The cost of an HP Photosmart R725 digital camera and an HP Officejet 6210 multifunction machine from Quill Corporation is $544, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a special education teacher in Bellrose, NY. This is my 3rd year with this class of 1st graders who are mentally retarded and speech and language impaired. These are just about the cutest children you will ever meet.
Over the last few years, I have seen tremendous progress throughout the curriculum areas from each and every student in my class. Some who came in not speaking a word can now independently verbalize their name, address, and telephone number. Some who couldn't even maintain eye contact can now identify by pointing to every one of their peers and teachers. It's overwhelming!
These students all have different learning styles. But one thing I have noticed throughout my teaching experiences is how well they grasp concepts when we work with photographs. I started realizing that these students are capable of learning and growing to a capacity that I didn't think was possible -- if they are taught the right way.
Over Thanksgiving, I read aloud a simple Thanksgiving story, and my students had no idea what was going on. I decided to take all of their pictures and paste them onto different characters, such as pilgrims, indians, and turkeys. We then read the story again and used the figures to act it out. All of the children had a wonderful time and understood the idea of Thanksgiving in the end.
Another project was basic addition where we took pictures of the students and used them as manipulatives to help us add.
We have one digital camera with a floppy drive for the whole unit. The floppy disks are always busting, and you can never get your hands on the camera. In addition, we only have one color printer to print out all these great pictures. It would be amazing for these children if we could get a digital camera and a color printer. I know how much it will greatly enhance their learning experiences (and their parents love the pictures too!).
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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 Ms. Samuels and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
