Help us become empowered learners

Hi my name is Arlinda Lela, I am a first grade teacher at P.S.21 in Staten Island, New York. I have been a teacher for 3 years now but have been working with children for 8 years. My students are my world and I constantly strive to improve their lives and make my classroom a safe and fun environment for them. I am a special education teacher and teach in an ICT setting, meaning I have many students with speacial needs. I try my best to constantly incorporate social/emotional learning in my classroom. I want my classroom to be as inclusive as possible. Our class has had the same tables and chairs for decades now. Hard-rock wooden tables and chairs, this makes it so hard for my 6-7 year old students to focus on learning. How can these students focus when they are uncomfortable and have to sit on these hard-wood chairs for about 6 hours a day. This year especially after the pandemic I want to make school as fun, comfortable, inclusive as possible. I want to have flexible seating for my students. I want them to be able to have a choice and a say in where they sit everyday. Children like to move and they need to move, flexible seating will allow them to rock, lean, kick, wobble, and sit to suit their needs. Flexible seating will allow my students to build community, they will be sharing a space and taking turns in different locations. Flexible seating will allow my students to find comfortable positions in the classroom. Comfortable students are calm, focused and productive. Traditional seating makes students easily feel isolated where flexible seating will allow for so much more collaboration. Together is better. Lastly, flexible seating stimulates students’ sense of touch. This type of stimulation helps students process information and focus. This stimulation is especially beneficial for students with ADD, ADHD, and ASD.

With this money I am going to transform our classroom, into a classroom that makes learning fun and comfortable with a sense of choice and community. I will make our classroom inclusive for all learners. I will purchase 5 new tables that are height adjustable. 4 bouncy chairs, 4 stools, 4 bean bags, 4 coushions, fidget chair bands, and lap desks for students who would rather work from sitting on a cushion.

Low-income community schools are often over looked. People forget about schools like us. Help my students become empowered learners so we can have the best future leaders. Show them that good people still exist in this world!

I will post everything I buy with the receipts. I will also post my students in their new flexible seating classroom once it is done (With parents permission of course)!