We're HEAR and HAPPY in Fourth Grade!

School:: Village Oaks Elementary
Subject:: Technology
Teacher:: Lucinda Nunez
: Maria Tello, Eric Elg, Lunia Mervilus
Students Impacted:: 90
Grade:: 4
Date:: July 17, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion for Learning - $85.59

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 73

With technology being used for everything at our school, these headphones were a must. Most programs like iReady have audio that comes with lessons and help students keep focused during these lessons. Students benefited from these headphones as long as they lasted. Students with reading accommodations for testing had the ease of using their headphones to get the questions read to them from programs like HMH into Reading quizzes. Without these headphones, this learning and accommodations would have been difficult and great distractions for many students who cannot focus when there is too much noise.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Our goal is to promote a successful learning environment where all students have resources that benefit each learner without any hindrance due to a lack of supplies. All of our fourth-grade students have access to their own district-provided laptops, though not all students have access to quality headphones/earbuds, which allow students to HEAR clearly while working on independent digital lessons and be prepared for the Florida Assessment for Student Thinking which will be given three times a year as a state progress monitoring test on our BEST standards. A grade-level bulk set with extras for incoming students, of great quality, comfortable, and durable earbuds/headphones for students would help our 4th graders feel prepared, successful, and HAPPY (Have A Positive Productive Year, school theme) when working independently on their laptops in school.

What will be done with my students

Our Title 1 school, has a population of 93% economically needy. Many students come to school on the first day with little to no school supplies. At our school, headphones are now listed as a suggested back-to-school supply, but many of our students are not able to purchase them. With access to a classroom set of their own earbuds, our fourth-grade team would be able to provide all students with earbuds to keep and use in all classrooms. Each pair of earbuds/headphones come individually packed and will be labeled with the student’s name, and stored in their homeroom class for safekeeping. Extra pairs are ordered for incoming students at our school in the months of October - November, and for any defective or damaged earbuds that may stop working.

Benefits to my students

Our fourth-grade students are required to utilize district-provided digital programs daily, to support growth and learning in reading, writing, science, social studies, and math. These programs help to monitor student progress throughout the year, such as, iReady for reading and now Redbird for interventions in Math. iReady is an online program for reading that provides the teacher with a wealth of knowledge from diagnostic tests given 3 times a year for progress monitoring and also provides personalized instruction lessons for each student in fourth grade. These diagnostic tests on iReady evaluate five domains of literacy; phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension of literature, and comprehension of informational texts. iReady lessons are interactive and use sound to keep the students engaged in their lessons. Headphones/earbuds are needed during these lessons to provide the student with privacy and be surrounded by a calm, quiet atmosphere to stay focused on the lessons. Students must be able to concentrate on lessons to be successful, especially when working with phonological awareness activities (hearing and listening for specific sounds in words), phonics (connecting sounds to specific letters and letter groups), and comprehension activities. This is just one example of an important research-based program that can help students to improve their literacy skills. With access to comfortable and quality headphones or earbuds, all students will be able to hear what needs to be heard to increase student achievement. Now more than ever, the need for good working grade-level earbuds is needed since our upcoming F.A.S.T. progress monitoring test will be given to our fourth graders in class on a computer three times a year. These earbuds can provide the assistance needed for our ESE students who have the test items read to them aloud as part of their accommodations and help minimize noise distractions. Furthermore, the students with no accommodations have access to any read-aloud instructions on the progress monitoring tests and lessons on the programs used by our district for student achievement and growth. Plus what an advantage it would be for ALL students that the earbuds provide minimizing classroom noise distractions. Lastly, this grant will allow all of our fourth-grade students to improve in their reading and math as they stay focused and utilize the much-needed support a pair of earbuds can provide in class.

Budget Narrative

RedSkyPower 200 Pack Multi Color Kid's Wired Earphone Headphones, Individually Bagged, Disposable Earphones Ideal for Students in Classroom Libraries Schools, Bulk Wholesale

SAVERHO Classroom Pocket Chart for Cell Phone and Calculator Holder, 36 Clear Pocket Chart Organizer for Classroom Cellphone Storage with 36 Number Sticker Size:38.5x25.7 Inch (White-2pack)

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	200 individually packed earbuds	$79.99
2	estimated tax	$5.60
	Total:	$85.59

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