Find It Fund It Florida - Hillsborough Education Foundation

Creating an Inclusion Community

School:: Forest Hills Elementary School
Category:: Science
Teacher/ Administrator:: Christy Mribiha
: 204970
Students Impacted:: 300
Grade Levels Impacted:: K-5
Date:: August 26, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Hillsborough Education Foundation - $1,980.00

Project Goal

Create an inclusion community within my school. Show neurotypical students how to interact with severe needs students that have little to no interaction with the general public.

The garden will also be open to the whole school for long-term science investigations by other classes as well. Students from all grades will be involved in this project.

Students will be taught ways to create gardens at home as well; example is using egg crates to start seedlings.

How Project Benefits Students

This club will provide students with severe needs the opportunity to learn about plants, social emotional skills, and communication skills alongside their neurotypical peers. Neurotypical students will learn empathy, social skills, communication skills, and plant science during this club. We will be setting an example to the whole school how to engage with others with communication difficulties, cognitive challenges and social skill deficits. This will bring more opportunities for the severe needs students to interact with typical peers. People are often scared to interact with them because they don't understand why they act like they do. This club will show the school that these students are people with the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. They have difficulty engaging in activities in most environments due to sensory overload. This therapeutic setting will provide a calm and safe environment to interact with peers they would not usually interact with because society often is ignorant to the special needs community.

Expected Outcome(s)

Students will learn how to communicate with each other on their level of understanding. Students will collaborate with each other during adult directed activities. Neurotypical students will learn how to help the special needs students in a way that promotes independence and collaboration. Student will create 1:1 friendships with each other and create a more inclusive school community. Student will be able to describe plant activities, perform plant activities, use planting activities at home for life skills. Student will use social skills, communication skills and critical thinking skills in real life situations.

Detailed Cost Summary

We will be having activities in:
sensory play
communication partners
collaborative games
friend ice breakers
getting to know each other.
understanding our emotions
seed starting
seed sprouting
seed dissecting
flower dissecting
hydroponics
green houses
observing roots
making terrariums
looking at plant life cycles
We will need:
protective gear
storage containers to store items in
paper supplies such as paper bowls, plates, notebooks, pencils, markers, water bottles etc.
hoses and watering cans to maintain plant life.
A wagon to transport items from classroom to planting area outside.

Items

#	Item Description	Total Cost
1	50 pack 3" net cup pots self watering	$30.00
2	clear plastic jars for root viewing	$25.00
3	sensory interactive activites	$200.00
4	potting mats for transplanting	$100.00
5	heavy duty wagon	$100.00
6	3 raised garden beds	$200.00
7	planting gloves	$50.00
8	aprons	$50.00
9	seed starter kit	$50.00
10	potting soil	$200.00
11	plastic planting tools	$50.00
12	heirloom seeds	$30.00
13	collaborative games tools	$200.00
14	2 indoor hydroponics kit	$200.00
15	6 set of 3 seed sprouting kits	$45.00
16	hose and watering cans	$50.00
17	terrarium supplies	$100.00
18	plant life cycle models	$100.00
19	paper supplies	$100.00
20	storage containers	$100.00
	Total:	$1,980.00

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