{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Thomas McKean High School","outOfStateSupporters":37.5,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":5363757,"projectId":9616927,"letterContent":"How are you and your students using the new resources? Share a specific classroom project or moment.\r\n\r\nMy first and last period classes were especially grateful for the snacks provided through this project. Many students shared that if they missed breakfast at school or knew they were going home to an empty pantry, they could count on having a snack available in my classroom. Having access to food helped them stay focused, engaged, and ready to learn throughout the day. It was a simple resource that made a meaningful difference in their daily lives.\r\n\r\nHow did your students react when they first saw the materials?\r\nThe reaction was truly one of shock and awe. Many students immediately asked how much they needed to pay for the snacks. When I explained that the supplies were funded through a DonorsChoose project, they were amazed that strangers cared enough to support them. It was a powerful moment that reminded them they are valued and that people beyond our school community believe in their success.\r\n\r\nWhat are the next steps for your students on a current classroom lesson or project?\r\nEvery day, my students walk into the classroom carrying more than any teenager should have to. Many arrive already exhausted by challenges outside of school, making it difficult to focus on learning. This project has helped remove one barrier by ensuring students have access to snacks when they need them.\r\n\r\nThroughout the school year, students knew my classroom was a safe place where they could meet a basic need without judgment. This was especially important for students experiencing food insecurity, allowing them to receive the nutrition they needed to be successful during the school day. Something as small as a snack can help students feel cared for, supported, and ready to engage in learning.\r\n\r\nBecause of your generosity, students were better able to focus on lessons, participate in classroom activities, and build confidence in themselves. More importantly, they were reminded that someone believes in them and wants them to succeed.\r\n\r\nThank you for helping support my students and for making a lasting impact on their well-being, education, and future. Your kindness has helped them continue growing into the amazing young adults I know they can become.","fullyFundedDate":1759264981900,"projectUrl":"project/small-snack-big-difference/9616927/","projectTitle":"Small Snack = Big Difference!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Wile","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp5363757_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1525187703112","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5363757"},{"teacherId":180175,"projectId":9851306,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for supporting our project, \"iPads, Ink, and Imagination: Making Literacy Come Alive!\" Because of your generosity, my students now have access to tools that are transforming the way they experience literacy in our classroom.\r\n\r\nOur new iPad has already become an essential part of instruction. Students are engaging with interactive reading activities, analyzing texts digitally, recording spoken-word poetry, and creating multimedia storytelling projects that make learning more meaningful and engaging. The technology has helped students see literacy as something dynamic, creative, and connected to the world around them.\r\n\r\nThe Epson EcoTank color printer has allowed us to bring student work to life in full color. Students have proudly printed poetry collections, essays, visual reflections, and creative projects that they can display and celebrate. Seeing their writing professionally printed has boosted their confidence and reinforced that their voices and ideas matter.\r\n\r\nThe classroom headphones have also made a huge difference. Students can now focus independently during audiobook activities, digital lessons, and recorded feedback sessions without distractions. They especially enjoy listening to and reflecting on their own spoken-word performances and presentations.\r\n\r\nIn addition, the charging tower and power accessories have helped us keep all of our devices organized, powered, and ready for daily classroom use.\r\n\r\nAs a teacher, one of the most rewarding moments is watching students become excited about reading, writing, and expressing themselves. Your support has given my students access to modern learning experiences that encourage creativity, collaboration, and confidence.\r\n\r\nThank you for believing in my students and investing in their futures. Your generosity is helping young people discover the power of their voices, and that impact will last far beyond our classroom walls.","fullyFundedDate":1770927420645,"projectUrl":"project/ipads-ink-and-imagination-making-lite/9851306/","projectTitle":"iPads, Ink, and Imagination: Making Literacy Come Alive!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Stokes","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp180175_orig.jpg?crop=1965,1965,x231,y393&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1761072966802","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/180175"},{"teacherId":10308912,"projectId":9818125,"letterContent":"I am deeply grateful for your generous support of our project. Thanks to your donation, my students are gaining confidence in Spanish, strengthening their relationships, and improving their listening and speaking skills every day. Your contribution is making a meaningful difference in their learning experience, and it truly inspires both their growth and my work as an educator. Thank you for believing in our classroom and empowering my students to succeed and reach their full potential. Muchas gracias","fullyFundedDate":1760372354537,"projectUrl":"project/singing-speaking-and-learning-spanish/9818125/","projectTitle":"Singing, Speaking, and Learning: Spanish Comes Alive!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Molina","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp10308912_orig.jpg?crop=1200,1200,x0,y16&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1760205962138","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10308912"},{"teacherId":9709147,"projectId":9831365,"letterContent":"Thank you very much for all of the books and magazines. We have been using the magazines to support lessons for all grade levels as the students learn about schools in France, Reunion, and Madagascar; envision careers; and explore prospective French speaking travel destinations. We are soon to start our class book read of Alice La Liste and the capybara book. Up to this point the younger students have been reading to me, to each other, to stuffed animals, and to the pup in the picture! They are getting more confident. Now that they have practiced with lower stakes in the classroom, a next step will be to read to their families at home. (The minute glass timers are used to time reading, writing and other activities.) Older students read independently every class benefiting from all the books you have helped to bring to my classroom.