WCTV Community Classroom - Helping local educators get what they need to stock their classrooms

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - We’re well into the school year now, but teachers are still trying to figure out how to provide for their students.

That’s where we come in with WCTV’s partnership with Donors Choose, where we help educators with their classroom needs.

We talked with a first-year art teacher for the October Community Classroom segment. Layne Mikesell moved from teaching fifth-grade science to teaching kindergarten through fifth-grade art.

That change meant she needed a whole new set of items for her class.

Ms. Mikesell says she has so many inspiring projects planned but needs to provide visual items for reference. She works at Hartsfield Magnet School for International Studies, formerly Hartfield Elementary School in Tallahassee.

Mikesell says being at a Title I-funded school, art can also be used in therapeutic ways. Therefore, getting donations for classroom items will go a long way.

“We have to provide those things ourselves or use our small stipend. That stipend doesn’t always go very far. So when you’re considering all the supplies you might have to buy, on top of creating an inviting environment, you do kind of need some community involvement or some help from the community,” she said.

Ms. Mikesell says the money will go toward, among other things, a map rug to help students visualize where specific art comes from in the world.

It will also provide a gathering space for sharing art books with younger grades.

If you’d like to help Ms. Mikesell, click on the Donor Choose link on this Community Classroom page on our website.

For any teachers in our region who are signed up on DonorsChoose, please let Lanetra Bennett know. Her email address is lanetra.bennett@wctv.tv. We’d love to highlight your class and help you get donations, too.

The Community Classroom segment airs every third Wednesday of the month.

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