Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
Learn more
Support her classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Support Mrs. Thomas' classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Make a donation Mrs. Thomas can use on her next classroom project.
We are a small K-5 elementary school located in the rural mountains of Western North Carolina. The poverty level is high in the county that our school calls home. We have a small Hispanic population at our school. Over three-fourths of our students qualify for free or reduced meals.
The classroom is made up of students with varying types of disabilities. Some of the students are verbal and can easily be understood, while others may use only one word utterances to communicate with those around them. They all have very short attention spans and are very easily distracted from activities they need to complete. Due to their short attention span it is very important to have them as involved in activities as possible. This means that there needs to be small group activities of not over two students at a time. While this is occurring there needs to be other activities that the others can be involved in and be successful.
Imagine walking into a classroom with eight students with varying disabilities and varying engagement levels. They are looking at books, doing art projects, engaged in math activities and in walks the speech therapist who is carrying a Tablet. Every student immediately STOPS what they are doing and gravitates to her. Each is hoping they are the one she will choose to work with first because of what they can accomplish with the Tablet in her hand.
After seeing the excitement of my students and seeing how they interact with the speech therapist and her Tablet, it made me understand the importance that Tablets could play in our classroom. It gave them a sense of independent success that I had not really seen in them before. They were eager to participate and be involved in something for longer than ten minutes.
About my class
We are a small K-5 elementary school located in the rural mountains of Western North Carolina. The poverty level is high in the county that our school calls home. We have a small Hispanic population at our school. Over three-fourths of our students qualify for free or reduced meals.
The classroom is made up of students with varying types of disabilities. Some of the students are verbal and can easily be understood, while others may use only one word utterances to communicate with those around them. They all have very short attention spans and are very easily distracted from activities they need to complete. Due to their short attention span it is very important to have them as involved in activities as possible. This means that there needs to be small group activities of not over two students at a time. While this is occurring there needs to be other activities that the others can be involved in and be successful.
Imagine walking into a classroom with eight students with varying disabilities and varying engagement levels. They are looking at books, doing art projects, engaged in math activities and in walks the speech therapist who is carrying a Tablet. Every student immediately STOPS what they are doing and gravitates to her. Each is hoping they are the one she will choose to work with first because of what they can accomplish with the Tablet in her hand.
After seeing the excitement of my students and seeing how they interact with the speech therapist and her Tablet, it made me understand the importance that Tablets could play in our classroom. It gave them a sense of independent success that I had not really seen in them before. They were eager to participate and be involved in something for longer than ten minutes.