Manipulatives & Materials for Marvelous Mathematicians
My students need and deserve access to intervention curricula designed for different grade levels. The Mathematics Instant Learning Centers will support all of my students in their mathematical skill building!
My students are some of the most unique, kind, and incredible children I have ever worked with. As a special education teacher, I teach children with a variety of abilities and disabilities. My classroom is the Kindergarten through 5th-grade Specialized Resource Room which includes life skills, resource, and behavioral classroom model. I have children with me all day that receive support in all areas of academics, social/emotional learning, adaptive skills, executive functioning, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc. I serve children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (from non-verbal to high functioning), Down-Syndrome, intellectual and cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities, health impairments, and emotional/behavioral disorders.
The school that I teach in is a low-income Title I school in a rural area where poverty is high and resources are low.
Some of my students have extreme trauma in their lives and my team of four paraprofessionals and I work so hard every day to provide each of our students with a safe, fun, and nurturing learning environment where they learn the necessary tools to not only learn academically but to learn how to be functioning members of society.
My Project
Two main words that pop into most educators heads when they think about special education are modification and accommodation. Special education teachers are constantly trying to adapt, modify, and accommodate curricula to meet the needs of their ever-changing and growing students.
With access to the Math Instant Learning Centers, I will be able to accommodate and modify my mathematical instruction to best fit each of my student's needs.
With these centers, I would like to build up my students executive functioning skills to start gaining their independence with academic work tasks. Since I teach Kindergarten through 5th grade, I need a lot of different manipulatives and materials across all grade levels to meet my students' educational needs. The Math Instant Learning Centers I am asking for target addition, subtraction, and an entire measurement unit! There are also materials in the area of mathematics and literacy instruction specifically designed for grades 2-3, which is the majority of students in my classroom at this time.
Special education is often seen as an afterthought when school district's give materials and curricula to classrooms. The general education population is often given the highest quality of curriculum, materials, funding, etc, and the special education population, although it has the kids with the highest impact and needs, is often extremely low on materials and resources. With the generous funding of this project, my students will have access to new materials that will not only interest them but help them flourish in their academics.
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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. Warren and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.