\r\n\r\nThe first year students have been illustrating more stories and writing their own mini stories with their independent word count rising each month. Older students wrote more involved plays and acted them out with some of the materials I've bought and brought from home (hats, canes, etc.)...I'm hoping to bring this to all the students via a new project and have them all write and dramatize their stories because it has worked so well!","fullyFundedDate":1761931152214,"projectUrl":"project/french-magazines-literaturepoetry-bio/9831365/","projectTitle":"French Magazines, Literature/Poetry, Bios, Riddles, Food and Music! Chantons!!(let's sing!!)","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Brunton","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9709147_orig.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1761419208847","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9709147"},{"teacherId":10308904,"projectId":9818107,"letterContent":"Thank you for helping to provide atlases, maps, and globes for students to learn geography skills in my classroom! Students are drawn to the large wall map to find cities and countries around the world. They are eager to locate places we watch in the daily CNN10 student news broadcasts or in articles we read in our history lessons. \r\n\r\nYour generosity also provided many exciting new books for my students to enjoy. My students are excited to see the wide variety of books in our classroom. Your donation helped to provide books about ancient history, World War II, mythology, black history, as well as books in Spanish about famous Hispanic leaders. With all the interesting books, students are growing their literacy skills while also learning about history!\r\n\r\nIn closing, I'm forever grateful for your generosity and thankful for your partnership in equipping my students with great resources!","fullyFundedDate":1767227150296,"projectUrl":"project/world-history-resources/9818107/","projectTitle":"World History Resources","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Dilworth","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10308904"},{"teacherId":10308380,"projectId":9816251,"letterContent":"Thank you to the State of Delaware for funding this project. I am looking forward to using these materials with my students over the next few years to promote literacy and reading\r\nI appreciate that the State set aside funds for this initiative and am hopeful that more opportunities like this arise in the future\r\n\r\nThanks for all you do to support teachers and students, it is greatly appreciated!\r\n\r\n\"If a book is well written, I always find it too short.\" ―Jane Austen\r\n\"Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.\" ―Louisa May Alcott\r\n\"Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.\" ―Anna Quindlen\r\n\"Books are a uniquely portable magic.\" ―Stephen King\r\n\"A book is a gift you can open again and again.\" ―Garrison Keillor\r\n\"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.\" ―Harper Lee\r\nCredit:\r\nSouthern Living\r\n\r\n\"There is no friend as loyal as a book.\"―Ernest Hemingway\r\n\"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.\"―Lemony Snicket\r\n\"The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.\" ―René Descartes\r\n\"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.\" ―C.S. Lewis \r\n\"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.\" ―Henry David Thoreau\r\n\"I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them.\" ―Emma Thompson\r\n\"I guess there are never enough books.\" ―John Steinbeck\r\n\"For my whole life, my favorite activity was reading. It's not the most social pastime.\" ―Audrey Hepburn\r\n\"Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real.\" ―Nora Ephron\r\n\"Literature is my Utopia\" ―Helen Keller\r\n\r\n\"A room without books is like a body without a soul.\" ―Cicero\r\n\"The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.\"―Eleanor Roosevelt\r\n\"You will learn most things by looking, but reading gives understanding. Reading will make you free.\" ―Paul Rand\r\n\"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! —When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.\" ―Jane Austen\r\n\"I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.\" ―Benedict Cumberbatch\r\n\"Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people—people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.\" ―E.B. White","fullyFundedDate":1760303228810,"projectUrl":"project/mr-baers-literacy-library/9816251/","projectTitle":"Mr. Baer's Literacy Library","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Baer","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-1_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10308380"},{"teacherId":10310286,"projectId":9822930,"letterContent":"Thank you very much for your contribution. Literacy in my classroom largely focuses on academic vocabulary and how contextualization leads to historical interpretations. The supplies I received has already had an impact on this endeavor.\r\nThe visual timeline I created uses the academic vocabulary I teach and aligns with the student textbook they read. Additionally, the primary and secondary sources we read in class provide the appropriate opportunity to teach key skills such as causation, comparison, and continuity and change.\r\n\r\nMy students will soon be diving into Reconstruction, reading the 13-15th amendments, and using the books you provided to determine their importance on US history.","fullyFundedDate":1760486346020,"projectUrl":"project/us-history/9822930/","projectTitle":"U.S. History","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Cummings","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10310286"},{"teacherId":5363757,"projectId":9579317,"letterContent":"My students are using these resources throughout the year in a variety of hands-on Earth and environmental science investigations. We explore topics such as light spectra, convection currents, weathering and erosion, heat transfer, density, and interactions between Earth's systems. One memorable moment came when a student told me, \"This is the first time I feel like I'm actually doing science in a science classroom.\" That comment perfectly captured the impact of this project. Students are no longer just reading about scientific phenomena—they are investigating, modeling, collecting data, and making evidence-based conclusions using authentic scientific tools.\r\n\r\nWhen the students first saw the materials - The excitement was immediate. Students were eager to unpack the materials and begin experimenting. Having access to proper scientific equipment made them feel like real scientists. They were excited to conduct investigations, build models, and use tools similar to those used by professionals in scientific fields. The materials increased student engagement and helped make science feel more authentic and meaningful.