Fabulous "Frankenstein!'

Funded Oct 15, 2021

I want to thank you so much for your generosity! The tools have been an amazing force in my classroom, and the students were beyond thrilled to receive them! All my students have benefited and are motivated to integrate their work/writing with the deconstructing and then re-creation with the tools.

One student in particular is dual identified with a GIEP, an IEP, and a 504 plan for behavioral issues. His ELA teacher from last year said that he lacked motivation and didn't really grow in his writing skills even though his gifted strength has been identified as ELA and writing. He struggled to stay focused or even attend classes. The tools in my "tinkering" area have for him been an incentive, a place of inspiration, and have allowed him to sharpen leadership/organizational skills that he seemingly did not appear to have. He is "hooked" to say the least, and his writing has grown so much, that he is now writing stories for fun at home and sharing them will all his teachers, not just me.

He has the area organized and a system set up for parts removal and categorizing. For one of my writing lessons, we read an excerpt from "The Lightning Thief" as a springboard for a discussion on figurative and literal language. After reading, recognizing, modeling, and synthesizing to create sentences with those elements, the students were asked to create their own creatures from parts that this student had organized from our "tinkering" area and other materials such as pipe cleaners, fabric, duct tape, etc. Thus, they "frankensteined" the parts to create. They then had to write a paragraph about their creature using figurative and literal language. After completion, the class had to pair the writing with the correct creature. They loved it, and their descriptions were detailed and elevated. They have begun infusing these elements regularly into their stories.

Because I see different students on each day of the week (but the same students each week), a girl from another class was working in the area. She inquired about who had taken the small bike apart with the tools. I told her about this boy and his group that were working together. She then said, "I work with my dad a lot at home helping him with tools. Would it be ok to put the bike back together to trick them?" I knew the group would love it because they are funny and appreciate the skill. So, she put it back together. The group laughed when they saw it a few days later and took it apart again. It has become a running joke in the classroom with all my students that if the bike gets taken apart with the tools, someone will put it back together again as though it never happened. Some of the students have never met, but they are interacting and working together in a way that I never expected!

The tools have been a wonderful way to help kids keep engaged, motivated, out of trouble when they fell frustrated, and allow them to think creatively in a way that they have not before. I have overheard kids say, "This is the coolest thing I have ever done!"

Thank you for the impact you have made in students' lives!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Rullo