Past projects 14
An iPad to Support iLearn
Funded Nov 10, 2017The generous donations to this project made it possible for me to get an iPad to use with my students in the therapy room. Working with students in a high need area presents many unique challenges on a daily basis. The majority of the students I work with are learning English as a second language, struggle with phonemic awareness and comprehension skills and have a limited vocabulary. This makes many academic tasks very challenging for them and I am constantly looking for new ways to present information so it is fun and engaging; having an iPad in my therapy room will definitely assist with that. My students were so excited when I first told them about the donations that led us to getting an iPad. Now they are constantly asking if they will have an opportunity to use the iPad every time they enter the therapy room. It is great to see them so excited about something; especially because it is helping them practice the skills that have been working on in speech.
The iPad that was purchased thanks to your donations through DonorsChoose will allow my students to continue to improve their overall language skills, including: reading, and writing skills. They will also have the opportunity to work on their cognitive skills, including direction following, problem solving, sequencing, and making predictions and inferences based on context clues. Due to the fact that the majority of my students are English Language Learners, coming from Spanish speaking households, these skills can be very challenging for them. Many of my students need visual aids and videos so they can better understand unfamiliar concepts and improve their abilities. The technology purchased today will allow my students to implement these strategies during their speech sessions. Some of the apps that I have been using with my students are: Epic, Describe It, Beginning Sound Recognition and Step by Step. Additionally, the majority of my students find working with an iPad very engaging and motivating; which leads to better success when practicing new skills.
Using the iPad I have also focused on student centered learning. I am working on teaching my students productive ways they can use the iPad to enhance their own learning. The majority of my students have never used an iPad for educational purposes; therefore I am hoping that introducing them to various strategies to use technology in useful ways will make the information more accessible for them. My goal is that I can use the iPad to give my students a sense of responsibility and independence in practicing target skills and hopefully promote productive use of the technology they have access to.
I am so grateful for the donations that allowed me to purchase and iPad and so excited to have a new resource to use with my students. Having people support my therapy room and believe in my students is really inspiring. Thank you again for your generous donations!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Adinolfi
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Just Hit Print!
Funded Sep 27, 2017This project allowed me to get new ink for the printer in my therapy room. Having a printer in the therapy room allows me to constantly adapt lessons and materials based on individual needs of my students. It also allows me to adjust lessons based on student's interests. My students come from grades K-5 with diverse backgrounds, which means I constantly need to adjust and create lessons and materials that will keep my students engaged. Having a printer with ink on hand allows activities and goals to be changed simply based on the type of day the student is having. Having constant access to the printer also allows me to provide consistent practice and carryover of target skills. Being able to print an activity focused on a specific skill at the end of the therapy session allows me to provide the most effective and accurate support reflecting exactly what the student demonstrated during the session. Additionally, having a printer on hand provides the opportunity for letters and progress notes to be sent to parents regularly. Keeping in contact with parents is very important for the success of the students.
One of my students is struggling with his reading skills and is significantly below grade level in reading. One of his weaknesses is his sight word knowledge. At the end of one of my speech sessions I decided to type a letter to send home in his backpack. This letter explained to mom the difficulty, the target words to practice, a suggested way to practice them and my goal time frame for him learning the words. The following week the student came in and was able to read 90% of the target words. He told me that he had been practicing with his mom every night. I was so proud of him and it was obvious that he was proud of himself! This is one great example of how having constant access to a printer allows me to keep in contact with parents and provide valuable materials to my students very quickly.
I am so appreciative of the donations I received. Knowing that there are people that want to support my classroom and believe in my students is really inspiring. Receiving new ink for my printer allows me to provide my students with materials and information that allows them to be successful throughout the school year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Adinolfi
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 3 other donors.Sensory Materials for Productive Learning
Funded Sep 21, 2017This project allowed me to bring some sensory items into the classroom, such as: flexible fidget toys, spiky sensory rings, fidget pencil toppers and inflatable wobble disks for active chair sitting. I was inspired to incorporate sensory items and activities into my therapy room this year in order to help my students focus and concentrate. The goal of incorporating sensory items was to assist my students in being more focused, content and alert throughout therapy sessions. The sensory items also give them an appropriate way to move around during session time, while still remaining on task. Giving the students an opportunity to move helps avoid inappropriate behaviors (walking around, rocking on the chair, etc.) that the students use to meet sensory needs. Research has shown that incorporating sensory activities supports cognitive growth, language development, motor skills, problem solving abilities and social interactions. Additionally, sensory items can assist in calming a child that is over stimulated.
