Past projects 37
Books to Support Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning
Funded Mar 30, 2023Thank you so much for helping us to build our counseling library with these specially selected books for social emotional learning. 📚 I use bibliotherapy in my counseling sessions all of the time. Having these books on topics such as feelings, confidence, making mistakes, coping strategies, and sharing has been incredibly valuable. My students absolutely love reading. These books are extra special and the students love their vibrant pictures. Some students ask to read the books over and over again. Their favorites are Even Superheroes Get Scared and The Color Monster Pop-Up Book of Feelings. These books help to normalize the feelings that everyone faces like fear and anger and reduce the shame that students experience. They also help to expand the students' vocabularies for describing their emotions. All of these books help me to support students in working towards their social and emotion regulation goals in their counseling sessions. Thank you so much for supporting my students! ❤️🩵💜”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.Driving Imagination Forward
Funded May 11, 2023My students absolutely loved this project. We use the toy cars in our play therapy sessions all of the time. 🚗 They are a really great prop to use in role plays during our counseling sessions and the students enjoy having the cars play out different characters. This gives the students an opportunity to practice different skills. When the cars get into an accident, we talk about problem solving strategies and practice our coping skills. When there is a traffic jam and they have to wait, we're able to talk about triggers and frustration tolerance. 😌 The students also enjoy using the different car tracks and playing the car-themed games. This has been a great way to engage students in working towards their social and emotion regulation goals because the activities are geared towards their interests. The students often choose to invite a friend to play with the cars during choice time. It's been wonderful to see them sharing and interacting positively with peers. Thank you so much for your support! 🤗❤️🤩”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 5 other donors.Welcome Back to Counseling Services
Funded Jul 27, 2023This project has really helped us to start the school year off strong! 🤗 I can't thank you enough for your support. My students now have special markers and colored pencils to create art that is reflective of their own identities. Im grateful to have writing tool options such as dry erase markers and dot markers for students to complete different tasks to the best of their abilities. We are looking forward to doing sorting activities with the paper bags and making pinwheels for breathing exercises. We used the pocket charts to create an interactive daily check in for students. When students come to counseling, the first thing that they do is use the pocket chart to indicate how they are feeling. 😊 😢 😠 🫤 We assess our feelings before and after trying out different coping strategies to evaluate whether or not the strategy has been effective. We also use the pocket chart to track how different characters in stories are feeling. It's been so helpful to have this as a tool to support students in developing their self awareness and emotion regulation skills. Thank you so much for your support! I am so appreciative! ❤️🥰😍”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex and 5 other donors.Using Technology to Unpack Feelings in Therapy
Funded May 26, 2023I can't thank you enough for supporting this project! 🤗 I am so incredibly grateful for your support. Having access to an iPad has been transformative in our counseling sessions. Students are able to engage in Boom Cards activities where they get additional opportunities to develop their emotional vocabulary as well as extra practice navigating social skills scenarios. They demonstrate so much effort in these interactive activities and it's a helpful way to assess progress towards their counseling goals. In each session, we use different applications on the iPad to participate in mindfulness and breathing exercises. We have also enjoyed using the iPad to identify and match emotions during a read aloud of The Color Monster - a story about emotions. The students love working towards choice time on the iPad where they can select the activity that they want to do - whether it's playing a game, listening to a song, or finding out more information about cars. This is highly motivating for my students and it's a great way to become more familiar with their interests and build rapport. Thank you so much for bringing this project to life! 🤩 We will most certainly use the iPad in our counseling program for years to come. ❤️”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 8 other donors.Let's Make Snack Time More Equitable
Funded Mar 11, 2023Thank you so much for supporting this project! I am so excited to share that this project was really successful! Initially I thought that we would be to support a class of 8 students. However, with all of the generosity from DonorsChoose, we were able to create a snack station that was available to all of our students school-wide whenever a snack was needed. The supplies in this project kept the snack station filled for about 3 months and we had more than 30 different students utilize the project!
