FULLY FUNDED- OH -Anne Pfouts Kindergarten teacher

I am a kindergarten teacher in a rural Title I school located in Geneva, Ohio. My students come to school each day eager and ready to learn despite the challenges they have already experienced in their young lives. Although the population in Geneva, Ohio is 6,215, an assumption might be made that the challenges my students face would be minor in comparison to an inner-city school district. However, this is not the case. A significant number of my students have experienced one or more of the following: trauma at birth due to premature birth or prenatal drug exposure, parent(s) who are active or recovering substance abuse addicts, child abuse, witness to domestic violence, and one-parent families or are being raised by someone other than their biological parent(s). In addition, my student population consists of ESOL students and students with disabilities. Many of my families are transient in nature, and the majority of my students are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

For many of my students, kindergarten is their first formal school experience since many have not attended preschool. At the beginning of each school year, I administer the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) which is a requirement of the State of Ohio Department of Education to determine a child’s readiness for kindergarten. The data obtained from this assessment is then used to determine if a child will be put on a Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plan (RIMP), which is for any student determined to be below grade level. The number of students I have on a RIMP each year is typically 75% or greater; however, this school year 19 out of my 23 students (83%) are on a RIMP. The purpose of the RIMP is to provide interventions to help students be at grade level by the end of kindergarten.

Many of my students, although young, have already developed learned helplessness, or a defeated attitude toward learning. My goal is to help them develop confidence in their abilities, so they are empowered with the knowledge that they can be successful learners. This not only helps my young scholars academically; it improves their emotional well-being as well. One of the greatest joys I experience in my classroom is the “light bulb” moments I witness when my students suddenly master a concept they have been struggling with, and they realize what they have accomplished. My current joy is watching my students become very excited when they use their decoding skills to sound out a word or use their “detective skills” to identify a sight word when they are reading independently.

My school district utilizes Wonders for language arts instruction. I personally believe a strength of the curriculum is the Reading Writing Companion, which focuses on reading comprehension and writing. However, the phonics portion of the program does not meet the unique learning needs of my students. I frequently have to utilize supplemental materials to enhance my phonics instruction, and I believe Letters Alive! would be a valuable resource for my classroom. I witnessed Letters Alive! in action when I attended the I Teach K! conference in July 2015 and I saw firsthand the potential this amazing program has for student learning and engagement and I would love to have this program in my classroom.

As previously noted, the majority of my students begin the school year significantly below grade level. My goal is to close the achievement gaps I am witnessing each year so that my students leave kindergarten at grade level and will no longer require to be on a Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plan (RIMP) in first grade. In addition, I would like for my students to become more active learners by taking ownership of their learning, which will improve their emotional well-being and confidence. For the upcoming school year, in light of the COVID pandemic, I anticipate that the number of students entering kindergarten will continue to be below grade level, as many parents who may have considered sending their child to preschool have chose not to because of the pandemic.

Every day, I have a limited amount of time to capture my students’ imaginations and make learning so important that they do not want to miss one day of school. I believe that Alive Studios products would help me in generating excitement for learning in my students. Thank you in advance for your consideration of a grant to bring Alive Studios to my classroom.