My students need comfortable seats, scented oils, squishy hand toys, and writing utensils that do not hurt!
$532 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Think back to your 7th grade classroom. Now ask yourself a question you may not have considered before: how physically comfortable were you? For many students with special needs, a traditional classroom can be a dreadfully uncomfortable place.
I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students with special needs at a small urban middle school in the poorest Congressional district in the US.
My students have struggled for many years to accommodate themselves to classrooms that are not always designed with their needs in mind. In fact, in many ways classroom design has changed very little in the past 100 years. For generations, students have sat straight-backed, staring at a board at the front of the room, for hours on end.
The physical experience of school is uncomfortable for many students. For students with special needs, it may be excruciating.
My students have attention and sensory issues that make it difficult to sit still. They have emotional difficulties that make it difficult for them to calm themselves when needed. They have grapho-motor issues that make it painful to write. They have reading delays that make it difficult for them to understand what they read without reading it aloud.
My Project
Every single one of these problems that my students encounter can be solved with a simple tool. The pain of writing can be alleviated with ergonomically designed pens and slant boards that allow students to write at a 20 degree angle. Fidgety hyperactivity is relieved through sensory toys and inflatable seat cushions. Students whose bodies are sore after many hours at a desk can plunge into a bean bag for an after-school reading session.
All of these tools are simple, and many of them are relatively inexpensive. However, with our school budget cut down to the bare minimum, we barely have enough money to keep enough desks in our classrooms. Can you help bring my special education classroom into the 21st century by providing us with dozens of aids to make our students more comfortable and productive?
Adults who overcome the obstacles of learning disabilities or emotional disturbance-- from Bill Gates to Georgia O'Keeffe to Virginia Woolf to Albert Einstein--often grow up to be some of society's most brilliant and creative contributors.
Even so, students in special education are too often punished for problems that could have simple solutions.
Our kids deserve to be comfortable in school. They deserve to have their needs met. They desire the chance to thrive.
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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. S. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.