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Date: 2/24/2022
LONGMEADOW – On Feb. 18, the Willie Ross School for the Deaf unveiled its new Rigamajig play system for students granted by the Morgan Stanley Foundation and the national non-profit KABOOM! They’re incorporating the Rigamajig play set into their school programming to provide a unique, year-round play element for their students.
President/CEO Bert Carter said, “We’re excited about this addition. Over the past several years, we’ve been upgrading our curriculum and moving our technology forward. We’ve developed a maker space for our students so that they can have hands-on projects related to what they’re learning in the curriculum and the Rigamajig falls in right with that.”
Established in 1967, the Willie Ross School for the Deaf is a private special education school under the Massachusetts Department of Education providing Pre-K through high school students access to comprehensive, evidence-based education and support services in the classroom as well as focusing on the development of students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth. They also have a large outreach program in which they serve other public schools throughout Western Massachusetts offering specific services and meeting the needs of students who have hearing loss.
The Rigamajig is an interactive set of wooden planks, wheels and pulleys. It allows children to develop language, communication and problem-solving skills that are key to cognitive development and STEM learning.
Carter told Reminder Publishing the Rigamajig will help students not only support the curriculum, but also afford them opportunities for social interaction and language development which is vital for students. “Play is how children learn. It’s an essential part of their education,” Carter responded. “Part of the school day needs to be dedicated towards that and how they take the things they learn in the classroom and apply them so it becomes a part of how they function in the world.”
Carter hopes everybody can see the Rigamajig as a positive addition to the Willie Ross School and for children to have lots of fun with it. He closed, “We want all of our students to have all the opportunities they can in the world and we want to give them the tools to do that.”
The Willie Ross School for the Deaf’s main campus is located on 32 Norway St. Visit their website at www.wrsdeaf.org to learn more about the school and its programs..