Magnificent Manipulatives Increase Fine Motor Skills.
My students need manipulatives to increase fine motor skills, to assist with problem solving skills as well as categorizing objects in their early learning.
Using maniulatives in the classroom is great for so many skills that are important for early learning. Often, the children don't even realize that they are learning when using manipulatives. It is really exciting for me to see the children discover something while using manipulatives!
This school year the demograpraphics of the school are changing.
In the preschool room, the number of students has doubled to begin the 2013-2014 year. The students attend a rural pre-k through 12th grade school in a growing community. There are several students with special needs integrated with regular education students. All of the students are between 3-5years old and are very active and eager to learn. I truly enjoy this age students and their curiosity about the world around them. In my classroom, there are students whose parents work on a farm, drive many miles to work or stay at home with the children. The life experiences of these children are varied greatly. We have an Air Force base nearby and some of the children only know the life of many moves while others have never left the state. In the preschool program, one of my main focuses is giving the children experiences that are enlightening and educational. I believe in actively engaging students in life experiences.
My Project
With the requested resources, I will be able to offer more variety of hands on activities for students to explore and experiment. Using the materials will allow more children to learn to sort, classify, count, share, build and to imagine. Every day in my classroom, we have a time called table toys with rotating materials to inspire the students, to stretch the imagination and use fine motor skills that Wil be needed throughout their schooling years. With the growing number of students in the classroom, I need more manipulatives so every child has a chance to use different materials. A great example of what is learned by the students is a student last year used the small number of magna tiles to build structures. Most of the students did a standard square structure, but this young man created intricate and unique projects that others wanted him to share how to make them. The student was proud and gladly showed the others. It is times like this that spark learning in my classroom.
The broad impact this project will have on students in my room this year is access to more variety in the manipulatives offered on a daily basis.
The children all learn so many skills and are having fun at the same time. My students will be able to explore and add to the foundational skills that are needed for pre reading. Skills that include sorting, classifying, fine motor practice and creativity are a few of the areas that will be reinforced along with daily lessons provided for the class.
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