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Posted by Alex on
Monday,
August 8, 2011 at 5:30pm
On August 2-3, 2011, educators, students, parents, and social media mavens gathered together for the first annual #140edu Conference: Exploring the State of Education NOW. Panelists discussed a variety of hot topics related to integrating technology and social media into school curriculum, how to improve online safety for kids, and resources for continued learning. Here are some of the highlights from the conference:
Book Blog Buzz
Reading blogs are a hit at Verona Schools in New Jersey. Students are creating excitement for reading by posting reviews of current ‘buzz books’ they enjoy including titles like The Hunger Games, Stargirl, and The Misfits. Patrick Higgins, Supervisor of Humanities for the Verona Schools shared the story of how students and teachers created the HBWReads blog to help eliminate word poverty.
Edcamp: Teacher Tech Professional Development
Want to learn how iPads are used in elementary classrooms? Or have you ever wanted to integrate smart phones into high school lesson plans (since students have them anyway)? Edcamp hosts professional development for teachers, as well as access to wiki materials and twitter chats for ongoing learning and feedback.
KidzVuz
Tweens share KidzVuz video reviews of books, games, toys etc. they enjoy. A fun, safe kid-approved website founded by Social Media Strategist and proud parent Rebecca Levey.
Storytelling Motivates Middle School Girls to Learn Computer Programming
Lynn Langit, Co-Founder of Teaching Kids Programming, shares her passion for teaching 1000+ students in 18 months via online curriculum. Lynn’s students had such fun programming they were even willing to give up their lunch break to code additional projects! Sounds like a bright future ahead for hacking education.
Teacherpreneurs
Our thanks to Mike Karnjanaprakorn, CEO of Skillshare, for highlighting teacher activists and education entrepreneurs who create positive change for classrooms.
PYPM: Philly Youth Poetry Movement
Executive Director Gregory Corbin shares the power of poetry with his students to promote self expression and creative learning. Talented young writers, performers, and advocates emerge from the PYPM movement which has helped spark social change and bring learning to life across all subjects.
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Posted by Nicole on
Friday,
September 24, 2010 at 6:39pm
Last Friday, Bing and DonorsChoose.org launched a new way to search for projects! This amazing application shows live projects on an interactive Bing map. You can zero in on projects seeking help in your neighborhood or take a step back and see how great the need is across your state. Either way, this map will help you find projects with the same great search features you’re used to using at DonorsChoose.org.
This app is a great way to find projects you might be interested in supporting, but it’s also really easy to share. Schools, school districts and donors can now put a DonorsChoose.org Bing Map on their own website to help spread the word. Want to help drive support for Cincinnati schools? Just add this to your website:
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Posted by Alex on
Thursday,
September 9, 2010 at 2:31pm
Literacy expands student knowledge!
And helps you grow from pre-K to college.
- Grover, Sesame Street
DonorsChoose.org was invited to attend the International Literacy Day Symposium held September 8 at UN Headquarters where leading educators and policy makers discussed partnerships and best practices for achieving universal literacy. Keynote speakers included Honorary UN Ambassador Laura Bush; Jacob Atem, Founder of Southern Sudan Health Care and former “Lost Boy of Sudan”; and Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop who brought along Grover from Sesame Street!
Panelists discussed how teachers and educators are currently working together and integrating technology to advance basic reading skills, in addition to childhood development of social media and emotional literacy. “We are here to share stories of hope, faith, and commitment to improving literacy for all children, no matter where they grow up,” said CBS news correspondent Byron Pitts. Pitts moderated the session and shared his inspirational story of finally learning to read at age 12 after years of being “functionally illiterate.”
DonorsChoose.org currently lists over 6,000 requests for classroom literacy projects in search of funding. Thanks to the generous support from our donors, last year we provided over 300,000 books to students nationwide. Here are just a few of the great titles that students are reading right now:
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
Coming of Age in America: A Multicultural Anthology, Mary Frosch
Dinosaurs!, Gail Gibbons
Tears of a Tiger, Sharon M. Draper
Cupcake Tycoon, Matt and Jennifer Holm
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King, by Ellen Levine & Anna Rich
Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself, Kathleen Reilly
One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math!, Eric & Natalie Yoder
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Posted by Nicole on
Monday,
August 30, 2010 at 10:00am
We are thrilled to announce today that we have received a tremendous and unexpected gift of $1,304,300 from the Claire Giannini Fund! The donation will be used specifically to fully fund all 2,233 school projects in California, currently live on DonorsChoose.org. In addition to fulfilling all California-based projects, the Claire Giannini Fund, located in San Francisco, is making a second grant of $100,000 to bring urgent projects from other states on the DonorsChoose.org site to under $99, with the hope that it inspires widespread donor support in bringing these projects to fruition.
