Our students have a variety of disabilities that interfere with their education, which requires specific teaching strategies that allow them to learn based on their strengths.
My students work hard every day to learn and as teachers, we work hard to meet their varied and ever-changing needs which have become even more important (and difficult!) during this Coronavirus outbreak.
Now that we are all back in person, we can start learning again with hands on materials. This is so important for my students who do not learn well from other formats. Our class uses play based center learning which requires a variety of materials.
My Project
This project will provide basic staple products for every special education classroom: Velcro and a new laminator. Our students do not learn from textbooks. They have unique needs which require hands-on teaching materials that are made mostly teacher-made. Those materials require a lot of time, velcro, paper, file folders, and laminate! I will create the supplies, and hope that this donation will help provide some of the supplies!
My students will make excellent use of these supplies as they complete their daily curriculum using file folder games, books, and schedules.
Velcro helps the students choose their answers using a visual aid rather than a verbal answer, which is more difficult. The laminate makes the items last longer, enabling them to be used year after year. The velcro also allows the student to be able to manipulate their schedule every day based on the changing daily schedule. An example of how these would be used is to teach math. The students who struggle with writing numbers can use an adapted touch math books that give numbers as choices. Students show their knowledge by choosing the correct answer.
My students excel in learning when they are given the proper hands-on learning supplies. This includes adapted books, file folder games, manipulative tasks, and board games. The students also thrive from consistent schedules, all of which are also made with laminate, velcro, paper, and folders. So you can see, those are two pretty important products for our classroom. As a teacher, I estimate that I spend $100 a month on just those two supplies alone! It would be amazing if this project could help supply some of these so that I can continue to create hands-on learning opportunities.
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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. Schaffner and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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