{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Sequoia Middle School","outOfStateSupporters":63.0,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":9562174,"projectId":10330482,"letterContent":"Thank you for giving my seventh graders board games for our Logic Days! These are screen-free days when students put away their technology, gather around a game, and think together.\r\n\r\nAs they play, students practice reasoning, analyzing choices, solving problems, and explaining their thinking. They also learn to listen to one another, try a new strategy when something doesn't work, and handle both wins and losses with kindness.\r\n\r\nYour gift gives my students a fun way to build skills they use in science and beyond. We're excited to make Logic Days a regular part of our classroom. Thank you for making them possible!","fullyFundedDate":1782329026699,"projectUrl":"project/science-thinking-with-board-games/10330482/","projectTitle":"Science Thinking with Board Games","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Dane","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9562174_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1717823989169","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9562174"},{"teacherId":10070730,"projectId":10265163,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for supporting my middle school math classroom! Your generous donation has given my students materials that help them collaborate, participate, and feel more confident in math.\r\n\r\nThe vertical boards and markers have allowed students to work together, show their thinking, and learn from one another. The playing cards help me create random groups so all students have opportunities to participate. The board games provide positive incentives and help build a fun and supportive classroom community. The drawer cart is such a great help in keeping our classroom materials and student work organized.\r\n\r\nThese resources have made a meaningful difference in my classroom. Thank you for investing in my students and helping create a classroom where they can take risks, make mistakes, explain their thinking, and grow as mathematicians!","fullyFundedDate":1778035799919,"projectUrl":"project/engaging-math-minds-with-teamwork-and-to/10265163/","projectTitle":"Engaging Math Minds with Teamwork and Tools","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Saboor","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp10070730_orig.png?crop=202,202,x0,y32&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1751669453715","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10070730"},{"teacherId":10492398,"projectId":10261357,"letterContent":"On behalf of our entire school community, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your generous donations to support our math program. Your contributions directly impact our students' ability to develop strong foundational skills and build confidence in mathematics. Whether through new instructional materials, technology resources, or enrichment opportunities, your support enables us to create a learning environment where every student can thrive.\r\n\r\nThe resources your donations provide make a tangible difference in our classrooms every single day. Teachers are able to implement more engaging, hands-on learning experiences, and students gain access to tools and interventions that help them overcome challenges and celebrate their successes. Your investment in math education reflects a deep commitment to student achievement and prepares our learners for future academic and career opportunities.\r\n\r\nThank you again for believing in our students and for standing alongside us in this important work. Donors like you are essential partners in our mission to help every student succeed in mathematics and beyond. We look forward to sharing updates on the positive impact your generosity continues to have on our school community.","fullyFundedDate":1778001602397,"projectUrl":"project/helping-students-succeed-in-math/10261357/","projectTitle":"Helping Students Succeed in Math","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Randall","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-10_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10492398"},{"teacherId":470517,"projectId":10294607,"letterContent":"I have heard this saying many times: \"Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.\" This is most definitely the case in middle school classrooms. Setting up a caring classroom from the beginning of the year takes time, but teachers know it is time well spent. Learning is much easier for students if they are comfortable being in the class, trust the teacher will keep order, feel it is a safe place to take risks and make mistakes, and the teacher is attentive to students' needs and worries.\r\n\r\nThe items you have supplied to our classroom have already helped us get off to a positive start! Students notice the tissues and cough drops placed by pencils and pencil sharpeners on both sides of the large classroom. They know there are granola and protein bars now filling one of the drawers of our personal care and hygiene filing cabinet in our adjacent science supply room. Putting a different small motivational poster up on our front whiteboard every few weeks silently sends various positive messages of hope and perseverance from teacher to students and gets them thinking about themselves. For years, students have paid attention to our Michael Jordan poster listing how many failures in basketball games he has had despite his fame, as well as to a similar one about Edison's quest for light bulb filament. With this summer's World Cup raising soccer to a fever pitch on campus, I added a small Lionel Messi poster near the door expressing effort and perseverance. I see so many students reading it as they are heading out and pointing out to peers how many years Messi practiced his skills daily.\r\n\r\nSince my Aquatic Studies class has been changed from a semester to year-long course and is comprised of both 7th and 8th graders, the ocean-themed card and board games are proving to be great ways to loosen up reticent students and get them laughing, then talking. This paves the way for fun exploring of marine science topics and more careful aquarium care.