My kindergarten students were 3 when COVID-19 closed down the country and the world. This is when you begin developing critical social skills but instead, the world quarantined. These kids missed out on Preschool, church, playgroups, and even playing at the park. When they were able to go back, they were masked and unable to share materials.
This has been a year of learning crucial skills they should have already come knowing.
A year to learn what sharing is and what it looks like. A year to develop the typical motor skills a child has at this age. A year to build and design and explore through play. We have spent the past 100 days of school trying to help them learn these skills, and they are lapping it up! They love time to play with blocks, puzzles, and sensory toys. They love play dough and digging in the wood chips outside. They love to explore through play. Slowly, they are learning to share, to include, to design, to create, and it is beautiful.
My Project
Play schemas are types of play repeated by developing children to make sense of and recreate the world around them as they begin to identify patterns and organize the information we teach them. Open-ended tools such as the Loose Parts Wooden Mandala, the Merry Heart Wooden Rainbow Stacker Set, the Dinhon Wooden Nesting Puzzles, the Wooden Building Blocks Set, the Lego Duplo, the Magna-Qubix, and the Simply Sweet Fabric Play Scarves will allow my students to use these schemas to explore, create, and engineer as they design towns and towers, build creatures, recreate the habitats we learn about, and create their own worlds.
My students are the most engaged when learning in a hands-on, open-ended way in which they can build, design, create, and problem solve.
At the same time, they will be building social skills such as team work, communication, sharing, compassion, and sympathy, which is needed in schools now more than ever.
They will be able to explore physics and engineering as they design runs with the Hape Quadrilla Wooden Marble Run. They will be able to use most of these items as manipulatives as they build their math sense. The Tick-iT 9200 Ultra Bright LED Light Panel will allow them to explore engineering, colors, numbers, and letters in a new, engaging, visually stimulating way. They can create a more solid understanding of phonics and the symbols used to create letters in a tactile way as they trace the Wooden Alphabet Tracing Boards or fill them with loose parts, and as they build words with the Curious Columbus Felt Letters.
I am such a believer in the benefits of S.T.E.M., and am excited to provide more opportunities for them to learn in this way. I am always so impressed with what their brilliant minds come up with.
Hape Quadrilla Wooden Marble Run Construction - Vertigo - Quality Time Playing Together Wooden Safe Play - Smart Play for Smart Families,Multicolor
• Amazon Business
$154.00
1
$154.00
TickiT-9200 Ultra Bright LED Light Panel - In Home Learning Supplies for Sensory Play - Adjustable Brightness - Color and Shape Exploration on a Light Box
• Amazon Business
$148.74
1
$148.74
MerryHeart Wooden Rainbow Stacker Set - Rainbow Stacking Toy Set with Rainbow Stacker, Semicircle, Building Board, Peg People, Balls - Waldorf Educational Open Ended Stacking Toys - Great for as Gift
• Amazon Business
$139.99
1
$139.99
Magna-Qubix 85-Piece Set, The Original Magnetic Building Blocks For Creative Open-Ended Play, Educational Toys For Children Ages 3 Years +
• Amazon Business
$69.99
1
$69.99
LEGO DUPLO Classic Deluxe Brick Box 10914 Starter Set with Storage Box, Great Educational Toy for Toddlers 18 Months and up (85 Pieces)
• Amazon Business
$49.99
1
$49.99
Dinhon Wooden Rainbow Stacking Toys, 12 Pcs Wood Building Blocks Set Wooden Building Blocks Nesting Puzzles, Early Matching Educational Learning Montessori Toys for Kids 3 4 5 6 Years and Up
• Amazon Business
$46.98
1
$46.98
Wooden Building Blocks Set , City Construction Stacker Stacking Preschool Learning Educational Toys , Toddler Toys for 3+ Year Old Boy and Girl Gifts .
• Amazon Business
$42.96
1
$42.96
81 Pieces Loose Parts Toys Wooden Mandala Loose Part Kit Rainbow Colors Loose Parts Play Materials Colorful Montessori Play Set Parts Preschool Toys for Kids Toddler
• Amazon Business
$34.99
1
$34.99
Curious Columbus Felt Letters and Flash Cards. Montessori Toys for Toddlers. Alphabet Set of 26 Uppercase Letters with Matching ABC Flashcards
• Amazon Business
$32.99
1
$32.99
Curious Columbus Lowercase Felt Letters and Flash Cards. Set of 26 Handcrafted Lowercase Letters with Matching ABC Flash Cards. Teach Reading, Learn to Spell and Practice Phonics
• Amazon Business
$32.99
1
$32.99
Wooden Alphabet Tracing Boards - Preschool Letter Formation - Montessori Alphabet Letters
• Amazon Business
$29.95
1
$29.95
Simply Sweet Fabric Play Scarves + Storage Bag for Easy Clean Up : Perfect for Kids Pretend and Creative Play , Dress Up and Childhood Fun , 35" Large Bundle of 6 Bright Colored Polyester Silks
• Amazon Business
$26.99
1
$26.99
Materials cost
$810.56
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$0.00
3rd party payment processing fee
$12.16
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$852.72
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$150.48
Total project goal
$1,003.20
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$1,003.20
2 Donors
-$1,003.20
Donations toward project cost
-$852.72
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
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 Mrs. Morris and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.