{"id":14536,"date":"2025-11-25T14:20:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T19:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=14536"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T16:25:18","slug":"kempsville-middle-library-exposes-students-to-a-sensory-wonderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/kempsville-middle-library-exposes-students-to-a-sensory-wonderland\/","title":{"rendered":"Kempsville Middle library exposes students to a sensory wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Students Daniella Padaro and Parker Lewis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mary Sutterluety, Wendy Malone-Fulton and Dr. Tamara Cornick in front of the library\u2019s sensory wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mary Sutterluety has turned the library at Kempsville Middle School into a wonderland of sensory walls and STEM tactile toy stations for all students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps them with their soft skills by socializing and verbalizing what they\u2019re doing with the toys,\u201d said library media specialist Sutterluety, who was recently named the statewide librarian of the year by the Virginia Association of School Librarians.<\/p>\n

Students in Wendy Malone-Fulton\u2019s class have a standing appointment to visit the library to color, design, fidget, podcast and have fun. Library time \u2013 also known as a brain break \u2013 is the students\u2019 favorite moment of the school week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so great to hear the laughter,\u201d Malone-Fulton said. \u201cSome of them aren\u2019t verbal when they\u2019re walking in the hallways, but they\u2019re very vocal in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kempsville Middle has been awarded nearly $50,000 from the Virginia Beach Education Foundation grants in the past few years that have helped students of all abilities learn and thrive. Over the past several years, the funds have gone toward an outdoor garden, wobble chairs, podcast equipment and STEM tactile toys that make learning and physical education accessible to students with disabilities \u2014 all thanks to Sutterluety, says Dr. Tamara Cornick.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year that I have been her principal, she has come to me with grant ideas,\u201d Cornick said.<\/p>\n

Malone-Fulton\u2019s students were finalists for the divisionwide podcast competition last year. Malone-Fulton works with Sutterluety and a team of valuable teacher assistants to make sure every student is engaged at the library.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ethan Conner sharpening pencils<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a recent brain-break session, Sutterluety helped direct the students to their favorite activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthan will you help me sharpen some pencils?\u201d Sutterluety asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Ethan Conner said.<\/p>\n

Jay Lewis loves to play Connect 4, while Daniella Padaro likes to create winter scenes with foam toys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s snowing,\u201d she said. \u201cWhite snow!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Landon McCurdy worked with special education assistant Lloyd Whitehurst to use a circuit board to send a current to a light bulb.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to get it to light up,\u201d Whitehurst said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitch on!\u201d Landon said, as the bulb brightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like how they tell make believe stories about what they\u2019re working on,\u201d Cornick said. \u201cThey\u2019ll build something at an activity station and describe how it\u2019s a construction site or something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutterluety appreciates how the foundation and its supporters have helped Kempsville Middle students over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe VBEF has been an integral sponsor of the activities in which we participate, the field trips we take, and the materials we can provide our students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Virginia Beach Education Foundation <\/strong>recently awarded 67 grants totaling more than $222,000. These grants \u2014 made possible through the generosity of annual sponsors and underwriters \u2014 support projects that bring fresh, engaging ideas to the classroom and strengthen community partnerships. Visit <\/em>vbef.org<\/em><\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Laura Tew, Sailor and teacher Wendy Malone-Fulton work on an activity. Not pictured is Loretta Bazemore, part of the team of assistant\u2019s who helps with the class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Jay Lewis loves to play Connect 4.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
KMS student Parker Lewis with Laura Tew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mary Sutterluety was recently named the statewide librarian of the year by the Virginia Association of School Librarians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Sutterluety has turned the library at Kempsville Middle School into a wonderland of sensory walls and STEM tactile toy stations for all students. \u201cIt helps them with their soft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":14541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,213,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","category-featured","category-staff-stories","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14536"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14557,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14536\/revisions\/14557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}