{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"callToActionDisplayName":"Thurgood Marshall Elementary School","outOfStateSupporters":29.8,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":5111246,"projectId":9839253,"letterContent":"I cannot thank you enough for supporting my project, Reading and Writing Fun in First Grade. We use at least one of the items purchased every day! First off, my standing rolling desk allows me to move freely around the room with the materials that I need. My rolling magnetic whiteboard gives me the same flexibility. It also enables students to contribute to interactive writing. These changes have impacted our days, but the next items are the favorites for the students.\r\nEvery day, in different small groups, we use either the All-in-One Phonics kit by Lakeshore or a phonics game. Some days they are all out! Picture this, I am teaching a group of 6 children at a back table with the phonics kits, while the students who are not in groups are participating with phonics games at their level. It is a beautiful thing!\r\nRight now, we are working on blends with short vowels, but we can't wait to start using the digraph and diphthong magnets too!","fullyFundedDate":1760835606195,"projectUrl":"project/reading-and-writing-fun-in-first-grade/9839253/","projectTitle":"Reading and Writing Fun in First Grade","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Camp","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp5111246_orig.jpg?crop=2286,2286,x181,y86&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1606248759721","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5111246"},{"teacherId":5854102,"projectId":9830514,"letterContent":"Thank you for your generous support of this project. Your investment made it possible to turn an important idea into meaningful action, and we are deeply grateful for your confidence in our work. Because of your commitment, we were able to move forward with clarity, purpose, and the resources needed to achieve our goals.\r\n\r\nYour funding has had a tangible impact—supporting critical activities, strengthening our capacity, and expanding the reach of this effort. Beyond the immediate outcomes, your generosity has helped lay a strong foundation for long-term success and sustainability. We are inspired by your belief in the value of this work and the people it serves.\r\n\r\nOn behalf of our students, thank you for being an essential partner in this project. We are proud to share these accomplishments with you and look forward to continuing this work with your support. Your generosity truly makes a difference.","fullyFundedDate":1760662323455,"projectUrl":"project/plug-into-literacy/9830514/","projectTitle":"Plug into Literacy","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Mazur","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp5854102_orig.jpg?crop=380,380,x131,y121&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1594308472365","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/mrstmazur"},{"teacherId":10316457,"projectId":9839614,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your incredible generosity and support of our third grade classroom. Because of you, my students get to learn in a space that is more engaging, comfortable, and joyful every single day. The small group stools, whiteboard, and marker holder are used daily during small group instruction and have already made a huge difference in how smoothly our lessons run. Thanks to your funding, we also now have so many beautiful new classroom books, and my students are beyond excited to explore them. Our classroom library has truly come to life!\r\n\r\nMy shorter students especially love the step stool, which allows them to confidently reach the Smart Board to show their work to the class. The lap desks have quickly become a class favorite—students are obsessed with them and always ask to use them during assessments. They help students feel comfortable and focused while doing their best work.\r\n\r\nAnd finally, the green bean bag chair has been a HUGE hit! The moment I unboxed the packages, my students were screaming with excitement about who would be the first to sit in it. It has already become a special spot in our classroom that students look forward to learning.","fullyFundedDate":1760928074203,"projectUrl":"project/howling-for-books-small-group-literacy/9839614/","projectTitle":"Howling for Books: Small Group Literacy for Ms. Patrick's Wolfpack","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Patrick","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-9_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10316457"},{"teacherId":10317145,"projectId":9841207,"letterContent":"My students love our new resources! Excitement built every time a new box showed up in our classroom. It took about a week for everything to arrive and once it all did we had a big reveal, what I called, \"The Grand Unboxing!\" My eager students started using their new tools immediately! \r\n I teach fourth grade special education in a mostly pull-out, small-group model in a cubicle in the middle of a hallway. It's not the best set-up, but having high quality materials goes a long way to making up for less-than-ideal learning conditions. Favorite new resources have been the colorful noise-cancelling headphone, whisper phones, and reading trackers, all of which have helped my students focus while reading. Another huge hit are the sensory squares with different textures that I pass out during social group. These help to calm kids who are maybe a little nervous or not used to sharing feelings or talking about uncomfortable topics. This year, I have 10 students in two different small groups who are working on improving decoding and/or encoding skills. They love working with the phonics tiles and I love the improvement I've seen since we've received them (not to mention cleaning up is a breeze and we haven't lost a single tile this year). \r\n My writing group is working on conventions, editing, and paragraph formation. This group happens to meet at the end of the day, a notorious time of distraction for fourth graders, but they all look forward to the days when I pass out the paragraph editing work books. I've even started to notice my writing students using the editing symbols they've learned while they are in other small groups. The next step I have planned for writing group is to use the How To Write An Awesome Paragraph to help improve the content and structure of their writing. \r\n Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and book bags for your generous donation to our learning community! These resources will not only help students this year, but for years to come!","fullyFundedDate":1760900512025,"projectUrl":"project/small-group-learning-fun/9841207/","projectTitle":"Small Group Learning Fun!