Creativity, Collaboration, Critical thinking, and Communication: These "4 C's" are in place every day in our classroom. Pencil and paper activities have their place, but student engagement is really sparked by hands-on activities in which the students are active learners.
My students live in low socioeconomic neighborhoods and most do not have necessary school supplies.
What the children do have is the ability to learn and achieve. I continually seek out and try to secure materials to inspire our students desire to learn and boost their academic success.
My Project
Working with jigsaw puzzles supports student engagement as well as cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development. Cognitively, students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills as they work to complete a puzzle. Placing the puzzle pieces requires physical fine motor skills, which leads to improved handwriting and keyboarding performance. Social and emotional development is supported as students practice cooperation, patience, and perseverance to complete a puzzle.
Board games promote social skills as students work together and practice sportsmanship. Additionally, board games support logic and spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills.
As students are working on puzzles and playing board games, they are practicing important academic and social skills in a fun yet structured way.
21st Century students are quite tech-savvy, but they are also highly responsive to low-tech learning activities.
Puzzles and games offer a much needed break from technology and electronics. Jigsaw puzzles and board games engage multiple learning modalities, and all students are able to benefit from their use. When students are engaged in high-interest activities, academic achievement naturally increases. Your generous support of this project is greatly appreciated.
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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. Tomlinson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
