Safety First, Then Quiet Learning for All

School:: Van R Butler Elementary
Subject:: Low Performing Students
Teacher:: Janet Sherman
: Sonia Dunn
Students Impacted:: 50
Grade:: K-5
Date:: October 2, 2018

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

The Alys Foundation - $641.92

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 50

The quiet room was a great help with the mats on the floors. It was not only used to calm the children when they were very upset, but it also became a room for them to work in a quiet comfortable environment. The mat on the floor made a safe environment for the few children who got very upset and could have possibly hurt them selves when they became upset. We love our new floor! Thank you so much.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

The goal of this grant is to provide a safe environment for several students with behavioral needs at our school and at the same time provide a quiet, uninterrupted learning environment for those students who work in the same area. This will be done by adding a rubber floor mats to the quiet room to keep students safe and absorb sounds so the area outside the room is quieter.
Although the students working in the ESE room will be able to access all the standards with less interruptions, the ultimate goal of this grant is to keep children safe.

What will be done with my students

The ESE dept at our school is set up so that it allows all the ESE teachers and students to work together in close proximity. We are able to include all students and help each other. Our area is made up of different rooms which help address the emotional, behavioral and learning needs of all students. Between all of us we service several children with behavioral needs.
Several of the ESE students with behavioral concerns have been diagnosed with Autism. Students with Autism often engage in physical aggression, self injury and tantrums. When one of our ESE students begins to exhibit some of these characteristics, our staff quickly directs the student to an area that is used as a quiet room. However, the quiet room has a very hard floor and this could potentially hurt a child who is throwing themselves on the floor or banging their head. Behaviors such as this are typical of children with behavior concerns and Autism.
By adding a rubber mat floor, the child in crisis and the staff would be safer. The floor would be softer and possibly eliminate self injuries to the student. The staff could be safer because we would not be so worried about trying to stop behaviors that could be harmful to the child. When a staff has to interact with a child in crisis, it is always possible that they could unintentionally be harmed by the student.
The rubber floor mats will also absorb much of the noise that goes along with a behavior episode.The teaching areas outside the quiet room will be quieter and the students working outside this room can continue to learn without interruption or distraction.

Benefits to my students

The most important benefit to adding a rubber mat floor to the quiet room would be to keep the children who needs to be in the room calming themselves safe. It will lessen the likeliness of injury to the child.
Another benefit would be that a rubber mat floor would require less immediate staff involvement. Our staff could potentially be safer by becoming less involved with the child during the behavioral episode. By less involvement, I mean we might not have to interact and stop the child from harm so quickly. Staff would always be the child and monitoring behavior closely.
The last benefit would be to those students who are working in the areas outside of the quiet room. Rubber mat on the floor would absorb much of the sound inside the room. The children would not need to stop working or learning, and move to another area to work in. Their learning time can stay productive and uninterrupted. Their learning will not be affected by the negative actions of others.

Budget Narrative

To build our floor in the quiet room, which measure 14ft. X 14 ft., we will need a total of 64 7/8" Tatami Tiles from Home Depot. This will make our room safe and the environment outside quiet. Those outside the quiet room can access the standards in an area that is safe and made for learning.