Thanks to the donations from this project all of the chairs in my therapy room now have wobble cushions. Having a wobble cushion on the chair allows my students to move in their seat in an appropriate way. Typically this type of seating improves their focus and assists them in attending to a task or completing an activity. The wobble cushions also help the students engage in active sitting. Active sitting improves mental alertness, concentration and focus. It also reduces muscle tension and increases circulation.
I have also been allowing some of my students to play with the small fidget toys during the therapy session. I have found that this prevents them from grabbing things, touching peers, playing with the materials meant to complete assignments and tapping their hands on the table. I have also found that letting them play with a small sensory items decreases their desire to look or move around the room and helps them focus on the therapy table and the task at hand. Additionally, thanks to DonorsChoose, I had the opportunity to order a larger number of small fidget toys. This has allowed me to not only have a class set of fidget toys, but to also put fidget toys in my treasure box. Each child has an incentive chart on their speech folder, when they work well throughout session, return homework and complete difficult tasks they receive a sticker on their incentive chart. When the chart is complete they are allowed to pick a prize from the treasure box. Now that I have fidget toys in the treasure box they will have the opportunity to pick an item that will be their own. Having their own fidget toy will allow them to bring it into other setting where they might find it helpful.
I have been using the sensory spiky rings to assist some of my students with transitions. I have a student who has significant difficulty transitioning between the classroom and the speech room. The day the spiky rings came in the mail I brought one into the classroom with me when I went to pick him up. He was so excited to hold it; he left the classroom nicely and easily came into the speech room. Since then every time I pick him up I have been bringing a spiky ring and I have seen major improvements in his ability to transition between the classroom and the speech room.
I am so appreciative of the donation I received. Having these materials allows me to provide my students with sensory items that help them focus on lessons and allows them to be successful. Providing them with sensory activities and toys gives my students the opportunity to take short productive breaks and creates an environment that they find fun and engaging. When the students are enjoying what they are doing they retain more information, which creates a more productive and enjoyable lesson.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Adinolfi
Literacy Is Key To Success!
Funded Dec 24, 2016The majority of my students are poor readers and demonstrate limited vocabulary and comprehension skills. For some it is because they are English Language Learners, for others it is because they have a diagnosis (learning disabled, intellectual disabled, speech language impairment) that makes learning difficult for them and then there are others who simply have not been exposed to enough reading or don't have the resources due to various family situations. As my students progress through life reading becomes more and more important and the tasks required of them become increasingly difficult. Through reading Winn-Dixie my students are really working to increase their vocabulary and comprehension skills. They are working on skills such as using context clues in order to define the word that is unfamiliar to them. They are also using the question hierarchy (responding to what, who, where, when, why and how questions) in order to improve their comprehension skills. Some of the strategies we are working on to help them respond to these questions are going back in the text and looking for key words that might help them find the answer to the question and rereading the text. The students are also working on visualizing. For this strategy the students are taught to picture what is going on in the book in their head; think about what they are hearing and include the details of what it might look like. The goal is that when they are asked a question they can go back to this mental "picture" they have created in order to help them respond. For children who struggle with language this is a difficult skill. Some of the ways I am facilitating this skill and allowing them to practice by drawing out what they visualize in there literacy journal and talking about what details they could have added. Additionally, they are working on referring back to the clues in the text that could help them really create an accurate and detailed image. Furthermore, when time permits we watch short clips from the movie and discuss how what is portrayed is similar or different from their visual and what they read in the text. The movie is also motivating for the students, so it typically increases their participation in the session and provides a multi-modal way of processing the information.
Due to time constraints and reading difficulty a lot of the time the information is read to the students or they are able to listen to the information, now that DonorsChoose has provided us with an audio book. However, whenever possible students are provided with the opportunity to read aloud to the group in order to also work on their reading skills. DonorsChoose has also provided my students with their own copies of the book. Before our donation I only had one copy of the book, so I would read and the students would listen. Now my students can follow along with the information, which increases their exposure to words and language. I have noticed a significant increase in participation and accuracy during activities now that the students have their own copies of the book. They also are less distracted because they have been provided with something to follow along with and look at. DonorsChoose also provided us with a Student Packet for each of my students, which has allowed us to work on creative writing, vocabulary, critical thinking. The Student Packet also gives them the opportunity to share opinions, work on character analysis and practice using charts to help understand the information.
My students all seem to be really enjoying Because of Winn-Dixie. Since we have started reading it there has been in increased excitement in my therapy room. There has been a boost in participation and my students are improving in their ability to respond to "what" questions about what has been read in the text. I believe this is because they find the story interesting and enjoyable. When I asked for this text on DonorsChoose I was hoping that would inspire my students to want to read, since many of them express that they do not enjoy reading; mostly because they find it difficult and have trouble understanding what they are reading. So far it seems that this book has defiantly brought a special vibe into the therapy room!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Adinolfi