"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world." - Maria Montessori
Transforming children is par for the course in the Title I, K to 5 school where I teach physical education.
We have one of the largest enrollments of English as a New Language Learners in any elementary school in our city. The challenges these kids face are amazing. Many are learning to speak English for the first time, even as they continue to develop and master their native tongues at home.
There are over a dozen languages and dialects represented in our school. This, along with the long hours of school and after-school program enrollments, severely limit time available for social interactions and the formation of meaningful friendships outside of school.
In every grade, there are students with special needs. All of the children are working hard to meet our newly adopted and rigorous Common Core-based curriculum. What is more amazing than all of this, however, is the dedication these students show day in and day out as they strive to reach all of their personal, social, and academic goals.
My Project
When most people think of pool noodles, they envision a bunch of kids swimming in a pool on floating tubes of foam.
We don't have a pool at our school, but boy do we love our pool noodles!
Pool noodles give us the opportunity to use our imaginations to drive instruction and learning in PE. With a little creativity, we bend pool noodles into hoops that we use as targets or to toss to targets. Pool noodles become javelins, swords, and light sabers, as we safely learn to toss for distance or accuracy, and to strike, parry, and thrust. Sometimes, the noodles become anteater noses or elephant trunks and we play some pretty creative games of animal tag. With the help of some balloons, we also learn to safely strike before we pick up actual baseball bats, tennis rackets, or hockey sticks. Oh, and all of these great noodles need a big ole storage bag to keep us neat and tidy when we're not up and playing.
With your help, we can let our imaginations soar and take our fitness learning to the next level!
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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. Monte and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.