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This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Litwin from East Bend, NC is requesting reading nooks, desks & storage through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. Litwin is requesting

We Got the Beat

Help me give my students this crazy list of supplies, including whiteboards, bookshelf, and racquetballs, that make the music room more fun.

  • $368 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

My Students

I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade Chorus and Guitar classes. Every day, my students show up excited to sing, showing a passion for music that can only be described as magical. They have helped to create a family feel in their chorus classes where everyone supports each other and congratulates each other on their progress.

These students want to do so much more than just sing in my class.

They want to have the opportunity to perform throughout the community. They want to go to concerts and experience music. They are working to build a lifelong passion for music, whether they are aware of that or not. They regularly come into class with a new artist or song that they've discovered and wanted me to listen to.

Right now, the county these students live in has a goal of being academically the best rural county in NC. The students are dedicated and hard-working, and I want help these students explore the world through music.

My Project

I recently was given a bunch of new ideas for how to teach the concept of keeping a beat and applying it to rhythm reading and dictation after attending a workshop run by Dr. Carol Krueger, who is one of the best teacher educators when it comes to helping teacher teach students to feel the beat, read rhythm, and write rhythms themselves. This somewhat odd list of supplies can lead to some basic and some more out there ways of teaching music that will make it fun for the kids.

Below I will describe all of the fun new ways I plan to use the requested supplies.

Thanks for reading!

The racquetballs are used in a game where students feel the beat. They bounce balls back and forth to a partner in time together. They will also pass the balls around to each other using arm movements that stay in time. The laundry bag and bookshelf will be used for storing all of these.

The popsicle sticks will be used for rhythm dictation. This works by the teacher (and eventually the students) speaking a rhythm on a neutral syllable like "la la" or "bum bum" at different relative lengths. The different size popsicle sticks are then used to notate the rhythms with the longer ones being a full beat and the shorter ones being half of a beat. This then translates to reading different size notes in relation such as quarter notes and eighth notes.

The white boards and markers will be used for shorthand rhythm dictation where, again, the teacher (and, again, eventually a student) will speak a rhythm, and the students will have to write it down. They'll hold up their white boards to show the teacher, and this gives me a quick visual of who understands the concept.

Mr. Litwin
Grades 6-8
  • Forbush Middle School
  • East Bend, NC
    • 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

    This project will reach 120 students.

    8 donors have given to this project.

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
12 Pack Dry Erase Small White Boards Class Set 9"x12" White Board for Students Teachers Kids for Classroom Use Whiteboards - Dry Erase Erasers Included • Amazon Business $21.99 3 $65.97
FURINNO JAYA Simply Home 5-Shelf Bookcase, 5-Tier, Espresso • Amazon Business $63.90 1 $63.90
Penn Ultra Blue Racquetballs - 12 Can Case of 36 Racketball Balls • Amazon Business $44.99 1 $44.99
Guided Reading Highlight Strips Colored Overlays Bookmark Reading Tracking Rulers with Line for Dyslexia, ADHD and to Reduce Visual Stress (8 Pack) • Amazon Business $8.89 3 $26.67
Keebor Basic Low Odor Dry Erase Markers, Chisel Tip, Black Whiteboard Markers Bulk, 72 Pack • Amazon Business $21.98 1 $21.98
Krafty Kids CW496 Craftwood Mini Craft Sticks, 2 .13in by 0.25in, Natural, 150-Piece • Amazon Business $4.18 3 $12.54
Perfect Stix - PS-114st-1,000 4.5" Craft Sticks/ Ice Cream Sticks/ Natural Wood - Box of 1,000ct • Amazon Business $10.99 1 $10.99
Whitmor Mesh Laundry Bag w/ID Tag White • Amazon Business $5.89 1 $5.89
Ziploc Slider Storage Bags, 1 Qt, 42 Ct • Amazon Business $5.75 1 $5.75

Materials cost

$258.68

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $20.18

3rd party payment processing fee

$3.88

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$312.74

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$55.19

Total project goal

$367.93

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $367.93

7 Donors

-$350.28

Donations toward project cost

-$312.74

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$37.54

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$17.65

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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 Mr. Litwin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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