As with every elementary school, the lost and found grows as the year goes on.

“It’s kind of insane how much the kids lose on campus, and it would just get piled into a giant bin,” Special Education Teacher Casey Linnenkohl said.

That giant bin at Mickey Cox Elementary School isn’t looking as full these days.

That’s thanks to Linnenkohl’s students.

The third through sixth graders are part of the functional life skills class.

They all have different disabilities.

During the day, they’re learning social skills, adaptive daily living skills and academics.

So when Linnenkohl was looking for ways to get the clothing items back to their owners and a way to get her students more involved around campus, she came up with the “Cowboy Closet.”

“First, we have to make sure the sleeves are all the way in,” Juan Pablo “JP” Gonzalez said.

They pull all of the items out and put them on hangers.

“Second, we have to zip it up so the hanger doesn’t fall off it,” JP said.

Then carefully take inventory.

“Do you remember what size it was?” Linnenkohl asked.

They do this for every item, and each student takes part.

“JJ, what do you have? What color?” Linnekohl asked.

JJ clicked a button on his iPad, and it read off the word “grey.”

Each item gets a tag, one student snaps a picture and then everything is hung up on the rack.

“My favorite part is hanging up the clothes because, well, it’s pretty simple,” JP said.

The items also go online, allowing parents to look through the lost and found from home.

“Lots of parents who can’t get to the school during the hours that they’re allowed to go in and look at it, this has made it a lot easier for them to be able to claim their kids’ stuff,” Linnenkohl said.

Once parents claim an item, the students handle the rest.

They package it up and deliver it to the student’s classroom on campus.

Linnenkohl says her students have taken ownership of their new role, and it’s helped others see them in a different light.

“I think it’s really opened the eyes of a lot of students and teachers on campus, and staff and parents to see that all the things that they can do instead of things that they can’t do. It’s focusing on the positive,” Linnenkohl said.

The school has posted QR codes around campus for the digital lost and found. They also post it in their newsletter. You can check out their virtual lost and found by clicking here.

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