This gift of over $1.3 million in funding will immediately impact 67,000 children in California with the vital resources they need to thrive in their classrooms. We are so grateful for this chance to help so many teachers and students begin their next school year with the materials they need to succeed and truly enjoy learning.
We are humbled and truly appreciate the generosity of the Claire Giannini Fund!
Check out a sampling of the amazing projects that are being brought to life.
Read more about the origin of this partnership and the incredible Claire Giannini Fund in the press release and see answers to frequently asked questions about this unique initiative!
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Posted by Dan on
Friday,
February 12, 2010 at 1:45pm
Yesterday we launched the most generous match offer ever seen on DonorsChoose.org. And thanks to the incredible support of the Pershing Square Foundation and citizen philanthropists across the country, our first ever Presidents’ Day sale has SOLD OUT!
Don’t worry, if you missed this sale opportunity, you can still help by donating to classroom projects for under $100.
Starting Thursday morning, the Pershing Square Foundation funded American history and civics projects down to $98 – on the condition that citizen philanthropists (you!) took the projects across the finish line. And you did it! Over 600 citizen philanthropists funded the remainder of more than 675 projects, directing over $315,000 to classrooms in need in one day.
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Posted by Candice on
Thursday,
September 17, 2009 at 3:56pm
Thanks to the generosity of the Koret Foundation, California teachers, both familiar with and new to DonorsChoose.org, will receive help in bringing their classroom projects to life. All teachers who are members of the California Teachers Empowerment Network (CTEN) and one lucky colleague will receive a $50.00 DonorsChoose.org giving card to use on books, microscopes, paintbrushes or whatever these teachers need for their classrooms!
CTEN is comprised of teachers dedicated to providing fellow teachers with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. CTEN believes that advocating for open dialogue and informed choices will empower teachers to experience greater satisfaction and success in this profession. We are grateful to the Koret Foundation for supporting these informed and dedicated professionals!
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Posted by Kirk on
Wednesday,
August 5, 2009 at 5:24pm
Last week, DonorsChoose.org Founder and CEO Charles Best helped Build-A-Bear Workshop honor 12 amazing kids from across the country. These passionately driven children, dubbed “Huggable Heroes,” each have made a significant impact in their communities and around the world by starting their own charitable organizations. You can read more about the Huggable Heroes here.
Thursday night, the Heroes were honored at a dinner at the St. Louis Zoo. Charles was able to meet the kids, share with them how he created and grew DonorsChoose.org, and inspire them to continue helping those in need. He was as impressed with each of them as they were with him!
The following morning, the Heroes participated in a service project at a local St. Louis public school. They helped paint an international mural at Mason Elementary to support the school’s diverse international student community. Click here to view the media coverage of this event. Charles also was interviewed on the local NBC affiliate, which you can watch here.
The events concluded with a press conference, attended by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams, local state politicians, Build-A-Bear staff, and Charles. Those in attendance received DonorsChoose.org GivingCards and were excited to hear the impact the organization has had in the community, including over $175,000 in materials for St. Louis public school classrooms last school year. At the press conference, DonorsChoose.org announced that the first project for the 2009-2010 school year in St. Louis had been funded to provide listening materials for English language learners at Mason Elementary, thanks to a donation from Build-A-Bear.
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Posted by Kirk on
Tuesday,
June 16, 2009 at 10:52pm
Build-A-Bear Workshop continues to partner with DonorsChoose.org to inspire its customers to make a difference in the lives of children. The retailer is donating a portion of the sales of its new Bearville Outfitters Virtual Stuff Game Cards (pictured below) to DonorsChoose.org and other charities. Customers who purchase the cards will vote for their favorite charity (currently DonorsChoose.org or First Book, but other charities may be added in the future), and Build-A-Bear Workshop will donate to that group.
