Photo by Chris Dorst For the locker fund drive, fifth-grader Morgan Burdette came up with the idea for donation boxes that look like little lockers. Each classroom also has its own donation box, made from a shoebox decorated to look like a locker. Fifth-grader Morgan Burdette came up with the idea. In Morgan's classroom, there isn't enough room for coats and book bags and books. So students take their books out of their book bags every morning, stuff their coats into their book bags and cram their book bags into tiny cubbyholes.
Books stay at their desks until the end of the day.
Different teachers have taken different approaches to the space problem. In Mary Kuhl's first-grade class, students stuff their books and coats into plastic garbage bags, then hang the bags on hooks. Third-grade teacher Pat Dawson took the milk crate approach, stacking milk crates on a cabinet to form cubbies for books. Allen said the space problem is worse in the upper grades, because as kids grow up their coats get bigger and they need more and more books. Studyvin said she teaches eight subjects, each with its own text.