\r\n\r\nThe next step is expanding our ability to learn through investigation and modeling. The thermometers, heat lamps, wire mesh strainers, lab stands with clamps, and aquariums will allow students to conduct more complex experiments related to climate systems, heat absorption, convection currents, tectonic processes, density, and environmental change. Students will continue creating models, collecting and analyzing data, and making connections between classroom concepts and real-world phenomena.\r\n\r\nThese materials will be used consistently throughout the school year to support STEM-based investigations that foster critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. With authentic tools in their hands, students can engage in true scientific inquiry, develop confidence in their abilities, and experience the excitement of discovery.\r\n\r\nThank you for investing in our classroom and helping create opportunities for students to move beyond learning about science to actually doing science. Your support is directly impacting student engagement, motivation, and success, and we are incredibly grateful for your generosity.","fullyFundedDate":1755987951109,"projectUrl":"project/lets-do-science/9579317/","projectTitle":"Let's Do Science","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Wile","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp5363757_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1525187703112","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5363757"},{"teacherId":5363757,"projectId":7496619,"letterContent":"First, I would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in sending this note of gratitude. I believed I had submitted it earlier, but unfortunately it did not go through properly. Please know that your generosity has been deeply felt in our classroom from the moment the materials arrived, and I am so grateful for your patience.\r\n\r\nWhen I brought out the real science equipment—safety glasses, safety gloves, thermometers, and measurement tools—my students lit up with excitement. One junior even shared, \"This is the first time I felt like we were doing science in science class.\" That moment alone showed me the true impact of your support. With the proper tools in hand, students were able to safely collect accurate data and fully immerse themselves in \"doing science\" rather than just reading about it. They measured density, explored convection currents, investigated heat absorption and light energy, and carried out hands-on projects modeling natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes. The room was filled with curiosity, collaboration, and a new level of engagement.\r\n\r\nThe materials you provided will continue to serve our classroom throughout the year in all of our STEM-based investigations. From modeling tectonic plate movements to tracking weather events, your support has given my students the tools to think like scientists and approach challenges with confidence. More importantly, it has sparked motivation and a sense of belonging in science for students who may not have felt it before. Thank you for believing in my students and helping them discover the joy of authentic scientific discovery.","fullyFundedDate":1696886751334,"projectUrl":"project/stem-investigation-materials/7496619/","projectTitle":"STEM Investigation Materials","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Wile","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp5363757_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1525187703112","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5363757"},{"teacherId":9868738,"projectId":9178284,"letterContent":"On behalf of the entire track team, we want to extend our deepest thanks for your generous support and contributions to our recent project. Your donations have played a vital role in helping us secure the resources we need to train, compete, and grow as athletes. Whether it was equipment, uniforms, or travel expenses, your support made a real difference in our ability to perform at our best and represent our school with pride.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nYour generosity goes far beyond the financial impact — it has inspired our team to push harder, stay focused, and continue striving for excellence. Knowing that we have a community that believes in our potential gives us the confidence and motivation to keep reaching for our goals. Thank you for investing in our journey — your support means the world to us!","fullyFundedDate":1742737497948,"projectUrl":"project/south-carolina-track-meet/9178284/","projectTitle":"South Carolina Track Meet","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Williams","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9868738_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1733753981900","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9868738"},{"teacherId":9868738,"projectId":9084094,"letterContent":"On behalf of the entire track team, we want to extend our deepest thanks for your generous support and contributions to our recent project. Your donations have played a vital role in helping us secure the resources we need to train, compete, and grow as athletes. Whether it was equipment, uniforms, or travel expenses, your support made a real difference in our ability to perform at our best and represent our school with pride.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nYour generosity goes far beyond the financial impact — it has inspired our team to push harder, stay focused, and continue striving for excellence. Knowing that we have a community that believes in our potential gives us the confidence and motivation to keep reaching for our goals. Thank you for investing in our journey — your support means the world to us!","fullyFundedDate":1746725522427,"projectUrl":"project/tmhs-spring-track-and-field/9084094/","projectTitle":"TMHS Spring Track and Field","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Williams","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9868738_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1733753981900","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9868738"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_44531","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":1026,"numTeachers":58,"percentFrplEligible":85,"percentAsian":0,"percentBlack":26,"percentWhite":26,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":42,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":2,"gradesServed":"9 - 12","studentTeacherRatio":"17.7:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"SUBURBAN","ncesMetroType":"SUBURB_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":62.5,"schoolId":44531,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Thomas McKean High School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Thomas McKean High School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/delaware/red-clay-consolidated-school-district/thomas-mckean-high-school/44531"}