Past projects 3
The Zen Zone... Soothe the Senses
Funded Jan 18, 2023Our school district provides special education services to all students that require specially designed instruction. Of these students, we have a self-contained classroom (TLC) that meets the needs of our severe and profound population. We have an overflow of students in this population and were in need of expanding our resources to accommodate our students. We are moving half of the students in our district to a neighboring school. We started from a blank slate and because of your donations, we were able to create a sensory room.
The students in our Transitional Learning Classroom (TLC) needed a sensory room to allow them to calm their behaviors, participate in therapeutic activities and regroup. I am truly grateful to have the support of my donors that helped me create a space to foster support for our students with special needs.
With your help, I was able to create a truly amazing space to help minimize anxiety, increase focus and calm the senses. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Julie Newton
Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About...Virtually!
Funded Aug 31, 2020Thank you all for your generous donation to my project "Let's Give Em Something to Talk About...Virtually". The Hovercam Solo 8 USB document camera is making my speech sessions come alive! My students are able to participate in lots of fun activities (board games, storybooks, etc.) with their peers as if they are sitting in the classroom. My students who have chosen the virtual learning format are able to continue working on their goals while giving me the opportunity to create exciting opportunities using technology. It has allowed me to integrate physical objects (game boards, playing cards, dice, books, etc.) into my speech lessons which might otherwise be impossible. I am so grateful for the support of our donors and volunteers. Thank you for helping me help my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Julie Newton
Calm, Cool, and Collected...Awaken the Senses
Funded Apr 16, 2019Thank you for your very kind gift of funding my sensory room project. My vision has come to life for our students at Dixie Elementary. They now have a place in the school setting to take a break and regroup to control their emotions and behaviors that interfere with their learning.
We have various students who have greatly benefited from interacting with our sensory items that were purchased. For example, one of our students was having difficulty sitting still in the classroom which was very distracting for others. Upon removal from the classroom, the student entered the sensory room and immediately started walking on the stepping stones and crashed on the crash pad. He then interacted with another student at the lego wall. They were interacting socially and communicating with each other. Another example, involved our student using fine motor development in a calming atmosphere using the light table with geometric shapes.
Our goal at Dixie Elementary is to decrease classroom behaviors that cause a disruptive environment. The sensory room is a great addition to our school. I have incorporated a plan for when and how the students can participate in the room. The sensory room will not be a place to go to reinforce negative behavior. It will be used as a positive behavior incentive to help our students learn to control their behaviors and use the sensory room as a place to recharge and calm themselves.
I am so excited! Our students are so thrilled! Thank you so much for helping me create such a positive, relaxing, and fun place to help our students. This has such an impact on our school environment. I plan to add more resources in the near future.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Julie Newton
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 9 other donors.