Many young children can develop their thinking, language, imagination, speaking and listening skills through creative play. This prepares them for communicating and interacting effectively with others as they become adults. This is especially true for my school population of ENL and SE students.
My school is a wonderful place with a varied range of student abilities.
We strive to connect students' learning to their experiences. This is important to us because most students in our community do not have many opportunities outside of school.
We have many students who are ENL, English as a New Language and many students who having learning disabilities. As a lower grade teacher, I teach many students with limited vocabulary and speaking skills. However, I see the benefits of play and exploration. Students feel more comfortable to communicate with each other in a creative environment.
My Project
I have been teaching for eight years yet this year is my first year of teaching my true passion, theater. I am teaching this class as a special subject to Pre-K through 2nd grade. I am incorporating the NYC's BluePrint for the Arts and the Common Core learning standards into my curriculum plans. The children are loving it! However, being that this is a new position in my school, we have very limited resources.
I am requesting puppets for the students. I know that puppet play supports not only language and literacy development but social and behavioral development, conflict resolution, thinking skills and motor skills as well. We will be using these puppets to retell familiar stories, create our own stories, explore characters, express emotions and work on our gross motor skills.
I know that donations to this project will improve my classroom by offering a multitude of learning opportunities and fun for our students.
Puppets help children to be imaginative and innovative. In a TeachMag article, called Puppets Talk, Children Listen, it states "Children are more willing to learn when they are having fun and puppets are a gateway to opening up the mind and inviting knowledge in."
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 Ms. Mangano and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.