Now that they know that they can, my students love to learn. Being a special education teacher my school serves approximately 220 students, ranging in age 5 to 22. We are a public separate school, with students who are certified as trainable mentally disabled, severe/profound mentally disabled, multi-disabled, autistic, and visually impaired. Most of our students are non-verbal, and all have fine-motor skill problems. Several are visually impaired.
Creating "learning centers" for my students to work and learn is my ongoing task throughout the school year. After years of service, my laminating machine burnt. Keeping up with paper copies for the learning centers is difficult. As a teacher, I'm only allowed to make a limited amount of copies for the school year. Some activities required so many copies that I felt like the students were working to fill the recycling bin, so I had to discontinue them. Also many of my students need picture cards to communicate their needs and thoughts during the day. The cards have to be laminated to remain for future use.
We really need a new laminator. I have several new center activities to help advance my students' learning. I'm excited to complete and introduce them, and I know the students will enjoy working with and learning from them. Working the learning centers allows my students to feel empowered because they are constructing their own knowledge with the added bonus of a little fun at the same time.
With your help, my students will not only be able to make progress on their educational goals, but will finally have a chance to interact with their environment INDEPENDENTLY!
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