\r\n\r\nI am looking forward to giving every student in 8th grade science classes their astronomy-themed pencil (we will study the topic this year) after a quarter or two. I will attach one of several messages to each pencil that fits each student - great work, effort, participation, improvement, or motivation. Every year I see some students carefully remove the taped-on message and stick it inside their science notebook cover. This makes my heart happy, and I hope it does the same for you, since your help with this project makes you a partner in creating the classroom climate for all of these kids moving through their middle school years.","fullyFundedDate":1785257214821,"projectUrl":"project/building-classroom-community-from-day-on/10294607/","projectTitle":"Building Classroom Community From Day One","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Horne","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp470517_orig.png?crop=275,275,x0,y23&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1566689341670","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/horne"},{"teacherId":4803665,"projectId":10239885,"letterContent":"We are so grateful for the support that made our campus beautification project \"Roots of Belonging\" possible! Students had the opportunity to plant flowers and seeds throughout our campus, helping transform our school into a place that feels more welcoming, beautiful, and—most importantly—like theirs! Watching students get their hands in the soil, choose where to plant, and take pride in caring for something they helped create was incredibly meaningful. It gave them a sense of ownership and belonging on our campus.\r\n\r\nAs the school counselor, I was especially grateful for the conversations that naturally grew out of this project. While planting and working together, students opened up, shared stories, laughed, talked about their lives, and connected in ways that don't always happen during the school day. The garden became more than a beautification project—it became an opportunity to build relationships, practice teamwork, slow down, and create a stronger sense of community. Thank you for helping us create a space where students can literally put down roots and feel that they belong.","fullyFundedDate":1778035799608,"projectUrl":"project/roots-of-belonging/10239885/","projectTitle":"Roots of Belonging","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Stewart","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp4803665_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1505610792312","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/4803665"},{"teacherId":1109389,"projectId":10334416,"letterContent":"Our middle school students returned from summer break still recovering from World Cup fever! Many students had enjoyed playing soccer before, but thanks to your generous donation of balls and goals, so many more students have access to playing the beautiful game!\r\n\r\nYour direct support has provided over 800 students on our campus access to soccer equipment! At all times of day - before school, during breaks and lunch, in PE classes, and after school - kids are running around kicking the soccer balls, using the goals, engaging in skillbuilding with the timers, and having fun together. Thank you for reminding our school of the power of sport!","fullyFundedDate":1781490609813,"projectUrl":"project/soccer-soccer-soccer/10334416/","projectTitle":"Soccer! Soccer! Soccer!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Mendoza","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp1109389_272x272.png?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1457556430837","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/emendoza"},{"teacherId":9562174,"projectId":10256163,"letterContent":"Thank you for helping provide my 7th-grade science students with the everyday materials they need to be successful. Your support provides organizing folders, pencils, and construction paper that students will use throughout the school year for labs, notes, data tables, CER writing, vocabulary activities, and science modeling projects.\r\n\r\nThese supplies may seem simple, but they have a meaningful impact on our classroom. Students will have a place to organize and track their learning, materials to create and communicate scientific models, and pencils available so that no student has to worry about coming to class without one. The larger folders will also help me organize curriculum materials for the 18 units we cover during the year, making our classroom more organized and efficient.\r\n\r\nThank you for investing in our young scientists and helping make sure they come to class prepared and ready to learn. Your generosity allows us to spend less time worrying about supplies and more time asking questions, investigating phenomena, building models, and discovering the world around us. We are incredibly grateful for your support!","fullyFundedDate":1778035800084,"projectUrl":"project/next-year-science-blasting-off-for-the/10256163/","projectTitle":"Next Year, Science Blasting Off for the Moon","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Dane","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9562174_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1717823989169","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9562174"},{"teacherId":470517,"projectId":10316284,"letterContent":"The new school year is off to a great and active start, thanks to the supplies you provided! Aquatic Studies and 8th grade science students have been using pencils and the awesome colored pencil sharpener daily. From sketching corals and aquarium creatures to annotating notes and graphs, students use these supplies often. The dry erase markers have already been used to trace routes around water on inflatable globes to notice that all of Earth's named oceans are connected, as well as connecting how graphs generated by motion sensors and a graphical analysis tool reflect different types of motion. This is a much more effective way for students to build conceptual understanding of aspects of speed, acceleration, and direction of travel than me having them copy down some notes right away.\r\n\r\nKleenex and cleaning wipes are used daily with over 200 students spending time in my classroom. The unobtrusive and chemical-free plug-in insect sticky traps keep tiny flying bugs out of our hissing cockroach and walking stick bug terrariums as well as our countertop hydroponic plant system. Tape is used frequently in lab activities, and laminating pouches provide seat tags on student tables, reusable lab directions and color-printed graphs, and aquarium test kit color scales.