My students need a new Braidy doll, Build-A-Braidy kits, and information on using these tools to facilitate communication for students with social language difficulties.
"Mrs. L, I'm an author! I wrote a book!" At the end of the school year this is just one of the wonderful things I get to hear from our kindergartners. Using Braidy the Story Braid these students create their own amusing, terrifying and/or comedic stories.
My students range in ages from 3 to 12 years old (Pre-K to 5th grade) with a variety of speech and language needs.
My caseload includes students with autism spectrum disorders, visual impairments, intellectual disabilities, articulation impairments, and specific language impairments. As part of my services I have been able to teach co-teach writing in the Kindergarten classrooms once a week using the Braidy the Story Braid program. This program allows the students to produce creative writing stories with an age appropriate organizational structure that is interactive, engaging and fun! The students in this small, rural school are enthusiastic writers that by the end of this program love to create and share their stories!
My Project
"Braidy!" This is the first thing I hear when I enter a classroom or walk through the hallway with doll from this program. The doll is interactive with plush pieces that are placed on by the students. The students can't wait to tell us which part of the story comes next!
The best part of this program is the encouragement for students to be creative in their writing. If the student wants to write about a pink polka dotted giraffe named "Fred" they do it. At the end of the year students are able to use a "Build a Braidy" to put together their own paper Braidy to bring home.
My students will be able to use this program to organize their own stories when talking with their friends and teachers. My students occasionally forget to add all of the pieces of their stories which ends up with a confused listener and frustrated speaker. Using the Making Connections books they'll be able to learn about perspective taking including adding those details and how to communicate with their peers.
My students love using this program and we've had a lot of success with developing creative storytelling.
Unfortunately our current Braidy doll is falling apart due to being used so frequently. Given the current budget cuts and since the "Build a Braidy" dolls are sent home with students every year there will not be any more available for future students. This project would allow future students to learn about creative story telling and that they can become amazing writers!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Lemos and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.