I teach preschoolers in a grant-funded program that was established to provide a head start for children who are considered to be "at-risk." My co-teacher and I work together with our colleagues to create a safe, caring, and developmentally appropriate learning environment for our students. We take the time to get to know each individual student well.
Many of our students live at or near the poverty level; their families are often struggling to provide for their basic needs, which makes their first year in school with us incredibly important.
We want to provide a variety of meaningful experiences that will give our students the best chance of success as they move through school. We value professional development and are always looking for ways to provide an even better learning environment for our students.
My Project
Because many of the children in our class do not have home environments that provide them with a variety of experiences, it is our role as their preschool teachers to find ways to meet their many needs. This includes academic needs as well as social/emotional and physical needs.
We want to find materials that are open-ended and will allow our students to explore and benefit from them in many ways; light play fits this criteria extremely well!
We would like to purchase two LED tablets, along with two accessories kits. One of the kits features sensory materials, and the other kit includes shapes, letters, and other objects that can be used for counting, sorting, and patterning. This type of play will support our students’ learning in the following ways:
**Several children in our class struggle to focus on tasks and either become overwhelmed by too much stimulation or need more stimulation. Light play will help them to regulate this sensory input and their own reactions to it. The sensory materials will also allow them to control the input they are receiving and will motivate them to focus on an activity.
**In addition to the above sensory benefits, light play provides children with the opportunity to experiment with shadows and reflections, an important scientific concept. The sorting materials will also expose children to letters, shapes, and numerals, and in the context of light play, will help children develop an understanding of math and literacy concepts more quickly and easily.
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