Help Fund 3D Printer for Special Needs Kids

I am a courageous, connected, free woman! I am LP 193.

I am grateful to be 53 today!

I am going out on a limb and saying what I would really like this year for my birthday.

The job I took this year is more rewarding than ever but comes with different challenges.

I went from RSP in high school to SDC in elementary.

I started the year thinking I would just get to know the students, learn what they like/don't like on day one, only to wake up on a whole different planet. My students are primarily on the autism spectrum and have humbled and rewarded me in ways I apparently needed. Because they are in 1st through 3rd grade, they still have speech delays and limited verbal expression. They communicate in many non-verbal ways.

They are each brilliant and very intelligent - one of the first graders was able to find the ASL videos we were watching in class on his own device at home. Apparently, I typed in Patty Shukla often enough that he did the same!

I brought in my 3D printed dragon today. The kids loved it.

I have promised that after Christmas they each can earn a dragon. The kids are all on board for this. A student that typically yells kept coming to me and speaking very softly, saying he wanted a pink dragon. I had told him our class dragon was just a baby and yelling scared it.

I told him he would get a pink dragon after Christmas.

So friends and family,

I need to get 15 dragons and with the Black Friday sales and discounts, a 3D printer would actually be cheaper than buying 15 dragons plus the egg it hatches from.

I want a 3D printer for my class and kids.

I want a laser engraver/cutter for my class and kids, and I get to learn too!

My phone number is hooked up to my Venmo and PayPal. Anything you want to donate to this wish will go toward buying first a 3D printer and filament to make the dragons. I learned that when people work together, what seems unattainable becomes possible. Any donation is appreciated. Think of it as a dinner or a peppermint mocha Frappuccino we could share, but way better because it would provide an endless source of tangible rewards and opportunities to create teachable moments in my classroom daily!

If you were thinking of getting me anything - this is my birthday wish....