Merrily We Roll Along: Empowering Students Through Art
My students need 5 rolling carts to hold Orff instruments.
FULLY FUNDED! Mrs. Jones's classroom raised $751
This project is fully funded
My Students
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” - Albert Einstein.
Music teachers are in a unique position to create a joyful environment where students are able to learn through play.
One of the most wonderful phone calls I ever had came from a former student who is now a music teacher himself.
He said that he learned so much when he was in my elementary music class, but never realized it until now, because it was so much fun. I am the general music teacher for 500 students in grades k-5. My students are excited about coming to their weekly music class, in which we sing and dance and play instruments. They use these skills in grade level performances during the course of the year, for the student body and their families. We have a very diverse student population. We are a Title I school, with about 45% of our students qualifying for free or reduced lunch; 10% are homeless; about 15% are ESL. For most of these students, their only exposure to REAL instruments comes during their weekly music class, so I work very hard to ensure that all of our instruments are of the highest quality. DonorsChoose.org has been a major factor in making this a reality for my students.
My Project
Over the past ten years or so, I have worked to accumulate a number of Orff instruments (aka xylophones), for my students to use in music class. The beauty of these instruments is that the bars are removable, so that you can set up an instrument in a way that the student can only play bars that are "right" for a particular piece of music. The students use xylophones to add simple accompaniments to singing games and rhymes. Mother Goose rhymes become exciting when "orchestrated" with instruments! There are only two negatives that I have found regarding Orff instruments: cost and size. Through the writing of grants, I have been able to provide most of the instruments we need for music class, but these instruments are heavy, and to be more fully utilized, need to have either rolling stands or rolling tables. Right now, there are 5 xylophones sitting in a closet, due to a lack of rolling tables which would make them portable for my students.
With the funding of this project, these xylophones could be rolled into place for classes who need them, then easily rolled out of the way for those classes who are not using them.
This would also make the xylophones usable for our grade level performances: fourth grade's Showcase of Virginia's Music, which supports Virginia history and fifth grade's World of Music, which supports world social studies. These instruments truly do empower student learning through the art of music, with your help!
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Jones and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.