Past projects 7
Look, Teacher, I Can Read!
Funded Dec 4, 2019I want to thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for gifting my classroom with the joy of reading. From the moment we opened the boxes, my students were ALL IN. They could not believe the variety of books - and get this - we had SUPERHEROES? BARBIES? DISNEY? Their interest absolutely soared as we opened up our mail.
Reading time in my classroom is dramatically different due to your generous gift. During silent reading, my students now have books that are at their level. It is so incredible to have a library stocked with actual first grade level readers. My students no longer feel defeated when pulling a book off of the shelves. They are filled with accomplishment as they read the level-appropriate sentences. It is so great. The kids are so motivated to read, as well, because the books are so high interest. I don't even think they realized that their favorite Marvel characters, TV personalities, and movie stars could be in books! They also have new stories from their old favorites like Pete the Cat and Dr. Seuss. It's been so enjoyable watching them get lost in reading.
Thank you again for this blessing. My students and I appreciate your generosity so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 3 other donors.Learning With Ease-L!
Funded Jul 27, 2019Thank you so much again for your generous donations toward our classroom easel! It has truly made teaching so much easier for me. My students love the easel, too! Our new easel gets used every day. During our morning math and phonics lessons, I am usually found at the easel, displaying concepts to students. In the afternoons, students use the easel during center time to work on word work or math. Our math coach uses the easel twice a week when he comes in to work with the students, as well. He loves it just as much as I do!
The easel has also caught the attention of other teachers at my school, and now they all want one! One of my fellow colleagues actually just got hers funded on Donorschoose, as well, after seeing mine and posting a project for one! This easel is so great because it is so compact. It fits in so many places that other easels don't! The wheels move it around much better than the traditional square based ones that I've used in the past. This is super helpful because I often write on the board and roll it around the room so students can see it. The clip is very strong and holds our chart paper nicely. The whiteboard wipes off cleanly and the magnetic board is super strong. My students and I absolutely love working with this board!
Thank you so much again. I know it may sound silly that a board makes our classroom so much more fun, but it's true. Thank you for believing in my students and giving them access to great learning materials!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by Kathleen and Chip Rosenbloom and 5 other donors.Let's Get Flexible...Seating!
Funded Jul 11, 2019Thank you again for our beautiful new flexible seating items! My class is really enjoying everything. From the moment they opened the boxes, they were hooked! I didn't even have to do anything - they figured out how to pump up the balance discs and they got the wobble stools snapped together! It was an added bonus to watch them work collaboratively together to get the new chairs ready.
As a teacher, these seats have been a blessing. The wobble stools have been amazing for my most hyper students. They can sit in the stools and wiggle for an entire lesson without bothering anyone. They also appear to be more focused while on the stools. I am a believer! My students also love the balance discs to sit and lean on while using ipads. They help the floor be more comfortable. The clear favorites, though, are the spinning chairs. They LOVE sitting in the special spinning chair! It's become a reward in my classroom to sit in one.
Thank you again for your support of my classroom. My students and I really appreciate your generosity. It is very inspiring to know that strangers believe in my students and their abilities.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by Kathleen and Chip Rosenbloom and 4 other donors."Teacher, Do We Have Any More Glue?"
Funded Apr 24, 2019Thank you again for your generosity! Our classroom supplies were dwindling, and fast! Your donations came to our classroom just in time to complete all of our beautiful Open House activities! As you can see in the photos, students are really enjoying their new glue brush bottles with school glue refills. They make it so easy for students to simply brush glue onto the areas that they need! Students are also really enjoying having enough scissors for everyone to have their own pair. It has also really cut down on wasted time in our classroom, since students no longer need to wait to share scissors! The tape has been great during writer's workshop time, as well as during craft activities where glue just won't work. Of course, new crayons are always appreciated, as ours were broken and many were stubs. I was able to save some boxes for the start of my current school year class, as well, which was such a blessing! The extra tissues have been so useful during cold season, and my current class is still going through them. The post it notes have been so great for me to do "exit ticket" activities with, as well as write down reminders and notes to students.
I really appreciate your generosity. Thank you so much for believing in my students and in my teaching abilities. We are so thankful every day that people like you exist to help our classroom be even better!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by Kathleen and Chip Rosenbloom and 4 other donors.Throw That Mic Around!
Funded May 7, 2019I want to thank you again for helping my students find their voice with our new Qball microphone ball! As soon as my students saw it, they were so excited to try it out! Our ball gets used every day, first thing in the morning! It is absolutely instrumental during our morning restorative circle. The Qball is our "talking piece"- when a student is holding it, it is their turn to speak, and others' jobs to listen. We sit in a circle every morning and pass the Qball, sharing how we are feeling that morning. We then do another pass around where we share fun things about ourselves- our favorite colors, the best foods, what we like to do for fun, or even a free choice share sometimes. My students LOVE the microphone ball. Once, I forgot to charge the microphone inside, and my students STILL insisted on passing the ball around, even though it would amplify their voices that day. They love having something physical to touch that shows the rest of the class that it is THEIR turn to share! I love that they are so respectful with our new microphone ball. It really has been the star of the classroom!
