Past projects 3
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Students Tie Their Shoes Independently
Funded Apr 6, 2025This project has really helped our students become more independent through promoting literacy, reading, self-esteem, and doing things for themselves. The students love the books, and practice with them in class as well as at home. We have a class book, and a class shoe-tying practice model in class where the students can practice. The students have been motivated to practice tying their own shoes, instead of just asking an adult automatically which is what they did before. By learning to tie their own shoes, this will lead to motivation to be more independent on their own and trying themselves first in the future.
Thank you so much again for your generosity, kindness, and support of our classroom by donating to my deaf and hard of hearing students. You are the best and you really made our day, week, month, year! Thank you for being "a friend" to education!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Van Manen
Deaf Students Transfixed by Tarantulas
Funded Nov 16, 2016My students absolutely LOVED the tarantula field trip that we took to the Alley Pond Environmental Center! They actually also really impressed our APEC educator, Venus, with all of the knowledge that they remembered, retained, and understood from our tarantula book, The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery. The boys and girls in my class were totally transfixed by seeing and meeting a real, live tarantula! The tarantula was actually very lovely and beautiful, sweet and docile; her name was Clarabelle. This is an experience that none of them would have had if it weren't for your generous donation.
The students were too afraid to actually hold or touch the tarantula, but they looked at it through the plastic of its carrier container and stood pretty close to our trainer Venus, who was brave enough to hold it! Even the teacher was not brave enough to hold it, but perhaps on our next trip. The students also got to meet, study, and learn about different animals at the Alley Pond Environmental Center, such as the ring-necked dove named Pace, and a black-and-white rabbit named Oreo! The students absolutely loved being able to meet and pet each of these animals. The students were also able to take a look around the center where there were display cases of frogs, snakes, turtles, tortoises, more rabbits, chinchillas, birds, and more!
After the trip, the students were eager to go back to APEC on their own, on the weekend with their parents and families. Thank you so much for opening up this world of learning for my students. You gave them an invaluable experience that helped their reading come alive and one that they will be sure never to forget!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Van Manen
Can You Hear Me? Deaf Students Seek Technology!
Funded Mar 29, 2015I can't thank you enough for your generous donations to my classroom! The students were shocked and surprised when the boxes were delivered to our classroom, and we kept opening iPad cover upon iPad cover. I loved seeing their faces light up when they saw that we received brand new materials for the classroom! They loved helping me affix the shiny new black and green iPad cases to their iPads. The kids loved how the iPad covers felt grippy to the touch, and how they have a kick stand to help the iPads stand up on the desk. The students also loved the headphones, and hooked them up to the iPads right away to help them hear their reading activities and interactive programs and applications.
The students and I use the iPad covers and the headphones daily for reading and math activities. The kids use the iPads to play games at recess, and during the after school program as well. In addition to my class, we lend the iPads to other students with special needs on our hallway, and they love using the iPads with the cases and headphones as well. I am so grateful as a teacher to have the cases to protect the iPads since they are in transit from classroom to classroom and changing many hands! We absolutely cherish our technology in the classroom, so I want to make sure it lasts as long as possible. We never know when we will be getting new technology for the kids because of school budgeting and funding, so we need to preserve the technology that we have as much as possible.
This Donors Choose project definitely boosted my teaching and the students' learning by helping them to work more independently, engaging in self-driven learning. They can now read more books on the iPad seamlessly, without having to worry about being so careful with the iPad itself. My deaf and hard of hearing students can now listen better to their iPad reading application reading to them, so that they can increase their language as well as their reading skills.
I can't explain to you how grateful my students and I are to you for giving to our class. You have improved our day to day life in the classroom so much. We use the classroom resources that were purchased with your donations every single day, and we plan to continue using them for as long as they are functioning! Many, many thanks for your generosity! Thank you for supporting special education and deaf and hard of hearing education.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Van Manen