Creating Calm With Sensory Items for Therapeutic Classroom

Funded Jul 2, 2024

As with any change, the start of the new school year can bring about all kinds of emotions - feelings of excitement, anxiety, apprehension, joy. As we navigated back to school as a classroom, the sensory items from this project could not have arrived at a better time. My favorite moment of this year was sharing with our students that we would be getting some new items for our classroom thanks to the generosity of donors. Together, we unboxed items and they sat in awe as we shared the new materials for our classroom. Each student had a turn trying out all of the different things, sharing things like "I love these," "I can't wait to try this," and "this helps me a lot!" It felt like Christmas morning.

Since this unboxing, students have accessed and used our new materials on a daily basis. As their teacher, the best part is being able to see that they are able to focus and engage during lessons with a little help from these sensory items, whether it be a fidget or new seating option. Please know your act of kindness goes far beyond the physical items provided through this project, impacting the learning of each and every student in my classroom.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. DiMille