Play To Learn Playground

Construction is almost complete!!!!

Playground Sponsors:

Hailey Development - playground equipment ($23,114.95)
Monocacy Foundation - $3000.00
Sandy Spring Bank - $2500.00
Community Foundation of Frederick County $2000.00
Stephen and Donna Crum $2000.00
Monocacy Foundation $1708.00
Play to Learn 20/20 campaign - $16925.00
Lettie Carter - $1000.00
Mike Campbell - $1000.00
Civitan Club of Frederick - $1000.00
PBLS Enterprises, Inc. T/A LS Fuel - $1000.00
UPS - $1000.00
Anonymous donor - $1000.00
BES Hat Day - $704.00
Have a Heart BES collection - $746.62
Knights of Columbus Council 11715 - $500.00
Joe and Marcella Himes - $500.00
Holiday Home Show - $328.72
L.S. Inc. T/A Brunswick Citgo - $250.00
Cable Family - $250.00
Brunswick Masonic Lodge #191 - $200.00
Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 1136 - $200.00
Jefferson Ruritan - $200.00
Louis and Susan Iaquinta (IKO Developments)- $200.00
Donations from Railroad Days - $100.53
Burkittsville Ruritan - $100.00
Sue Douglas - $100.00
Hopwood Enterprises - $100.00
Kean Family - $100.00
Jake Sclater - $100.00
Steadman-Keenan Post No. 96 - $100.00
Brunswick Meat and Deli - $75.00
Brunswick Family Dentistry - $50.00
W. Campbell - $50.00
Kate King - $50.00
McElhinney family - $50.00
Sclater family - $50.00
Kim Cable in honor of the Special Ed. Team - $50
Ramirez family - $40.00
Karin Tome - $40.00
Margaret Spurrier - $35.00
Century Temple #4 Pythian Sisters - $25.00
Donation Total To Date: $40,537.87

To become a sponsor please contact Wendy Campbell,chair of the BES Play to Learn Playground Committe, by phone at 240-236-2894 or
by email at wendy.campbell@fcps.org

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

Brunswick’s Very Special Students
Among our school population, we have a very special group - children aged 3-5 with varying disabilities that are enrolled in our prekindergarten special education program. These children come from the Brunswick and Jefferson areas. We have two sessions of special education prekindergarten each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Typically, five – eight students are enrolled in each session. Our prekindergarten special education population includes students who may be language delayed, motor delayed, cognitively delayed, autistic, deaf, and blind. We have students that were born prematurely and students with rare genetic disorders. As a result of these various disabilities, most of our special education students come to us with limited or no language or communication skills. Many of our students also have delayed social and self-help skills. Some are not yet walking when they begin our program. During the time the children are in school, we target a variety of these skills based on their individual education programs.

The Active Learner
We know that when children “do” – when they are actively engaged in a learning activity – they are more likely to learn from the experience and retain the information. We also know that active bodies help develop active minds. When children’s bodies are actively engaged they are utilizing a variety of sensory experiences that help stimulate brain development. An active body also helps children to be more alert and enable them to attend better to a learning activity. With this important research in mind we look for ways to keep our students actively engaged during the time they are in school. We incorporate many music and movement activities throughout our daily activities in the classroom.
Gross motor play is also an essential element in developing an active learner. Gross motor play includes walking, running, climbing, playing ball, jumping, and playing on playground equipment. Children learn to motor plan as they crawl, walk, and climb on different pieces of play equipment. Motor planning, learning how to make your body do what you want it to do and go where you want it to go, is essential for a variety of learning activities such as coloring, drawing, playing with manipulative toys, writing, or just getting from one place to another within the classroom or school. Gross motor play also assists in the development of the vestibular and proprioceptive systems of the body. The vestibular system relates to movement and balance, the proprioceptive system relates to ones sense of position or where your body is in space. Children with disabilities are often lacking in these areas due to their delayed ability to move about or to a sensory dysfunction within the neurological system.
A recent article in The Frederick News-Post, Tuesday, May 16, 2006, explains the importance of integrating all of the sensory systems in the body. “The brain and body work together to take in information, process it, and put it to use.” A dysfunction within the sensory systems can lead to delayed learning and/or inappropriate behavior. According to one therapist interviewed for the article, children with sensory dysfunction may learn and develop but will have holes in their foundation. The holes need to be filled in before new levels of learning can occur.

