Past projects 6
A Sense of Awe in an Autism Classroom
Funded May 25, 2022In May, my students walked into my classroom and were greeted with piles of new activities. My students were eager to know how and when they would get to explore, create, interact and learn with the new classroom materials we had received.
The students LOVED watching larvae turn into chrysalis and become beautiful butterflies. We had a special send off for our butterflies on the last day of school and watched them fly away from our school's rooftop.
My students couldn't believe how a few little seeds bloomed into massive pea shoots with the largest leaves they had ever seen. The class loved checking out the roots system and taking care of the new class plants.
Thank you for making my students excited, engaged, inspired and feel special. You are so kind and so generous and the resources you have provided us with will continue to impact students for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie
Reading, Writing and Technology!
Funded May 4, 2016The technology items that my classroom received have been incredible additions to our classroom. The document camera is a great tool that helps my students better understand a task and how to complete it but more importantly it allows me to showcase individual student's work on the smart board. The students feel so proud of themselves when it is their turn to have their work displayed, in a large format in front of all of their peers. The students are even more engaged and eager to read books with the addition of the kindle of our classroom library. The kindle is loaded with all different genres of books and allows students to have many choices when it comes to what they will read. The iPad is helping us to build a class set of iPads and the headphones certainly help during choice time so that all the sounds from our three iPads are not competing with one another.
The Osmo Gaming system has certainly been the most exciting to my students. They love interacting with the iPad with actual hands on materials. My students are engaged, interacting socially with one another and super excited to create pictures using tangrams, build words and practice their numeracy skills.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie
A Special Picnic Area for Super Special Students
Funded Apr 19, 2016The picnic table has been a wonderful addition to our school area. Having a picnic table has allowed classes to enjoy their snacks outside while listening to a story and allowing students to leave their classrooms when sometimes they spend the ENTIRE day inside the same room.
The picnic table has been used to set up a school store, to play with peers, to read books to each other, to write imaginative stories about things "I Spy..." and to allow the children to once again leave the classroom, get fresh air and be children!
A family at our school even donated an umbrella so our picnic table can be shielded from the sun on those extra hot days!
The students are so excited at the prospect of having a special period outside in our special picnic area! Some classes are helping create an even more special area but planting a garden with peas, strawberries, pumpkins and herbs near our picnic table. The students love to be outside and there is nothing better than the sound of their laughter echo-ing all around.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie
Back to School...Back to School!
Funded Sep 14, 2015The items my classroom received from this grant are wonderful! We now have brand new, functioning and comfortable headphones for our computer center!
We have been working on improving our writing with two awesome new tools we received from Donor's Choose. One item is particularly reinforcing as students reach their hands into cool boxes to pull out a "who", a "what" and a "where". Students then get to work on their creativity as they come up with sentences! Our writing response box is another awesome tool which gives students further independence since they are given writing prompts along with choices.
Donor's Choose along with all of you help me to continue to engage, excite and educate my students. For that, I am forever grateful!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie
Teach Independence Through Technology In An Autism Classroom
Funded Jan 31, 2015First of all, thank you ALL once again for your generous donations. Not only are you supporting the six amazing students in my class but you are also supporting the autism community, which is growing and growing each day.
My students are so full of life and keep me laughing all day long. Their smiles keep ME going day in and day out. When I set up our new classroom computer and added another iPad to our classroom; the smiles were endless.
The new iPad has allowed me to do group lessons using our smart board where all my students have their OWN iPad to keep them engaged and exploring. My students are learning to navigate an iPad like an expert, edit their own videos, write code to solve puzzles and most of all enjoy leisure time playing their favorite games. On our new computer, my students are learning to type the "correct" way and are using the internet to answer questions like "How do I make brownies in the microwave?" or "What is the temperature outside today?". It is SO important that I give my students skills to make them more independent and what better way to infuse those skills than with technology!
Each and every one of you has not only touched my life my being so supportive to me, but you have also touched the lives of six unbelievable children who need your support! I promise to continue working my hardest each day to better the lives of my students and I will continue to appreciate each of you while I am doing that.
dream big ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie
Sensory Supplies For My Sensational Students!!
Funded Mar 28, 2012I want to thank each and every one of you for your generosity and your thoughtfulness. Your donations have directly impacted my classroom, the learning environment and most of all each one of my students.
The beanbag chair has become a favorite place to sit while my students read their favorite stories both independently and aloud to others. The frog blanket is calming during times of unease and truly help my students remain active members of group lessons. The flannel board has made my interactive read-alouds more engaging and meaningful. The bug sorting game is terrific for my students' fine motor skills and sorting ability but most of all, the social skills promoted through the game are wonderful!
Without your kindness, my students and I would not be able to explore the various sensory modals through which my students learn best. It's the simple addition of these fabulous materials that have made a difference in my classroom this year and will continue to help children in future years. It is because of people like you that classrooms around the country are able to receive materials to better the experiences of children as they learn, grow and succeed.
Thank you again for your support through my journey as an educator and for giving to children with autism.
Dream BIG.
”
With gratitude,
Ms. Allie