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.
My Students
Imagine seeing a doctor what do you see: a white coat, with a stethoscope; what about a construction worker: a hard hat, an orange vest, tools of the trade. Now imagine that they don't have any of those items. Now they are just people in regular clothes. The clothes help differentiate their jobs.
My friends are in preschool between the ages of 3-5.
They are in a Preschool for All program which has two half day classes of 20 students per class. 80.7% of the class is low income and qualify for free and reduced lunch. We are in the 3rd largest school district. They learn through their play. The dramatic play area is always full with students working on scenarios that they came up with. If a friend leaves another friends goes right in. They bring real life situations into the their play to work out fears and conflicts. They love to dress up and pretend to be other people from doctors, chefs, moms, dads and pets.
My Project
My friends are concrete learners so they need items to help with their play. These clothes will help get them started in their scenarios while they are in the drama and block center. The costumes will get them in the mind set of who they are and what they should be doing by re-enacting what they have seen. It will help them remain in the scenario for a longer period of time because they have tools that encourage their play. Their vocabulary will be improved because they are using the names of the occupations, tools, describing what they are doing. The clothes will also help with our Clothes Unit too. Different clothes are worn by different occupations for a variety of reasons; my students will explore what different workers wear: describe what they see, how they are different. They will be able to identify the occupations by their clothes.
The costumes will allow my friends to extend and elaborate on their play bringing it to the next level encouraging higher order thinking.
The costumes will encourage more stamina in their dramatic play. As they continue to develop in their play the vocabulary will enhance and so will their scenarios. They will also start to use more abstract thinking because their costumes will have them in the mindset of who they are. Dramatic play increases their understanding of the world they live in.
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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 Mrs. Halvorsen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.