I have the best students in the city. My school is full of awesome, hardworking, creative, and fun young people. My kids have many obstacles and challenges to face both within school and outside of school. They face these challenges with grit and a can-do attitude. Our school is an urban middle school (6th-8th grade) with high poverty. This year we have made connectedness a huge priority. Studies have shown that school connectedness can increase many positive outcomes for students. About a month ago, we started a games club that meets weekly at lunch and is open to all students. We started this club as a way to help some students find friends and practice social skills.
My students deserve to have a space in our school where they can see that adults and other students care for them and enjoy spending time with them.
My Project
Games club is an initiative to connect our students to each other and to our school. Once a week, students spend their lunch time playing board games, card games, and tabletop RPGs together.
Game club time is about building social skills, communication, and friendships while having fun together.
Many of this kids who we've asked to join game club have had trouble connecting with peers around the school. In just a few short weeks, we are already seeing growth in positive peer relationships for these kids.
Game club is off to a successful start, so why do we need your help? The one thing a good game club needs: Games! As an avid board-gamer, I have been bringing my family's board games to school for the kids to play. Some kids have been bringing their own games, or materials to play DND. This system of everyone bringing what they have works, somewhat, but I would really like us to have a set of dedicated games for the club.
I have carefully selected games that are (1) cooperative or semi-cooperative to build skills in teamwork and reliance on others, (2) help build good communication skills, (3) play in a short time-frame, (4) are fun to play and have themes that the game-club kids have shown interest in. With these 10 games, we will have plenty of options for the kids to work with, and tons of fun!
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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. Phippard and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
