My students need blank books, manipulatives and art supplies to describe, draw and write books about how Hurricane Sandy impacted their lives on Staten Island.
Hurricane Sandy hit Staten Island, New York on October 30, 2012. Many of my special needs students were forced to abandon their homes, some to return to total devastation and homelessness. They all share the need to tell their story, each in their own individual way.
My students are special needs students, ages 4 to 12 years old.
They attend specialized classes in a self-contained school and some are included in general education classrooms with support. They are children with autism; developmental disabilities or multiple disabilities. What they do have in common is that they all have some form of communication limitation, where their needs interfere with their ability to express themselves.
My Project
My students want to tell their stories. They want to tell everyone about the flood waters, about the wind shaking their homes, about having to leave their familiar homes and stay with relatives or in a shelter with strangers. They also want to tell about how they watched their parents cry when they saw the damage to their homes. They want to express their feelings, to talk about their fear, their anger and their confusion.
Art materials and manipulatives will help my students to tell their stories.
These simple tools are immeasurable in their impact on how they express their feelings, their thoughts and their experiences. These little books will be a place to tell their stories, even when communication is so difficult for them.
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