Help me give my students much need private space and materials that will help calm them down like noise cancelling headphones, room dividers, tablet stands and craft supplies.
My school is a mini universe of the racial, cultural, linguistic, socio-economic, and family diversity that reflects the larger world. For many of my students, school is their safe haven.
Our students face many challenges in and out of school.
We have 530 students enrolled in grades K-5 and our students speak over 30 different languages. Our school opened in the Fall of 2006 and was built in the middle of a new housing development of homes valued at nearly one million dollars. Even though we are located in an upper middle class development of homes, we serve children from neighboring low-income, Section 8 housing, older, well-established middle class neighborhoods, children from Coast Guard housing, transitional housing for families previously homeless, housing for battered women and their children, and federally-subsidized veteran housing. Our students come to school with a vast range of life experiences and abilities. Our incredible school brings together children from all of these vastly diverse communities into one tightly-knit community of parents, children, and staff.
My Project
The Wellness Center is an important component of student success at Ruby Bridges School. We strive to help students recognize their emotional and academic strengths and recognize the emotions which they still need help with. We try to keep it a quiet space where students can engage in reflective activities to recenter and get back to class quickly. We help student develop their cooperative social skills through game play and art activities in an open environment. The Wellness Center also offers students a chance to participate in group counseling to work on specific skills along with getting small group, or one-on-one academic support for help with their classwork. We collect date to track usage of the Center via iPads, and need the tablet stands for the Check-In station. The painted screens will allow us to divide the room into areas to use for counseling sessions or give students privacy when they need to have solitude as will the noise-cancelling headphones while bringing some aesthetic beauty into the otherwise dull room. Kids love to draw and craft, and so we need new markers and craft sticks desperately to allow their creativity to shine.
These children are dealing with so many issues that impact their learning: homelessness, hunger, family relationships, personal safety and more.
They need a space where they can come and release the stresses that pop up during the day. Due to the sensitive nature of the matters being handled, it is critical that we get materials to help divide the space into private areas for counseling sessions, both group and individual times.
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. Hyman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
