Help me give my students a calm down space that helps them self regulate and identify their emotions.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Leber's classroom raised $419
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.
My Students
My students are in a Spanish-English dual language program in an urban neighborhood. They come from many different cultures and languages and arrive full of enthusiasm to learn. Some of them speak Spanish at home and some speak English (or another language). I teach literacy and science to all 44 students in Spanish.
Our very diverse public school is large, and the vast majority our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Over 65% of our class is comprised of English language learners, including students who speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Tongan, Somali and a handful of other languages. Most of our students have not attended preschool. Together, we have built a dynamic, child-centered environment with high expectations for all children.
My Project
At our school, we help children learn to recognize and understand their emotions so that they can be more successful problem solvers and productive members of the classroom community. One essential component of our social-emotional learning approach is that every classroom should have a calm down space with tools that help students self-regulate.
In my classroom, I have established a cozy nook as a calm down space but I need more tools to help make it an effective support for students' self-regulation.
The chair will give them somewhere to sit comfortably and it fits in the nook (currently, I just have pillows). Engaging the senses and concentrating on sensory input can be a very useful way to de-escalate from emotional reactions and re-activate the part of the brain that thinks more clearly. I am requesting play dough, sensory mazes, glitter balls and other quiet activities that students can use in the corner. I am including two sets of bilingual books that support students in thinking about behavior and classroom expectations that they can read as a calm down activity. The feelings puppet will allow students to show how they're feeling even when they are not sure how to say it out loud. I will need some bins to organize the materials (both books and activities).
Because I teach in Spanish to a mixed group including students who have never been exposed to Spanish before, it is especially important to have nonverbal support for self-regulation and expression of emotions. These tools will greatly enhance the corner I have already established in my classroom and give students more choices to meet their social-emotional needs.
More than three‑quarters of 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
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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. Leber and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