Brunswick’s Need
At Brunswick Elementary School, we want to provide our children with as many experiences as possible to help them fully develop and learn. One area where we are lacking is outdoor equipment for gross motor play. Our school has a wonderful piece of play equipment but it is designed for children from the ages of 5 through 12 and it is not readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities or handicapped accessible. Many of our prekindergarten aged children with disabilities are not able to independently access the playground equipment and are limited as to what they can participate in because of the pieces of equipment available. There are several playgrounds in the Brunswick/Jefferson communities but none of them are handicap accessible. Pine Cliff Park in Frederick, MD has a handicap accessible playground but it is not conveniently located for the students who live in the western part of Frederick County.
Our dream is to build a handicap accessible playground developed for prekindergarten aged children. For six years we have made a request through Frederick County Public Schools to provide such a playground. This past school year we received approval for our special playground; however, no funding was available. Not wanting to give up our dream, we began the process of designing our playground and looking for funding. With an age appropriate and developmentally appropriate playground designed with accessibility for all, we see many exciting possibilities for our special needs students. We also hope that children of the Brunswick and surrounding communities will use the playground during evening and weekends. Since there are no handicap accessible playground facilities in this part of the county, we would welcome our families of prekindergarten aged children with special needs to use this equipment. Our typically developing students in the prekindergarten and kindergarten programs would also have access to our playground equipment thus serving a total of approximately 120 children per day.
There are many ways in which a developmentally appropriate, handicap accessible playground can benefit all children. When designing our playground we looked for pieces of equipment that would target specific skill areas from our students’ Individual Education Plans. Though not an all inclusive list, some skill areas we target are gross motor, fine motor, motor planning, expressive language and communication, receptive language (following directions), social interaction with peers, positional and directional concepts, creative and imaginative play, and early learning skills such as counting, recognition of letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and opposites. An additional, and very important aspect of this playground is to provide an opportunity for children with disabilities to interact with their typically developing peers.

Degree of Involvement by Community Members
Our hope is that we can become partners with members of our community and various organizations so that they can become an integral part in helping us to build our playground. Our first goal in which we are seeking your assistance is to procure the funding for this project. Other ways in which community and organization members might be involved include assisting with the equipment installation, providing landscaping, and planning and participating in the dedication ceremony for the completed playground.

Amount Required & Equipment Requested
Kids Choice - $13,060.00
Play Villa - $14,020
Stock car - $888.25.00
Elevated sand box - $607.20
Adaptive swings and frame – $1707.99
Installation (if done by GameTime ) - * $11,469.46
Equipment Freight - $2231.38
Engineered wood fiber safety surfacing - $4323.97
Safety Surface installation (if done by GameTime) –* $2502.50
Safety Surface freight - $1140.51
*- installation may be done by organizations and local community members
Border/ramps - $2301.85
Installation - $726.90
Freight - $270.92
Grading – $2500.00
Fencing – Approximately $7.50 per linear foot - $2205.00
Border/Ramps - $2301.85
Installation - $726.90
Freight - $270.92

Total – $56,650.50

The following is a list of the playground pieces we are requesting and our rational for choosing them.
The Kids Choice and Play Villa are play systems that include steps, slides, climbers, platforms, and a crawl tube. These play systems allow children to develop strength and motor planning skills by going up and down the steps and the climbers, crawling through the tube, walking across the platforms, and using the upper body trainers – a set of bars and a set of therapeutic rings.
The corkscrew climber, bubble climber, fat step climber, rock wall climber, and wave climber provide children with additional opportunities to practice these same skills in a variety of ways. While working on motor planning we can also work on following directions and positional and directional concepts.
Slides provide children who have limited motor skills with a sense of movement. They produce a level of excitement to help stimulate the brain and encourage the use of language.
Swings also provide children who have limited motor skills with a sense of movement. Slides and swings help target the vestibular and proprioceptive systems of the body.
The Stock Car is a riding toy on springs that will provide movement as well as the opportunity for imaginative play, language development, and peer interaction as two children can sit next to each other inside the car.
Crawl tubes provide an opportunity for non-walking children to work on crawling skills. They also are excellent for motor planning - learning how to maneuver your body to get into, through, and out of the tunnels.
The Elevated Sandbox allows children who are less mobile a chance to play outdoors. It is a great place to work on sensory skills (touching the sand), quantitative concepts (such as full, empty), language skills, vocabulary development, and social skills. The introduction of sand toys also creates an opportunity for creative play.
The Activity Panels and Steering Wheel Panels are designed for wheelchair access and provide an opportunity for less mobile children to play outside with their peers. These panels are great for role-playing which aids in the development of language skills and social skills. Some activity panels also provide an opportunity to work on basic skills, such as shapes, colors, letters, and numbers.
The Upper Body Trainers – climbing bars and rings, help develop upper body strength. Children in wheelchairs can utilize the rings in a seated position.
Fencing is requested for safety reasons. We often have children who will leave the playground area. Though we are not in a high traffic area, we are still concerned and want our students to be safe.
The engineered wood fiber safety surfacing is a step above regular mulch. Once it has settled it will form a “knitted” compacted layer that will support mobility devices including wheel chairs, gait trainers, crutches, and walkers. A proper drainage system needs to be included to prevent freezing.

The company we have chosen to design our dream playground is GameTime, a Playcore company. GameTime is an approved vendor with Frederick County Public Schools. The supplier is West Recreation from Queenstown, MD. Using an approved vendor is more cost effective as we are able to purchase equipment at a discounted cost.

We are very excited about venturing into a possible partnership with you. We hope you find our project worthwhile. For additional information please contact Wendy Campbell.

Work phone number – 240-236-2894
Work e-mail – wendy.campbell@fcps.org
The BES Play to Learn Playground Committee