Building Foundations Through Play

Moderation state
funded
Grant Applicant
Christina Fahlen
School Site
Tahoe Lake Elementary
Grant Category
Mathematics & Science
Grant Date
2026-06-09T12:00:00
Description

Project Description: Building Foundations Through Play

This project seeks to provide a comprehensive suite of visual-motor manipulatives and multi-level puzzles specifically tailored for students in a TK-2nd Grade Extensive Support Needs (ESN) classroom. For these early learners, the ability to process visual information and coordinate it with physical movement is not just an academic skill, but a vital life skill.

The Need: Students with extensive support needs often face significant challenges in fine motor precision, spatial awareness, and bilateral coordination. Standard classroom materials often lack the durability or the adaptive features (such as large pegs, high-contrast borders, or magnetic backing) necessary for these students to engage successfully without frustration.

The Impact: By integrating a variety of specialized puzzles and visual-motor tasks, we are providing a "tactile laboratory" where students can:

  • Strengthen STEM Skills: Develop geometric logic and problem-solving through shape recognition and part-to-whole assembly.
  • Improve Graphomotor Readiness: Build the hand strength and eye-hand coordination required for future writing and typing tasks.
  • Foster Independence: Engage with "errorless" or self-correcting learning materials that allow for autonomy and confidence-building.

Supplies Requested: The requested materials include jumbo-peg puzzles for pincer grasp development, pattern block sets for spatial reasoning, and visual-tracking activities that bridge the gap between sensory play and academic readiness. These tools will ensure that our students’ developmental "on-ramp" is accessible, engaging, and effective.

Benefits of Program

1. Visual-Motor & Physical Development

  • Hand-Eye Coordination: Puzzles require the brain to coordinate what the eyes see with what the hands do—a prerequisite for nearly every daily living task.
  • Fine Motor Precision: Handling small pieces or gripping pegs builds the pincer grasp and intrinsic hand strength needed for holding a pencil or using a spoon.
  • Bilateral Integration: Using one hand to hold a puzzle board while the other hand places a piece teaches the two sides of the body to work together.
  • Visual Perception: Students learn to distinguish between foreground and background, as well as recognize shapes even when they are rotated or flipped (visual constancy).

2. Cognitive & Academic (STEM) Benefits

  • Spatial Reasoning: Students develop a "mental map" of how objects fit into a 3D space, which is the bedrock of early geometry.
  • Problem-Solving & Persistence: Puzzles provide a safe environment for "trial and error." Students learn to modify their strategy when a piece doesn't fit, building cognitive flexibility.
  • Part-to-Whole Logic: This is essential for understanding that letters make words and numbers make sets. It is the literal foundation of literacy and numeracy.
  • Attentional Stamina: Completing a task from start to finish helps increase the "on-task" duration for students who may struggle with focus.

3. Functional & Emotional Benefits

  • Confidence and Autonomy: Many puzzles are self-correcting—the piece either fits or it doesn't. This allows students to succeed without constant adult correction, fostering a sense of "I can do it myself."
  • Reduced Frustration: By providing puzzles that match their specific motor level (like magnetic pieces or jumbo pegs), you reduce the physical barriers to learning, which often leads to fewer behavioral outbursts.
  • Sensory Regulation: The tactile feedback of wooden or textured puzzle pieces provides grounding proprioceptive input, which can help calm a student’s nervous system.
Success of Program

Goal Attainment: A 30% increase in students meeting their specific IEP (Individualized Education Program) goals related to fine motor and visual-perceptual skills.

  • Reduced Prompting: A measurable decrease in "hand-over-hand" assistance required. Success is moving from a Physical Prompt to a Gestural Prompt or Independent Completion.
  • Duration of Engagement: An increase in "Time on Task." For example, a student moving from 2 minutes of focused play to 5 minutes.
  • Accuracy: Improved percentage of "first-trial" success when matching shapes or completing 4-piece to 12-piece puzzles.

This describes the change in the classroom environment and student behavior:

  • Emotional Regulation: A decrease in task-avoidance behaviors (frustration, throwing pieces, or shutting down) because the materials are at the appropriate developmental level.
  • Increased Autonomy: Students choosing to engage with the puzzles during "free choice" time, demonstrating self-initiation and confidence.
  • Generalization of Skills: Seeing a student use the pincer grasp they learned from a peg puzzle to then pick up a crayon or a piece of finger food.

