While I was home with my hubby helping him recover from surgery, my sweet students were working hard. I know they had some good times playing over Spring Break, but they also were working and sacrificing for other kids. My butterfly box was full of Ziploc bags this morning. Each little baggie contained dollars and coins, as well as wonderful stories.
The kids are always so proud to come in and show me the money they have raised. They also enjoy telling the other children about what they did to earn the money. One little boy really touched me when he stood up and shared how he had raised almost $200. That is the first time in the seven months I have known him that he stood up in front of the class with his head held high, his voice loud enough for us to hear him, and an enormous smile on his face. It was powerful to see what his sacrifice meant to him!
We spent the first part of our day writing names on butterflies for every dollar that had been raised, swarming our little fundraisers with butterflies and then hanging them on the wall. Fifteen five and six year-olds have raised over $1,000 in just three weeks!! This is enough for six wheelchairs!
We continued our unit on disabilities by learning about hearing impairment. As we started our lesson I put a pair of ear protection domes on one of my students. They would each take a turn experiencing mild to moderate hearing loss. They were all anxious to try them but were also grateful to take them off!
We talked about a variety of accommodation strategies for the hearing impaired including:
- hearing aids
- cochlear implants
- speech therapy
- lip reading
- flashing lights
- vibration
- closed captioning
We passed four hearing aids around with each hearing aid getting smaller. We talked about how you can barely see them now and can even buy disposable hearing aids, similar to using contacts for the eyes. In addition, the children were able to see a representation of the cochlea or inner ear.
We concluded our lessons by watching, "Signing Time." The kids have already been exposed to about 50 signs in just two class days.
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