Help me give my students fidgets, coloring sheets, velcro and other supplies to improve their participation and engagement throughout the day
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Perez's classroom raised $588
This project is fully funded
My Students
As a School-Based Occupational Therapist I help ensure that a student can participate in a variety of school activities, from paying attention in class, concentrating on the task at hand, holding a pencil, or just behaving appropriately in class.
My students are part of a large, urban K-8 school and they all have diverse abilities, interests, and goals.
Despite individual difficulties, each student makes an effort to be as independent as possible and to positively impact those around them. They are truly a hard-working group of student that love to learn and want to be challenged to grow.
There are a variety of reasons that might be affecting one’s learning or behavior such as motor skills, cognitive processing, visual or perceptual problems, mental health concerns, difficulties staying on task, unorganized, or inappropriate sensory responses. Helping students perform tasks that are necessary for participating and learning in the classroom is a vital part of my job. In addition, I also provide consultation to teachers about how classroom design affects attention, why children behave inappropriately at certain times, and where best to seat a child based on his or her learning style or other needs.
My Project
I am hoping to set my students up with specific sensory supports, which provide the brain with the necessary input to keep it alert and available for learning throughout the day. Children typically benefit from a combination of alerting, organizing, and calming activities to establish a comfortable level of modulation. This may be best accomplished by addressing their tactile, proprioceptive, or vestibular systems.
Items such as velcro, exercise tubing, and the fidget kit can be used both in the OT room and in the classroom as ways to address the need for motor stimulation.
The scratch color sheets and wiki stix provide students with a hands-on activity, which can be used as part of multimodal learning or when the student may be feeling anxious or overwhelmed. The cuddle and massage balls can offer students calming proprioceptive input that may help to regulate their emotions and prepare them to reengage with learning.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Perez and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