One of the best things that came out of this project was that I was able to support so many students that were not on my caseload. It was a wonderful way to build relationships with kids across the school building. It also facilitated informal opportunities for students to practice social skills including greeting others and self-advocacy as they came to the snack station. Our students were always thankful when they visited the snack station. I'm super appreciative to your support which has made this project possible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
Building Emotional Vocabulary With LEGOs
Funded Jan 11, 2023Words cannot express how much my students LOVE the new LEGOs. THANK YOU SO MUCH! They literally ask to play with the LEGOs every day. The LEGO train has been a really big hit. It's been wonderful for the students to have LEGO people that are representative of themselves. This helps students to connect with themselves through play and incorporate their own stories, experiences, and emotions into the activities (which is so important in counseling!). The Build Me Emotions sets have been an incredible resource in helping students to build their emotional vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. The kits came with templates that include a background to give context to the situation. Students have been able to practice identifying feelings and explaining the cause of the emotion while being creative with LEGOs. I know that we will be using these LEGO sets for years to come. Thank you so, so much. We are so grateful.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
Accessible and Sustainable Counseling Services
Funded Jan 11, 2023I can't thank you enough for supporting this project! These resources have helped me so much in supporting my students over the past few months. I was able to make counseling workbooks for several of my students to use in their classrooms. This gives them an opportunity to practice the social and emotion regulation skills that they are learning in counseling sessions across other settings in the school. I've also been able to provide students with social stories and interactive activities to teach social skills. I'm so grateful for the laminator, it really helps to make these resources more sustainable for repeated use. The BOOM card activities have been really popular. The students are also really excited to take their folders home which include strategies for different social skills like sportsmanship and getting along with others - they have been working so hard on these skills. Students love using the dry erase markers to check in about their feelings and we have saved so much paper and printer ink with the dry erase sleeves. These supplies have transformed how I structure my counseling sessions and the students have responded really well. Thank you so, so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
Colorful Resources for Our Students
Funded Nov 29, 2022I can't thank you enough for your generosity towards this project. Receiving the printer and color ink has truly had a huge impact on my ability to support my students. When I am working with a student and notice that a session plan or visual could be tweaked to be more supportive in some way, I am able to make the change quickly and get the materials in front of the student right away. When a student would benefit from a specific social story or needs a coloring page of their favorite character to brighten their day, I can get them these resources with the push of a few buttons. We are also working to send home informational resources to parents so that they will be able to support students in using the coping strategies at home that kids are learning in school. I'm confident that this printer will continue to be a vital part of our counseling program for years to come.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 5 other donors.Social Emotional Development With Engaging Games and Puzzles
Funded Dec 31, 2022Thank you so very much for supporting this project! I use the games and puzzles from this project every day (literally!). With my younger students, we have been practicing taking turns with the puzzles and the pounding bench. All of my students have practiced sharing with the play-doh, and they've really enjoyed the opportunity to be creative and express themselves. We've been spending a lot of time using the Banana Blast, Shark Attack, and Jumping Jack games where animals surprisingly POP up. The students then identify how they feel on a scale when the animal pops up (scared and surprised!), we feel how fast our heart is racing, and then we all practice deep breathing strategies to calm down. The students are even getting pretty good at explaining how to play the games and leading these breathing exercises. Jenga is another favorite activity. I've labeled the blocks with different colors and the students have to answer a question or respond to a prompt depending on what color they pull out. But what the students love to do most is Jenga tournaments where they team up against me - and they are skillful masters when it comes to demonstrating strategy and self-control with Jenga. My students have really benefited from having access to all of the games and puzzles in this project. I've watched their social and emotion regulation skills grow from week to week. I am confident that all of these supplies will continue to get a lot of use for years to come. We are so appreciative of your generosity, thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 3 other donors.Feeling Secure During Transitions: Supporting Students Through Changes at Home
Funded Nov 29, 2022I cannot thank you enough for bringing this project to life. The supplies in this project have absolutely transformed my students' experience in counseling. The dollhouse is (by far) the most used item in my office. Students naturally gravitate towards it. No matter how old they are, they love to play with the dollhouse. I have students that have difficulty speaking and communicating. When they play with the dollhouse, they open up and become so much more spontaneous in their interactions. They love putting all of the dolls to bed and saying "good night." There are often visitors knocking at the door. My students also love filling up the car with the dolls and going on short trips around my office. And... I'll never forget when several bears came for a surprise visit. This has been such a wonderful tool to have in my office and I've been able to see kids act out so many different situations through their play with the items in this project. This has given them an opportunity to express themselves in a child friendly way and be seen and supported by their counselor. I am confident that the dollhouse will continue to get lots of action in the counseling office for years to come. Thank you so much for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allison
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 5 other donors.