Flowery students travel the galaxy with new VR headsets - Sonoma Index-Tribune

This is portion of a bid that examines however grants from the Sonoma Valley Educational Foundation assistance students flourish.

Flowery Elementary School students abruptly are uncovering themselves touring Athens, riding connected a gondola successful Venice, navigating done Zion National Park successful Utah.

They are utilizing the school’s caller virtual world headsets, acknowledgment chiefly to a $1,000 assistance that Sara Hubbard-Lake, the school’s room media specialist, received for 2022-23 done the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation’s Donors Choose program.

“Our students are astute and curious,” Hubbard-Lake wrote erstwhile applying for the grant. “They are small mathematicians and scientists, artists and writers. Many of our students unrecorded their lives wrong a few-blocks radius. They mightiness sojourn household successful different municipality oregon instrumentality a travel to the city, but they don’t person galore opportunities to research beyond the metropolis limits of our ain small town.

She added, “Virtual world has immoderate astonishing acquisition platforms that let students to instrumentality a travel astir the world, into abstraction oregon adjacent backmost successful time.”

The headsets presently are disposable to fourth- and fifth-grade students, but parents of younger students who would similar the accidental to usage a headset tin scope retired to Hubbard-Lake.

Fifth-grader Tallulah Carroll says she was the archetypal pupil to usage 1 of the headsets.

“I was truly excited doing it; I’ve ever wanted to bash VR,” she said. “I did the learning steps successful a volleyball crippled — I similar punching things successful the air. I besides danced with a robot!”

Luke Smith-Luciano, a fourth-grader, enjoys the assorted games that helium plays.

“I similar ‘Titans successful Space’,” helium said. “You’re successful a abstraction shuttle and you’re trying to power it. There besides an underwater crippled wherever you larn astir antithetic taxon of underwater creatures. In the abstraction game, you larn however to power a abstraction shuttle and larn astir space. The games are fun, and they assistance you to learn.”

Meanwhile, Flowery students are enjoying different 1 of Hubbard-Lake’s caller Classroom Grant projects successful the schoolhouse library.

Libraries aren’t known to beryllium the liveliest places successful the world, but Flowery students often unreserved to the doorway of the schoolhouse room during recess, anxious to spot what is happening inside.

That’s due to the fact that during recess, the room is transformed into the Incredible No-Shhh Library, offering an array of games and different activities that promote conversation.

“By providing mindfulness tools for greeting meditation, sensory toys for a calming corner, elephantine games to play astatine recess, sets for our ongoing recess chess games, stationary peddlers for a Ride & Read presumption and supplies for an arts and crafts corner, this room volition go a originative learning halfway wherever students tin prosecute some their minds and their bodies,” Hubbard-Lake wrote erstwhile applying for the grant.

She cherishes the quiet, peaceful sanctuary that accepted libraries provide, and appreciates that they connection an perfect spot for students to larn and immerse themselves successful a bully book. Hubbard-Lake notes that galore schools are moving distant from the thought that libraries request to beryllium silent, sedentary places for learning, though.

“School libraries are evolving into bustling, vibrant centers of cognition that prosecute the full child,” she wrote. “This room volition proceed to supply a quiescent flight for our voracious readers, but it is my anticipation that it tin germinate into a spot that tin interaction a student’s time successful a affirmative and meaningful mode some successful and retired of the library.

“Studies amusement that mindfulness tin trim anxiousness and question tin pb children to go much alert. When their bodies are calm and their minds are focused, students simply larn better.”

The Incredible No-Shhh Library, which is disposable to each Flowery students, was made imaginable partially done a $1,000 Classroom Grant that Hubbard-Lake received during the 2021-22 world twelvemonth from the acquisition foundation. Teachers and schoolhouse unit are allowed to use for 1 assistance of up to $1,000 per year.

“With the supplies provided by this grant, the room volition beryllium a supportive spot that engages the full kid done games, mindfulness and sensory toys, creation and trade supplies, and more,” said Gail Chadwin, the foundation’s manager of development.

Students tin sojourn the Incredible No-Shhh Library lone during recess, portion the library’s calming country is disposable passim the schoolhouse time for immoderate pupil who needs abstraction for a interruption extracurricular the classroom.

Hubbard-Lake says that students emotion the library’s galore options, which see not lone an country for quiescent reading, but besides the Listening Lounge, Sign Language Club, Adventures successful Bookland, Game Time and a yoga space.

Emery Gybsers, a fifth-grade student, likes to play games during recess.

“I similar crippled that you play to get astute … chess, checkers, those types of games,” Emery said. “I similar them due to the fact that I similar to deliberation astir my moves and what I’m going to play. I consciousness similar I can’t truly play extracurricular due to the fact that it’s truly noisy.

Luke enjoys coming to the room astatine recess to usage a VR headset and play Jenga successful a calm environment.

“It’s quieter there,” helium said. “You don’t person radical screaming.”

Chadwin praises Hubbard-Lake’s creativity and resourcefulness.

“I’ve noticed that she is 1 of a fistful of teachers who ever has a task posted connected Donors Choose, which collectively brings a wide assortment of resources to the Flowery library. I truly respect the mode she thinks extracurricular the container to bring engaging opportunities to her students.”

To larn much astir the Donors Choose program, wherever donors tin enactment the schoolroom exertion that speaks to them, sojourn svgreatschools.org.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, astatine daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.