This project is for a new self-contained kindergarten classroom servicing students who are on the spectrum. The classroom is highly structured, incorporating visuals, predictability, and individualized instruction for each student to promote success. The students in our classroom are full of energy, quirky, and are fun-loving. Each student is unique in his/ her own way and each has different sensory needs that make it difficult to access the world around them and regulate their bodies. Meeting these needs can help the students relax their bodies, retain learning content, and interact with the peers and environment around them. We need your help to make these sensory tools available to them!
My Project
Our students are just like every other five or six year old kindergartener, full of energy, quirky, and excited to be at school, they just have different sensory needs that need to be met in order to learn. Sensory input allows the students in our classroom to access the learning content and retain it. The students in our classroom are just learning to be kindergarteners and the expectations of being in a school environment. In order for my students to be successful, they need tools to provide sensory stimulation so that they are able to self-regulate their bodies and interact with the world around them. Imagine a song constantly playing in your head, like a broken record and not being able to stop yourself from singing it no matter how badly you want to, or the sound of nails on a chalkboard. This is how our students feel when they are overstimulated from their surrounding environment, making them cringe, scream, inability to focus, fidget, or physically lash out to seek sensory input to calm their bodies. The overstimulation in our current classroom occurs multiple times throughout the school day for every one of our students, making it very difficult to learn content, interact with peers, and just be a kid. The materials needed will be used for movement breaks, de-escalations when students become overstimulated, and incorporated in our sensory area. Three of our students benefit from deep pressure to calm their bodies which can be provided with the cuddle loop, massage bar, and the cushion chair. Visual and auditory sensory input can be provided through the sensory viewers and the rainstick.
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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. Blessing and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
