{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"callToActionDisplayName":"Swampscott Middle School","outOfStateSupporters":18.0,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":3199503,"projectId":9682534,"letterContent":"🌱 Project Impact: Hands-On Plant Science\r\nWe are incredibly grateful for your generous donations that brought the Wisconsin Fast Plants project to our classroom! This project has been a huge success, allowing students to step into the role of genuine scientists.\r\n\r\nHow We Used the New Resources\r\nThe materials you provided—seeds, soil, growing quads, and planting set up—have been essential for turning theoretical science concepts into hands-on reality.\r\n\r\nSpecific Classroom Moment/Project: \r\nOur main project focused on how soil conditions affect plant growth. Students were divided into groups and tasked with designing an experiment to answer a scientific question. They chose their independent variable—like the soil texture, amount of fertilizer, type of fertilizer, as well as specific pollutants—and learned the vital importance of keeping constants the same to ensure valid results.\r\n\r\nStudents set up their Fast Plant stations, meticulously labeling them to track their specific experimental condition.\r\n\r\nFor three weeks, they were responsible for caring for their plants and accurately collecting data twice a week on height, number of leaves, number of flowers, and overall appearance. This repeated data collection taught them about precision and consistency in scientific measurement.\r\n\r\nThe final phase involved creating a detailed poster to present their findings, including graphing their data to visualize the results and writing an individual Claims Evidence Reasoning paragraph answering their original question and referencing the data and measurements as their evidence.\r\n\r\nStudent Reactions\r\nThe students' reaction to this project was one of pure excitement and curiosity!\r\n\r\nWhen the seeds and growing materials arrived and the grow station was set up, there was an audible buzz in the room. Many students had never grown anything before, and the idea of altering soil conditions to see a measurable difference was thrilling. Seeing the tiny seeds germinate within days and then observing the rapid growth of the Fast Plants was their favorite part. It was a very engaging and inspiring moment when they realized they were the ones controlling the experiment and seeing the direct, tangible results of their scientific design. They quickly developed a strong sense of ownership over their plants and their data.","fullyFundedDate":1757554631586,"projectUrl":"project/cultivating-curiosity-seeding-student-s/9682534/","projectTitle":"Cultivating Curiosity: Seeding Student Success","teacherDisplayName":"Dr. Polizzotti","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp3199503_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1522353229765","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/lindsey-polizzotti"},{"teacherId":9053121,"projectId":8945813,"letterContent":"I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to collaborate with you during this academic year. Your donations and gifts have been invaluable in helping me develop more inclusive and effective teaching practices.\r\n\r\nSince receiving your generous gifts, I've learned several key strategies for:\r\n\r\nAccessible Learning\r\n- Implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to ensure all students can access the curriculum\r\n- Developing multi-modal instruction techniques to engage diverse learning styles\r\n- Creating scaffolded learning experiences that support students at various ability levels\r\n\r\nCurriculum Innovation\r\n- Redesigning lesson content to incorporate evidence-based teaching practices\r\n- Integrating technology meaningfully to enhance student engagement\r\n- Building flexible assessment methods that accurately measure student growth\r\n- Developing differentiated instruction techniques to meet individual student needs\r\n\r\nI'm especially grateful for your thoughtfulness in helping me implement the new curriculum framework while maintaining high academic standards and student engagement.\r\n\r\nLooking forward to continuing to grow as an educator and putting these valuable lessons into practice.","fullyFundedDate":1735657818568,"projectUrl":"project/dreaming-big-for-young-writers/8945813/","projectTitle":"Dreaming Big for Young Writers","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Lexi","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9053121_orig.jpg?crop=768,768,x0,y128&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1731624286525","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/ms-vanarsdale"},{"teacherId":9237963,"projectId":8972477,"letterContent":"Thanks to your generosity, I now have materials to guide my young students to begin to identify emotions using the book and corresponding emotions plush toys. My kiddos love to hold toys in their hands and these are just the right size to squeeze tight! Identifying a child's emotions at a young age fosters self-advocacy skills so the learner can begin to learn which strategy or tool helps them to remain calm. My classroom is filled with emotional visual supports such as posters and books as I prompt the kiddos to identify emotions.\r\nMy kiddos have been using the geo boards and stretching the elastics as a form of release. The alphabet matching game allows the learners to slow down and to stop and think about the task in front of them. The ice cream alphabet matching is a blast as the kiddos try and match the upper- and lower-case letters. They are even stacking the ice creams to make a huge tower of ice cream on the cone! The stickers are used as a wonderful fine motor skill as the kiddos peel the stickers and then place them on paper. \r\nMy kiddos absolutely love the sensory sand so much! The sand is definitely a classroom favorite which I have made readily available in the art center. This fosters self-help skills and the young learners can advocate for themselves and then use the sand trays independently as needed. \r\nEmotional regulation is a crucial skill which can be taught in preschool for the young learner and then carried on throughout life. I strive to foster a classroom where the kiddos understand that we all have emotions and sometimes these emotions are big. When the big emotions take over all other emotions, the kiddos know that this is okay. The students are gaining coping strategies to learn to first identify the emotion and then to make a choice to help them be ready to learn.","fullyFundedDate":1735657693646,"projectUrl":"project/ready-set-be-calm/8972477/","projectTitle":"Ready, Set, Be Calm!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Kathy","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-2_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9237963"},{"teacherId":5291765,"projectId":8366394,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for supplying our middle school students with new microscopes. The 8th graders were so excited when they opened the boxes and saw new microscopes. They had been using older models their entire middle school careers. They were so grateful that you all so generous to help provide those to us. \r\n\r\nSo far the microscopes have been utilized in lessons for grades 6-8 at the middle school, reaching over 600 students. The sixth graders used the microscopes to look at organelles and compare plant vs. animal cells. They were also able to analyze differences in skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle tissue using the crystal clear magnification from these microscopes. The 7th grade used the microscopes to analyze soil samples from around the area. The 8th graders used the microscopes to view water samples collected from plankton tows at both King's Beach and Eismann's Beach. They were looking for evidence of harmful algal blooms and collected data through NOAA called Plankton Watch were their data is actually passed along to real life scientists. \r\n\r\nI'm am so excited for the microscopes to be utilized further this year in our 8th grade genetics unit. Students will be able to look at at examples of asexual reproduction such as budding. They will also use the microscopes to observe the different phases of mitosis and meiosis. \r\n\r\nThank you again for allowing our students the opportunity to clearly look at the microscopic world. You have help inspire the next generation of scientists. We truly appreciate your generosity in making all of this happen.","fullyFundedDate":1723654334020,"projectUrl":"project/microscope-makeover/8366394/","projectTitle":"Microscope Makeover!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Reilly","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5291765"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_60706","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":696,"numTeachers":65,"percentFrplEligible":20,"percentAsian":3,"percentBlack":3,"percentWhite":77,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":12,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","gradesServed":"5 - 8","studentTeacherRatio":"10.7:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":false,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"SUBURBAN","ncesMetroType":"SUBURB_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":82.0,"schoolId":60706,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Swampscott Middle School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Swampscott Middle School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/massachusetts/swampscott-public-school-district/swampscott-middle-school/60706"}