Again the items I would like to purchase are individual books and hands on activities and games from various stories for home use. These items will be able to last the students throughout the years.