As a teacher, having the microphone ball in the classroom has been incredible. I have noticed that students who are normally very shy and struggle to get themselves heard are very excited to speak into the ball. Seriously, this thing is incredible! I would have been struggling all year to try to get these students talking and sharing out loud with their peers, but the Qball has really assisted these students, and so quickly! It's awesome! I am excited to start bringing the Qball out during our afternoon lessons, as well, so students can continue to share their ideas easily. Thank you again, Donors! You all ROCK!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by Kathleen and Chip Rosenbloom and 6 other donors.Let's Play Ball, Hula, and Jump Rope!
Funded Aug 21, 2018Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for your generosity and desire to see quality P.E. education in our schools. My students and I appreciate you so much! These P.E. supplies have really changed my instruction for the better. Sometimes it is hard being a public school teacher at a Title I school because I don't always have access to the supplies that I need to make lessons fun and engaging for my students. P.E. is a tricky one because certain activities are so dependent upon having actual equipment to use. Previous to your donation, I only had one playground ball that was donated last year by a parent. Not only was it difficult to come up with games to play with 26 students and just one ball, but I was in constant fear that the ball was going to get lost over the fence (and then we would have no ball at all). Not anymore! Now I have enough balls for my students to play games in small groups. My students have now learned the basics of handball, foursquare, and (modified) dodgeball. They have also learned how to properly use and play with all of the additional equipment that you provided for them. They are still having an absolute BLAST with it all!
My students LOVE our new P.E. cart! The photo I provided doesn't even have all of the balls and scoops inside of it, but it is currently jam-packed with all of the awesome supplies you bought for us! The cart makes it so easy for us to get our equipment outside where we need it. My students love having the P.E. cart job in my classroom. They are so responsible and careful with the cart. The cart you purchased for us is light yet rugged, making it perfect for my first graders to move it around on their own. The equipment you have provided for my students has been incredibly fun. I don't think my students realize they are practicing essential gross motor skills with the equipment! One of their favorite activities are the balls and scoops, as well as the balls attached to a cup. They LOVE throwing and catching the whiffle balls so much! Another favorite has been the frisbees. Boy, do they love throwing frisbees! I started by showing them the basics on throwing a frisbee, and my students took it from there. I have really enjoyed watching my students teach each other how to throw them correctly. It is always heartwarming and fulfilling to watch students assist other students who are having trouble. A really neat surprise happened with the spot markers. I had intended on using these as markers for lines during relays and visible boundary lines during tag games. On the first day of showing them the equipment, my students asked if they could use the spot markers. Puzzled, I said sure, excited to see what they did with them. A group of about 10 students put them on the ground so they could form their own lines to play a racing game they had remembered from kindergarten! I was so impressed and excited that my students were able to come up with their own ideas on how to properly use the new spot markers. I love all of the equipment you got us because not only are my students having fun and exercising, but they are building and practicing cooperation skills and body awareness.
My favorite part of this whole process is that my students want to share their things with other classrooms, too. They have such kind hearts! When my class is using jump ropes and hula hoops, for example, they go over and ask other classrooms if they want to borrow our frisbees or scoops. You have unexpectedly impacted more than one classroom! It is amazing to watch your generosity extend through to my students' compassion for their fellow peers.
Again, thank you SO MUCH! You have positively changed P.E. instruction in my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by The Clorox Company and 7 other donors.Little Hands Love Math Manipulatives!
Funded Jul 6, 2018I am still so thrilled and humbled that you all felt the desire to see my project come to life. Thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. It means the world to me and my students. As a public school teacher in a Title I school setting, it can sometimes be very difficult because the instruction that I want to provide my students and the reality of the costs don't align. With your help, I now have the resources and manipulatives I need to provide my first graders with FUN, MEANINGFUL, and IMPACTFUL math lessons. Math is so much fun now for my students!
Quite often, my students don't even realize they are learning with these new supplies you have provided them! They just know they are having fun! I can't tell you enough how excited my students are for math now. They beg me to play their "math games". One of their favorite centers to play is "I 'sea' a 10". This game is the ocean themed game with number tokens (they flip them over and try to match numbers that add up to 10). You can see them playing in one of the photos. Not only do I have this as a math center, but I have it on our list of things to do at any time of the day for early finishers. I have students RACING to play this addition game at all times of the day! Another favorite game is the giant 10 frame game. My students love the blow up dice that came with the game. I showed the students how to take turns with a partner rolling a die so they can show the math equation on the giant 10 frames. This is such a fun one for them because as you can see, the 10 frames are HUGE! The giant dice are fun for them, as well. I think the activity that surprised me the most is the giant 120 board. I wasn't sure how my students would use it beyond looking at a giant 10 frame on the ground (giant things are fun, after all!). However, the first day I took it out, I had these two students (in the picture I provided) that asked me if they could count by twos and mark them on the board. I was so excited because we had been practicing skip counting by twos in class. The fact that they were able to use this resource and apply it to learning we did in previous lessons just made my teacher heart melt! It makes my heart so full to know that my students are having fun while learning and practicing their essential math foundational skills.
Thank you SO much again for your support of quality materials in the classroom! You have made such a difference and an impact in the lives of 26 very curious and enthusiastic mathematicians!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Blank
This classroom project was brought to life by Kathleen and Chip Rosenbloom and 4 other donors.