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Rockwood","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10317145"},{"teacherId":5111218,"projectId":9743701,"letterContent":"With your generous support, I was able to provide my students with choice, learning opportunities outside of the school day, and background knowledge to support students' exploration of the 250th birthday of our nation. \r\nWhen my Donor's Choose project was funded, our classroom received a new mini American History library! Students were given opportunities to choose a book that they found interesting, take it home to read over the winter break, and then write a book review to recommend the book to friends. Students LOVED the opportunity to choose how they learn and were thrilled to recommend the book to others. The books keep circulating around my classes. Now, students who are not in my classes are stopping by to ask to borrow a book because they hear they are so good! \r\nYour thoughtfulness made this learning possible and prepared my students for a year of learning and celebrating the 250th birthday of our nation!","fullyFundedDate":1760669101513,"projectUrl":"project/happy-250th-birthday-america/9743701/","projectTitle":"Happy 250th Birthday, America!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Puleo","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp5111218_orig.jpg?crop=2794,2794,x0,y18&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1605968769959","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5111218"},{"teacherId":5111218,"projectId":9818884,"letterContent":"We are so grateful for your generous support of education! Because of your thoughtfulness, each of my students has materials to enrich their reading comprehension and support improvement of their writing skills. \r\nAnother benefit of this project was the appreciation my students felt. They acknowledged the thoughtfulness of our state's leadership. They were able to see (and hold!) how our community values education!\r\nI am glad to have these materials for my students. They will enrich my students' educational experience. Another real benefit of the materials provided is that they are ready to use. They don't require any copies or preparation before we use them, so this frees up more time for me to work directly with students and support their success. \r\nThank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity.","fullyFundedDate":1760315758971,"projectUrl":"project/students-making-themselves-clear/9818884/","projectTitle":"Students Making Themselves Clear","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Puleo","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp5111218_orig.jpg?crop=2794,2794,x0,y18&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1605968769959","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5111218"},{"teacherId":6415025,"projectId":9831206,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generous support of our Phonics Friends Club. Because of your donation, our project has come to life in a powerful and meaningful way.\r\n\r\nThrough this program, fifth-grade students are paired with struggling second-grade readers and meet twice a week to work on foundational reading skills. These peer partnerships have created a supportive, encouraging environment where younger students feel safe to take risks and grow as readers, while our fifth graders develop leadership, responsibility, and empathy.\r\n\r\nThe impact has been tremendous. We are already seeing increased confidence, improved phonics skills, and stronger relationships across grade levels. Most importantly, students are excited about reading and look forward to their time with their peer buddies.\r\n\r\nYour generosity has made a lasting difference for our students, and we are incredibly grateful for your investment in their success. Thank you for believing in our readers and in the power of learning together.","fullyFundedDate":1760686970956,"projectUrl":"project/phonics-first/9831206/","projectTitle":"Phonics First","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Nuss","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/6415025"},{"teacherId":10316112,"projectId":9838728,"letterContent":"I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for your incredible generosity in providing our classroom with a diverse array of learning tools and resources. From the All-In-One Magnetic Phonics Kit to the Noise Cancelling Headphones, your contribution has positively impacted our learning environment.\r\n\r\nWe are currently using the All-In-One Magnetic Phonics Kits for both decoding and encoding small group lessons where we are working on digraphs and blends. The students love these kits! I am sure we will be using these for a long time since they are durable and interactive. We have also been using the dry-erase boards and word mapping write & wipe boards during this time. We are beginning to use the nonfiction reading comprehension practice cards to look back into the text and find evidence to answer comprehension questions. While reading picture books, we have used the highlighting tape to focus our attention to text evidence. The students were very excited to use the highlighting tape, as they had never seen it before! We will continue to use this as we dive into other picture books, including the book sets donated through this project.\r\n\r\nThe noise cancelling headphones, stress balls, and chair bands have been used to meet the individual needs of our students. They have helped them more actively participate during instructional times and during other activities such as assemblies. \r\n\r\nAs far as next steps, we will be delving into Native Americans later in the school year. I am excited to use the Native American Voices during this unit to build background and work on reading comprehension skills.\r\n\r\nThank you again for funding this project. Our students with disabilities now have greater access to their learning through building background knowledge on grade level topics, practicing skills in a multi-sensory way, and accessing their instruction through supports that lessen the impact of their disability.","fullyFundedDate":1760845210359,"projectUrl":"project/helping-students-with-disabilities-acces/9838728/","projectTitle":"Helping Students with Disabilities Access Literacy!","teacherDisplayName":"Dr. Warner","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-7_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10316112"},{"teacherId":10309938,"projectId":9821674,"letterContent":"I want to sincerely thank you for the items to support my second graders in phonics. \r\n\r\nThe two phonics read alouds are popular picks when my students have daily independent reading time. \r\n\r\nDuring our morning choice time, they love to use the magnetic letter tiles, Alphabet-Bots, and alphabet learning locks. \r\n\r\nWhen we blend and build words during whole group reading, my class can't wait to use their own letter tiles to take away and add letters to make new words. They feel like true VIPs! \r\n\r\nPhonics bingo is a hit when we have review days, and the phonics dictionary is a useful reference for my students. They love to add words to their book and incorporate them in their learning throughout the day. \r\n\r\nThanks to your contribution, my class thinks phonics IS fun!","fullyFundedDate":1760355937132,"projectUrl":"project/phonics-sounds-fun/9821674/","projectTitle":"Phonics Sounds Fun!