The Bearville Outfitters Cards are a new offering from Build-A-Bear Workshop for customers to use at Buildabearville.com. Buildabearville.com is a new online virtual world where customers of all ages can create an online character, interact with others, participate in games and quests, and learn about giving back to the community. The virtual world is free to participate in, but customers can purchase Bearville Outfitters Virtual Stuff Game Cards to get rides, clothing, furniture, and a house for their online avatar.
Check out the press release for more information. DonorsChoose.org is proud to continue partnering with Build-A-Bear Workshop and thankful for their commitment to helping children learn.
Be sure to visit a Build-A-Bear Workshop store (or their website) to purchase a Bearville Outfitters Virtual Stuff Game Card and select DonorsChoose.org as your favorite charity!
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Posted by Kirk on
Monday,
June 15, 2009 at 6:42pm
Teachers in St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) have taken DonorChoose.org by storm! Thanks to partnerships with district administrators and superintendent Kelvin Adams, hundreds of SLPS teachers heard about DonorsChoose.org for the first time and began submitting their classroom needs.
This school year, 95% of the 87 schools in the district have submitted a classroom request at DonorsChoose.org, and over 80% have been fully funded. Seventy-six percent of SLPS teachers who submitted a project have been fully funded (which is higher than our national average of 66%), and over 400 teachers registered to use DonorsChoose.org for the first time.
Over 6,000 SLPS students have benefitted from over 8,000 hours of instruction, and donations in excess of $190,000 were provided from citizen philanthropists across the nation. Local business leaders (most prominently Maxine Clark, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop and new DonorsChoose.org National Advisory Board member) also participated in funding projects and spreading the word to more teachers in the city. We are so excited that SLPS students are having greater educational opportunities thanks to our wonderful donors, and we look forward to continued support of the district in the years to come.
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Posted by Alicia on
Friday,
June 12, 2009 at 12:34pm
Crate and Barrel, the first ever GivingCard partner of DonorsChoose.org, recently completed its fifth GivingCard campaign, which put $25.00 DonorsChoose.org GivingCards in the e-mail inboxes of their customers across the country. The results of this campaign are staggering, with over 347,000 students positively impacted and more than 14,500 projects brought to life, resulting in 434,000+ hours of classroom instruction!
Since 2006, the Crate and Barrel GivingCard partnership has allowed the company to partner with their customers in support of public education. Many Crate and Barrel staff have their own personal connections to the classroom. Crate and Barrel CEO, Barbara Turf, was a fifth grade mathematics teacher when she first began working at Crate and Barrel stores during her holiday and summer breaks. In fact, many of Crate and Barrel’s executives started out as teachers, which is probably why the company is known for doing such a great job educating its employees and customers about its products. As Turf commented, “we know from experience that without funding, many teachers would have to spend their own money to provide their students with even the most basic of supplies, not to mention the materials needed for projects that encourage creative discovery.”
The feedback from Crate and Barrel GivingCard redeemers has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition to adding over $20,000 of their own funds, Crate and Barrel customers tweeted about the campaign and posted comments to their Facebook pages and blogs. A sampling of customer feedback is provided below:
• “Wow, I just got the best email campaign ever. It was from Crate & Barrel – they sent a $25 voucher to redeem at DonorsChoose.org. So cool.”
• “This weekend I had an email in my inbox from Crate and Barrel offering me the opportunity to donate to a project of my choosing – paid for by C&B. ….I found (to my delight) an opportunity to contribute to something very real, very concrete and very much in my own back yard…My thanks goes to Crate and Barrel for this wonderful gift to me and to the students in that classroom…”
• “Crate and Barrel sent me a code to donate to my project of choice at DonorsChoose.org. This is seriously fantastic. Way to go Crate!”
• “Excited to have received and used a DonorsChoose.org GivingCard from Crate & Barrel in my email inbox. Nice, C&B, very nice!”
• “Joy! Crate and Barrel GAVE me $25 to donate at DonorsChoose.org and I gave it locally”
• “Love Crate and Barrel, they just sent me an email with a $25 gift certificate to use at DonorsChoose & support a classroom. So cool.”
• “Crate&Barrel’s new outreach: gift card for donation to donorschoose.org – lets recipient participate in giving process. Clever idea.”
DonorsChoose.org and teachers and students across the country would like to thank Crate and Barrel and its customers for their ongoing support of public school teachers and students!
