Learning Is Never Boring

Funded Apr 10, 2015

First and foremost, thank you for your generous contribution to our classroom. I say "our" because without my students, I would not have a classroom. They are the ones that make it special and are the reason I am here. Everything I do is for them and for their benefit and the materials that we have obtained will greatly benefit them. Upon returning from spring break, after I received word that the project "learning is never boring" was fully funded I had the opportunity to tell all of my groups the news. Reporting such fantastic information never gets old. I wish that you were able to see the joy on their faces as I told them and as we explored each new game. We obtained a total of 20 new games. 20 games, that is incredible.

Each group took votes on which one they wanted to play first. There were a few hits like "Pirate Island" and "Capture the Flag", these are the first games that they choose to open and which most of their letters were about. Even now after using the games for almost a month they are still exploring new games. Each one has a fascinating and intriguing layout which holds the students attention for longer durations than a typical bored game. They all also target specific goals, most of them are reading comprehension related, and as it is speech and not reading class I have to alter some of the directions to fit their needs. For example, "Pirate Island" while a "level 1" reading comprehension game, working with my 1st and 2nd graders, I cannot read them such long passages. Thus in order to met their needs I summarize the information on the card. The students are unaware that they need adaptations and successful during the game. Once the students begin to strength their skills, I can use the original cards to scaffold these same skills. All of the children are very excited and while playing most of the students do not even realize that they are working on their goals. Already, several students have made significant gains in their ability to answer wh- questions (e.g.: who, what, where, when, why), in using vocabulary words, and their ability to inference.

Furthermore, I work between two schools and one of the games in particular, "Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game" I travel between the two schools with. The kids in my secondary school have significantly lower phonemic awareness skills (ability to decode). They request this same game daily! Phonemic awareness can be very challenging for these students yet they are enjoying themselves and showing growth in their reading.

The reason I initially became a speech-language pathologist was because I thought that there was no better gift than being able to help someone communicate. Here I am in the school setting, a setting that I truly love and would never trade. Now, you have given these students the ability to increase their capacity for social language, receptive language, expressive language, and comprehension. There is no better feeling then the gift of communication. Truly, words cannot express our gratitude.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Plunkett-Hoefferle