Holiday Happiness: Creating Gifts for Hospitalized Children
The cost of these art supplies is $187, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
I am a Special Education teacher at Ronald Edmonds Learning Center, a Middle School in Brooklyn, New York. Our school is a Title 1 School and approximately 85 percent of our students recieve free or reduced-price lunch.
The 13 students I teach are classified as "mentally retarded". Despite the challenges they have in their lives, they can succumb like many of their peers to the "buy me", "give me" attitudes for ready-made products and instant gratification. I hope to change these attitudes by offering a project that has them working to create something for those who may not be so fortunate: children who are hospitalized at holiday time.
Holiday time is November/December when Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are celebrated. "Holiday Happiness" has been a yearly project for my students when they make and personally give various gifts to children who are on the Pediatric ward of Brooklyn Hospital during the month of December. The handmade gifts consist of tie-dyed t-shirts (West African stlye of sewing and folding the t-shirts), knick-knack boxes (made of craft sticks), painted suncatchers, and color stenciled/painted tote bags. My students learn step-by-step processes (dyeing) and sewing and folding skills. This project also reinforces visual and auditory focusing skills, fine motor skills, and how to follow directions.
And then there's the intrinsic stuff that happens during the project! The satisfaction of being able to create, share, assist others (in the class), complete a task and feel proud can only be measured by the students' happy faces and anxiousness to deliver (and as they deliver) the presents (gift wrapped of course). The materials we need are 2-4 packets/bottles each of blue,red, purple, yellow and green fabric dye, 600 craft sticks, a quart of glue, four suncatcher kits ( twenty-four stencils), 3 natural-color small tote bags and 5 different colors of fabric paint. I ask students to bring in two white cotton t-shirts- one to give away as a present and the other to keep as a sample of their new skills and work.
I want the students to not only give away but use something that they have made. This project leads to a sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride, a gaining of cooperative skills and a sense of helpfulness leading to someone else's happiness.
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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. Gittens and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.