Help me give my students simple wooden blocks to build, create and experiment by using their own imagination!
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Cusick's classroom raised $186
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Project
My students love creating in the blocks center. We have plenty of the classic, chunky wooden blocks and they work quite well for building. I am asking for support to add Kapla blocks to our classroom collection, because we are beginning a new unit of study: Construction. I have used Kapla in the past and absolutely love them. They are deceivingly simple, and are well-known learning tools in European schools, along with some Montessori schools in the US. Kapla Blocks will allow my students to create more complex structures, while more deeply exploring concepts of building design and stability. Kapla blocks are a set of wooden, identical planks. Their unique size, which is in the ratio of 1:3:15, makes them ideal for building lots of different creations. With these planks, children can construct with the precision of artwork and the stability of stones- a web search of what can be created will lead to amazing examples. The blocks are all identical in size and weight. They are entirely open-ended! There are no step-by-step instructions included with the kits. But this very simplicity helps kids to use their imaginations more freely as they build. It encourages children to think more deeply about how they can use them- extending their play and exploration.
Kapla Blocks offer a terrific platform for children to develop creative problem-solving and reasoning skills.
This problem-solving can be planned and intentional, with children consciously working to develop solutions. Or, it can be a natural consequence of their play-when a structure falls down, they learn first-hand what does and doesn’t work.
I am so grateful for the generous support my classroom has received from Donors Choose for past projects. It inspires me to dream of even more ways to bring my students world class educational experiences.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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. Cusick and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
{"pmaHash":"","showProjectRecommendations":true,"leadGenEnabled":true,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"MA","teacherPossessivePronoun":"her","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":1,"name":"Early Education"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"completingDonationAmount":0,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/kapla-plank-blocks-for-kindergarten-arch/7173878/","mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":24,"isEquityFocusV1":true,"teacherScreenName":"Ms. Cusick","isEquityFocus":true,"proposalHash":"-1057189564","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":100.00,"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"photosPublished":false,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"shouldTrackEquityFocusV2":true,"schoolCity":"Dorchester","teachersOnPage":[7824744],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"minimizedLeadGenEnabled":true,"proposalId":7173878,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":0,"verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"schoolId":62938,"schoolName":"William E Russell Elementary School","authorIds":{"7824744":{"owner":"Ms. Cusick","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":1.0,"proposalsOnPage":[7173878],"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp7824744_orig.png?crop=941,941,x20,y98&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1619383955748","teacherHasProfilePhoto":true,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":21,"teacherChallengeId":21739134,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":null,"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":[],"teacherId":7824744,"schoolCounty":"Suffolk","fullyFunded":true,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"MA","name":"Massachusetts"}}
