By Angela Howard

Mrs. Madrid's Pre-K class at Westwind Elementary is learning so many new things through an item gifted to their teacher through the Frenship Foundation Teacher Grant program. 

In her grant proposal, Mrs. Madrid requested a classroom rug that would not just be a place for children to sit during special activities but would also be a unique learning tool. "I chose this rug because of all the possible learning opportunities," said Madrid. "It has a variety of colors, letters both uppercase and lowercase, and the way it Is arranged I can even use it as a graph."  

Students immediately began to point familiar things out to their teacher on the rug like letters in their names and different colors on the rug. 

"We also make sure to use the word 'perimeter' when we sit on the outer edge of the rug which provides them with a visual and a new way to understand the concept," said Madrid. "They love it and so do I!" 

A four-year-old in Mrs. Madrid's said, “I just love the perimeter,” as he traced the outside edge of the rug with his finger. 

“This is the first letter in my name," exclaimed another friend in the class as she pointed to the letter 'A.'

Other students expressed their excitement about their new classroom activity rug as well:

“It has different colors – red, yellow, blue, green.”

“It is a rectangle.”

“I like the pictures.”

“It’s really cool.”

Thank you, Frenship Foundation, for giving Mrs. Madrid's class a new educational rug! At Westwind, our hearts are full because of how you enhance our classrooms.