Long-Term Educational Success

  • Pre-Writing Readiness: Strengthening the "intrinsic muscles" of the hand today so that by 2nd grade, the student has the physical stamina to attempt letter formation.
  • Cognitive Mapping: Building the spatial awareness necessary for students to eventually navigate a school hallway or organize their own desk materials.
Implementation

For a TK-2 ESN environment, implementation is most successful when it’s predictable and tiered. Here is the implementation strategy I would like to use:

1. Daily Small-Group Rotations (The "Learning Centers")

Puzzles and visual-motor activities will be a core "station" in our daily rotation schedule.

  • Direct Instruction: I (or a Paraeducator) will work 1-on-1 with a student to teach the specific mechanics of a new puzzle (e.g., how to rotate a shape or use a pincer grasp on a peg).
  • Independent Practice: Once a student masters a specific level (like a 3-piece wooden puzzle), that activity moves to their "Independent Work" bin to build confidence and autonomy.

2. Scaffolded Complexity (The "Step-Up" Approach)

We will implement a "staircase" of difficulty to ensure every student is challenged but not overwhelmed:

  • Level 1 (Sensory/Basic): Large, high-contrast peg puzzles and magnetic boards for students working on basic reach-and-grasp.
  • Level 2 (Spatial Logic): Inset puzzles and 2-part matching games that focus on identifying "part-to-whole" relationships.
  • Level 3 (Advanced Visual-Motor): Interlocking jigsaw puzzles (12-24 pieces) and pattern blocks that require precise finger dexterity and geometric planning.

3. Integrated IEP Goal Support

These materials will be used during Occupational Therapy (OT) push-in sessions. By having these specialized supplies readily available in the classroom, the teacher and OT can collaborate on:

  • Crossing the Midline: Placing pieces on the opposite side of the student’s dominant hand.
  • Visual Tracking: Encouraging the student to follow a piece from the table to its spot on the board.

4. Data-Driven Progress Monitoring

Implementation includes a weekly "Check-In" where staff records:

  • Which level of puzzle the student is currently using.
  • The level of prompting required (Physical, Gestural, or Independent).
  • This data will be used to update IEP Progress Reports and adjust the student’s "Work Bin" for the following week.
Can you share this grant with your grade level or subject team?

Yes, I can absolutely share the materials with my co-teacher, Sara Jones.

Sustainability
1. Durability of Materials
Unlike consumables (like paper, glue, or snacks), high-quality puzzles and visual-motor manipulatives are "legacy" items.

Selection Criteria: We will prioritize wood, heavy-duty plastics, and magnetic materials that can withstand rigorous, daily use and frequent sanitization.

Maintenance: A regular cleaning and inventory schedule will ensure that sets remain complete and hygienic for multiple cohorts of students over the next 5–10 years.

2. Longitudinal Skill Building
The program is sustainable because the skills it builds are cumulative.

Cross-Grade Impact: Since this grant covers TK through 2nd Grade, the supplies will follow students as they grow. A puzzle used for basic grasping in TK becomes a tool for pattern recognition in 1st grade and a task for independent work endurance in 2nd grade.

Teacher Training: The strategies developed during this implementation (data collection, scaffolding techniques) will become a permanent part of the classroom’s instructional "playbook," benefiting future students who enter the program.

3. Integration into the IEP Process
By linking these supplies to Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, they become an essential part of the school's mandated service delivery.

Core Curriculum: These tools will be integrated into our "Motor Lab" or "STEM Centers," ensuring they are used as a standard part of the daily curriculum rather than as a "special event."

Collaboration: These materials will be shared with the school’s Occupational Therapist and Adaptive PE teacher, creating a multi-disciplinary approach that survives any single school year.

4. Future Funding & Growth
Proof of Concept: This grant will serve as a "pilot." By documenting the success (using the data we discussed earlier), we can advocate for future district funding or larger federal grants to expand the program.

Community Support: Once the initial "library" of puzzles is established, we can maintain it through small-scale donations or "Lost Piece" replacement requests to our local PTA.
Amount Funded
$1318.00
Individual Budget Items(s)
$1100 - Adaptive puzzles, Visual- Motor Manipulatives, Sustainability and organization
Shipping
$140.00
Taxes
$78.00
Other funding sources

I have access to a small amount of funds through grade level, Special Education, and PTA.  

Notes

This project represents a long-held vision for our classroom: a specialized Motor Lab designed specifically for the unique needs of TK-2 ESN students. My goal is to work in close partnership with our District Occupational Therapist to curate a library of materials that move beyond 'busy work.' We intend to select tools that provide a 'just-right' challenge—pushing each student just past their current comfort zone to trigger meaningful neurological and physical growth.