Past projects 7
Developing Body Strength and Emotional Regulation
Funded Apr 29, 2021Thank you so much for donating to my student's education. They are going to be so excited to develop trunk strength with the flexible seating options such as the floor pillows and the bean bag chair. We have already added our own VI flair to the peace corner tent to help my students feel emotionally safe to express themselves and work on coping with big emotions. It has been an intense year for all of us and this tent will really help develop our peace corner into what it needs to be.
Next steps for us in terms of class projects is to get our 3D printing room up and running at our VI school to help students with visual impairments access the world even more than they already do. We currently have one 3D printer and could use some dedicated laptops and a few more 3D printers to make materials for our VI students at our school site. 20% of our school's population live with visual impairments and as we are a STEAM certified school we are always looking for new ways to expand our knowledge of technology and engineering with cutting edge 3D printers to make even more things accessible materials like ipad overlays, accessible garden labels, tactile name badges, tactile communication symbols for deaf blind and so much more. Keep an eye out for that project next school year!”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
This classroom project was brought to life by Oak Foundation and 6 other donors.Peaceful and Accessible Spaces
Funded Apr 13, 2021My students are going to be so excited to have a peaceful and accessible space to enjoy, come the new school year. My students with CVI are going to be able to access so much more with the light table, the opportunities for learning are endless. My students with sensory needs are going to have a space to self-regulate their strong emotions and come back to whole group with ease by using the tent you all funded. Thank you so much for donating to my students continued learning. I can not wait to help my students reach their goals with these materials ! Thank you from the bottom of my heart !”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
This classroom project was brought to life by Oak Foundation and one other donor.Visually Impaired Class Basics
Funded Nov 16, 2020I wanted to thank you for your generous donations to my classroom. Distance learning has been tough this year for everyone. However due to your generous donations my students have hope for a more accessible classroom next school year. My students are so happy and excited to know that they have a classroom that is more accessible to them when they come back in person. The braille labels and labelers are going to allow my students take ownership of their classroom and become more independent. Many of the manipulatives and games like connect four will allow them to expand their knowledge of math and fine motor skills as well as experience easy turn taking with peers . Finally, the liquid pour indicators will make their expanded core curriculum standards fun and engaging as they navigate to a more independent life.”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 9 other donors.Make Technology Accessible, Create a Calm & Clean Space Too!
Funded Aug 15, 2020I wanted to thank you so much. My room is clean and ready for students when they do come back to school. I am making great strides when it comes to the 3d printer and while I have not made the adapted materials I intended to just yet, I see how this printer will help my students in the future; access technology and be more independent citizens of the 21st Century. I think my students are most excited about the meditation pillows when they come back. The loved the flexible seating in my room over all but the meditation pillows will really help them access quiet minds and quiet bodies more readily daily for social emotional learning. My parents and students are also very excited to touch what I can print on the 3d printer , when I am done learning how to use it and I can not wait for them to have more access to their ipads. Donors you have really made such an important impact on my classroom and my students. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
A Sensory, Tactile, Clean Musical and Vocational Classroom Oh My!
Funded Aug 22, 2019Thank you so much for your kind contribution to my classroom. My students felt like it was Christmas as they received these supplies! My students love the sensory items and the sounds books more than you can ever imagine. They use them to help regulate their emotions and to take breaks after a hard day of learning. They also love the vocational items such as the mop and the vacuum to learn how to be independent. The cricket really helped us revamp our weather/temperature chart which we use every single day. The next steps for my students includes more vocational based learning and a focus on fine motor and daily livings skills lessons.”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
Flexible Seating To Foster Independence
Funded Aug 9, 2018I want to give a heartfelt thanks to the donors for funding my project at the beginning of the school year. My students were overjoyed to receive so may flexible seating options this past fall. I feel like they are more engaged in whole group lessons and can sit for longer periods of time happily. They are able to make structured choices about where and how they want to sit and communicate that to me and the classroom staff. More comfort in my classroom means more learning is done. This has been happening all year as we have enjoyed the items of this project. The clam-down area now is also available for them too with the additional seating and rug. With these additions they find comfort here and they are starting to regulate their own emotions and come back to the table to learn once done so. Also it doubles at my classroom library and I have now many students asking to read or attend to reading activities here. Finally, the legos and other sensory toys have improved our math lessons and number sense centers exponentially. Thank you again for your contribution to my students!”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 7 other donors.Nurture Learning With Tactile & Auditory Art
Funded Apr 24, 2018Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for donating to my students education. My students and I had so much fun practicing our receiving-gifts skills, and our fine motor skills to open the packages as the resources got delivered. We had a blast having mini opening-packages-parties and practicing collaboration and community in our classroom by passing the packages around. I told them some really kind people think they are epic learners and wanted help them grow learn together buy giving them some fantastic school supplies. It was a great community building experience for them to learn as a class why we got these supplies.
Right away we were able to use the clay to make hearts with their thumbs prints in them for Mother's Day and practice our fine motors skills and test our knowledge of geometry as well by making spheres into pancakes with the play-doh stencils to smash on top of. We also discussed textures of soft, wet, and sticky.
In the month of May we have been busy bees. We made flowers with our finger prints (braille skills) and used the dot markers (fine motor gripping practice) for the stems, to also celebrate our moms. We counted the number of leaves and petals (math) and we about learned about the parts of the plant, petals, and flowers for our life science unit. We also covered our alternate curriculum unit on changes in life science for example the difference between what humans see in the garden and what insects see and to make a class garden out of clay. We also used our dot markers to do braille dots on raised paper to make cards to give away. Finally, the computer speaker was a huge hit for the auditory learners at circle time. Our circle time has become some of my students favorite activity during the day.
Up next on the agenda for these supplies include making more shape comparisons and counting the sides of the shapes we make. Learning about physical changes in science via the different textures of dry and wet clay. We also are planning on making seed bombs with the natural clay (plus native seeds) to plant in our school garden and learn further about seeds growth and soil composition for life science. Finally, we plan on making models of our state and engineering bridges, roads, and building models and other man made things in the world with the clay for future geography lessons.
The sky is the limit with these supplies. My students are excited to learn for months to come next year as well. Thank you again for all of your support donors, it means the world to my class and I.”
With gratitude,
Mx. Kai