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Menard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp10309938_orig.png?crop=394,394,x0,y6&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1760314766811","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10309938"},{"teacherId":7958564,"projectId":9521105,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your support for science texts and experiments! So far my students have really enjoyed the read alouds about animals. As a class, we have already read 4 of the 11 books together. Students love being able to hold and read the books after we discuss them as a class. \r\n\r\nWe have also engaged in experiments. Soon, we will use the planting supplies to track how seeds grow and change into plants. Students will observe and monitor the growth. They will notice similarities and differences and discuss them. These hands on, concrete experiences make the learning deeper and more connected to the world outside of the classroom. \r\n\r\nScience is such a joy to teach and students love it so much. I am so appreciative of your support to fund these additional instructional materials that make all the difference in providing a rich and meaningful science experience for all students.","fullyFundedDate":1754234995010,"projectUrl":"project/encouraging-curiosity-with-science-books/9521105/","projectTitle":"Encouraging Curiosity with Science Books and Experiments","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Yarmus","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp7958564_orig.png?crop=710,710,x0,y44&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1632683356801","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/7958564"},{"teacherId":3088016,"projectId":9625269,"letterContent":"Thanks to your generous support, our classroom now has a Cozy Calm Down Space — a welcoming, peaceful area where students can regulate their emotions and return to learning ready to focus. From the moment the materials arrived, the excitement was palpable. My students eagerly explored the new items: the soft rug, comfy seating, sensory tools, and calming visuals, and instantly began talking about how \"cozy\" it felt.\r\n\r\nWe use our calm-down corner daily as part of our classroom routines. Students know they can visit the space when they need a quiet moment to breathe, think, or use one of our sensory tools to reset. One special moment occurred when a student, feeling frustrated after a group activity, asked to use the space. After spending a few minutes with a breathing ball and mindfulness cards, they returned smiling and ready to rejoin their classmates. It's been wonderful to see them independently use the strategies we've practiced.\r\n\r\nThis project has transformed our classroom into a more supportive environment where students feel safe and secure enough to manage their big emotions. Our next steps are to continue teaching emotional regulation and self-awareness skills through short daily lessons, helping students connect the calm-down strategies to real-life challenges.\r\n\r\nYour generosity has created a lasting impact! It is helping our classroom become a place where every child feels seen, supported, and ready to learn. Thank you for believing in our students!","fullyFundedDate":1755831882149,"projectUrl":"project/cozy-calm-down-space/9625269/","projectTitle":"Cozy Calm Down Space","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Clarke","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp3088016_orig.jpg?crop=1769,1769,x0,y400&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1642014929364","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/3088016"},{"teacherId":839919,"projectId":9838688,"letterContent":"When the students first saw the boxes arrive, they could hardly contain their excitement! Many of them were wide-eyed and immediately started asking, \"Is this for us?\" and \"When can we start using them?\" Their enthusiasm filled the room, and it was such a joyful moment to see how eager they were to dive in.\r\n\r\nMy students and I have been using the new reading resources to build stronger literacy skills and a deeper love for books.. They've been practicing reading fluency, identifying themes, and making text-to-self connections. It's been wonderful to see how much more engaged they are during independent and group reading time!\r\n\r\nNext, we'll be starting a \"Reading Response Journal\" project, where students will write reflections and share favorite quotes or lessons from their books. This will help them think more critically about what they're reading and strengthen their writing skills at the same time. I can already tell that the new resources are inspiring them to read more often and with greater confidence!","fullyFundedDate":1760828165802,"projectUrl":"project/literacy-corner/9838688/","projectTitle":"Literacy Corner","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Grant","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp839919_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1548640134503","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/839919"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_59612","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":641,"numTeachers":44,"percentFrplEligible":66,"percentAsian":22,"percentBlack":36,"percentWhite":21,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":13,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","gradesServed":"K - 5","studentTeacherRatio":"14.6:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"SUBURBAN","ncesMetroType":"SUBURB_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":70.2,"schoolId":59612,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Thurgood Marshall Elementary School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Thurgood Marshall Elementary School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/delaware/christina-school-district/thurgood-marshall-elementary-school/59612"}