With Your Help, Amazing Things Will Happen Here

School:: Pelican Marsh Elementary
Subject:: Special Needs Students
Teacher:: Allison White
Students Impacted:: 7
Grade:: K-5
Date:: August 15, 2019

Investors

Thank you to the following investors for funding this grant.

Cathy & Peter Hetrick - $250.00

Suncoast Credit Union - $1,750.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 9

The classroom grant funded by Suncoast Credit union has greatly impacted my classroom and student learning. With this grant, I was able to provide my classroom with various learning materials to help facilitate learning and provide opportunities for hands-on learning, all while promoting independence.

With this grant, I was able to purchase snack items for my students throughout the school year. We used these snack items as a way to facilitate communication from students who are non-verbal or in the beginning stages of speaking. The food was a reinforcing item during snack time, which helped each student develop his or her ability to request a preferred item. Another item obtained through this grant to help build communication were six sets of Language Builder Picture Cards. These cards have been used daily with each student to teach the names of items in our environment to help build the students’ ability to follow directions and communicate in their day-to-day lives.

I was able to purchase various fine motor activities, such as beading activities, tongs, adaptive scissors, and other activities to help students develop in their fine motor skills. These items have been used daily during independent work time, as well as during Occupational Therapy Group twice per week. These activities and items have greatly impacted my students’ fine motor development and most of my students have developed the ability to write because of the practice that was put in with the use of the items.

With the use of this grant, purchasing interactive activities was something that I was really looking forward to. I was able to purchase a few magnetic letter kits so that my students can come up to the white board and build our weekly sight words with the big letters in front of the class. The students have loved using these items weekly. I was also able to purchase various hands-on math materials to help students learn how to count while showing one-to-one correspondence and interact with the math concepts being taught. It has made learning more fun for both the students and myself!

Lastly, through this grant, I was able to purchase art and classroom supplies for my students. We have been able to supply my classroom with construction paper, glue, scissors, paint, paintbrushes, and other art supplies for my students to use to create their Kindergarten Memory Books. We also were able to purchase seat sacks for the classroom, so that each student has a designated place on the back of their chairs to house their belongings.

Due to the changes in the current school year and the shift to virtual learning, I had $150 that was allotted for snack items left over. I was able to purchase more fine motor and math activities with these leftover funds. This grant has really helped supply my classroom with the necessary materials to allow my students the ability to participate in the curriculum in a more hands-on way and provided more opportunities for independent learning.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

The goal of this proposal is to provide our Kindergarten-Second Grade students, who have been diagnosed with autism and speech and language disorders, the tools and materials necessary to aid in the development of their speech and language, fine motor, academic, and behavioral needs. Our goal is to provide the students with materials and tools obtained through this grant that will help them develop necessary skills to be able to access the curriculum at a higher level of independence.

What will be done with my students

Snack items are extremely important components of language development in an autism classroom. Many children with autism have difficulty communicating their wants and needs; therefore, it is important to use items that are highly reinforcing to encourage communication. In my classroom, snack group takes place daily and is a time where we teach students how to communicate their wants, make choices, and interact with teachers. Whether the students use their voice, or a picture card to request a snack item, students are learning to make choices and wait their turn for something that is highly reinforcing.

Language Builder Picture Cards are used multiple times per day in my classroom. Due to speech and language delays, many students in my class have difficulty simply labeling items in every day life, such as a chair, a pencil, or an apple. Through the use of picture cards, we are able to teach the names of objects in our every day life to help develop the ability to communicate and follow a direction. For example, if a child is given a direction to sit in his or her desk, but the child does not know what a "desk" is, it would be difficult for the child to be able to follow that direction. We use these picture cards to build language and vocabulary so that our students are able to follow directions and understand their surroundings.

Seat Sacks will hang on the back of each student's desk to give a designated area to hold their personal belongings.

Fine Motor Tasks and Activities are used daily to develop fine motor skills and independence in our students.Fine motor skills are defined as small movements that happen at the wrist, hands, or fingers. Fine motor skills are used to write, color, and complete mainly functional tasks throughout the day. Many children with autism have fine motor delays and receive Occupational Therapy, so the completion of daily fine motor tasks to help strengthen their fine motor skills are imperative to development. Tasks such as stringing beads, buttoning buttons, zipping zippers, using tongs or tweezers to pick up a cotton ball, are all tasks that will help our students improve their fine motor development.

Classroom Letter Kits would be an amazing item to incorporate into reading group for my students. Plastic and magnetic letters will give my students a more interactive approach to learning and phonics. There are many activities such as expressive and receptive letter identification, letter/sound matching, and spelling/word builder activities that would be done with these letter kits. This is an item that would be used daily in my classroom.

Art Supplies are used daily in my classroom for many activities. Due to the behavioral needs of my students, frequent breaks are required every 20-30 minutes where each student is able to choose a reinforcing activity. Many students choose coloring/art related activities; therefore, we go through markers, crayons, glue sticks, and construction paper very quickly. We also use our art supplies for a weekly craft group that aligns with our reading unit of the week.

Math counters and manipulatives are items that will be used daily during our math group as a way to give our students an interactive learning experience and the opportunity to integrate their knowledge through the use of hands-on learning. Math counters and manipulatives will be used to teach number sense, addition, subtraction, and measurement concepts.

Benefits to my students

Each item listed would greatly benefit the development of each and every one of my students. With the assistance of Champions For Learning, my classroom will be given tools and supplies to be able to continue developing independence, communication, fine motor skills, academic skills, and school readiness skills in my students. There are 7 total students with special needs in my classroom and each one would benefit immensely by having access to these items daily in our classroom.

Budget Narrative

Food and Edibles will be used as a reinforcement item during snack group to develop and enhance the communication of students in an ESE classroom through the process of verbally requesting or requesting through the use of a Picture Exchange System.
Total: $300.00

Language Builder Picture Cards will be used daily in our classroom as a way to build language skills through expressively and receptively labeling items/objects/nouns.
Total: $600.00

Seat Sacks will be placed on the back of each student’s desk to hold their personal belongings, such as their folders, communication devices, and their token boards.
Total: $80.00

Fine Motor Tasks such as buttoning, cutting, lacing, and using tongs are all used daily in a special education classroom to develop the foundational skills necessary for a child to be able to hold a pencil, write, and complete daily living tasks independently.
Total: $300.00

Classroom Letter Kits will be used build phonics skills through the use of hands-on word builder activities.
Total: $220.00

Art Supplies will include markers, crayons, glue sticks, construction paper, and adapted scissors.
Total: $300.00

Math Counters and Manipulatives will be used during math instruction to provide hands-on learning to teach number sense, addition, subtraction, and measurement concepts.
Total: $200.00

Total: $2,000.00

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Food and Edibles	$300.00
2	Language Builder Picture Noun Cards (6 sets)	$600.00
3	Seat Sacks (8 total)	$80.00
4	Fine Motor Tasks and Activities	$300.00
5	Classroom Letters Kit (5 sets)	$220.00
6	Art Supplies (glue, markers, crayons, adaptive scissors)	$300.00
7	Math Manipulatives and Counters	$200.00
	Total:	$2,000.00

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