Your web browser might not work well with our site. We recommend you upgrade your browser.
/classroom/7692831 Customize URL
鈥淲hen is it time to go outside?鈥 is one of the most frequently asked questions in my classroom. Unfortunately, my students are allotted only about an hour of outdoor time out of their eight-and-a-half-hour day, weather permitting, where they can navigate their environment autonomously with fewer restrictions, productively use their energy, and receive effective sensory-motor input. Now, given limited square footage in our classroom and COVID restrictions that have eliminated many of our traditional sensory-motor opportunities, our students have fewer outlets to move freely and receive sensory-motor input from their actions and movements. Due to a combination of new limitations and the effects of secondary stress and trauma that my children are experiencing, they are more prone to use toys harshly, throwing and kicking them, use hands inappropriately for hitting or grabbing, and use unsafe running feet to race around the small classroom space and climb shelves as a way to attempt to meet their sensory-motor needs, which in turn takes its toll on their social and emotional well-being. With the help of these materials I am requesting, my intention is that students will not only have productive and educational outlets to receive sensory-motor input, but they will also be afforded the opportunity to safely navigate their environment and use movement as a social-emotional support to aid them in self-regulation as they are provided developmentally appropriate opportunities and experiences that can be hosted in the classroom environment.
Read more