\r\n\r\nThese everyday materials make the school day run smoothly, allow me to use our class time efficiently, and provide materials students need to record their daily observations and findings. All of this comes together for some solid science wondering and learning!","fullyFundedDate":1785257210871,"projectUrl":"project/back-to-basics-with-kleenex-and-writing/10316284/","projectTitle":"Back to Basics With Kleenex and Writing Tools","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Horne","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp470517_orig.png?crop=275,275,x0,y23&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1566689341670","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/horne"},{"teacherId":470517,"projectId":10173532,"letterContent":"Wow! The difference in the population and massive size of our walking stick bugs is amazing! Back in May, students reset their habitat, along with that of our Madagascar hissing cockroaches. With the new substrates and excited student caretakers, these creatures are thriving and attracting a lot of student attention. \r\n\r\nThe drill has been used to create holes in reef rubble and shells as part of one method of growing out coral cuttings. This works well for gorgonians and certain stony and leather coral species. Since the Aquatic Studies elective class has been changed from semester-long to yearlong, students will have more experience in propagating corals and having enough time to observe their growth.\r\n\r\nWe are still deciding on the aquascape and final setup of our renovated 40-gallon coral growout tank. Last spring students cleaned and reinoculated 25-year-old reef rock from Fiji and Tonga. They put them in a tank with a new style of pump - the gyre - which creates an interesting wide sheet of water that circulates across the tank and back. Students are getting started on placing coral fragments they will grow out all year. Due to breakage of our chopsaw safety guard, we did not cut the metal framing for screen covers we will need when we add fish to our systems this year. We are also trying out different placement of lights over our growout tank and methods of attaching screen covers to an unusual tank with sides of different heights before cutting the stock for that tank. We are excited to use the fine 1/8\" plastic netting since some community members we trade corals with have had issues with small fish jumping out through standard 1/4\" mesh.\r\n\r\nAs you can see, the materials from this project have given students several hands-on work with animal habitats, and more of this is still to come! I appreciate your generosity in providing these experiences to these young teens.","fullyFundedDate":1778038755515,"projectUrl":"project/equipment-for-excellent-ecosystems/10173532/","projectTitle":"Equipment for Excellent Ecosystems","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Horne","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp470517_orig.png?crop=275,275,x0,y23&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1566689341670","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/horne"},{"teacherId":470517,"projectId":10284540,"letterContent":"Hundreds of middle school students of all levels are now excitedly playing soccer thanks to your generous donation of the equipment! In PE classes and during brunch and lunch, all students now have access to soccer balls and goals! When our district's afterschool soccer program brings multiple middle school teams together, there will be great excitement when they use the new equipment, too!\r\n\r\nWith the timers and agility ladders, students are able to participate in various drills for the first time. They are very excited by these activities, which most have never encountered before. Many students were already passionate about playing soccer, and now even more students, boys and girls alike, want to play every day!\r\n\r\nInvolvement in sports is so meaningful. We all know how important discipline, focus, fitness, and teamwork are for pre-teens and teenagers. Our school is so grateful to Dick's and DonorsChoose for sending these soccer supplies to our students!","fullyFundedDate":1781462485151,"projectUrl":"project/soccer-is-our-gooooooal/10284540/","projectTitle":"Soccer Is Our GOOOOOOAL!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Horne","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp470517_orig.png?crop=275,275,x0,y23&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1566689341670","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/horne"},{"teacherId":1165495,"projectId":10336024,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for providing the soccer balls and goals for our \"School Seeks Soccer Supplies!\" project! Our students were incredibly excited about the World Cup games and became passionate about playing soccer every day. Before your generous donation, students were using their backpacks as makeshift goals, and we had only a limited number of soccer balls for hundreds of students to share. Their enthusiasm for the game was amazing, but we simply did not have the equipment to support their interest.\r\n\r\nThanks to DonorsChoose, our students now have real soccer goals and plenty of soccer balls to use during PE, brunch, and lunch. The excitement has been contagious, especially when the students saw the balls featuring the World Cup logo! They are so proud to use the new equipment and are spending more time outside, being active, practicing their skills, and playing together. Your generosity has turned backpacks into goals and limited opportunities into daily chances to play, have fun, build friendships, and develop teamwork and good sportsmanship. We are incredibly grateful for the difference you have made for our students!","fullyFundedDate":1781485138092,"projectUrl":"project/school-seeks-soccer-supplies/10336024/","projectTitle":"School Seeks Soccer Supplies!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Miller","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp1165495_orig.jpg?crop=315,315,x0,y9&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1641478502656","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/julie-miller-pe"},{"teacherId":1165495,"projectId":10045145,"letterContent":"Thank you for making such a meaningful difference in our Physical Education program by donating soccer balls, basketballs, and volleyballs to our school. As a PE teacher and department chair, I cannot overstate how much this equipment means to our students.\r\n\r\nWhen we submitted our DonorsChoose request, our school was down to only a few (literally 2-3) usable balls for our students. With hundreds of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students sharing the equipment, we were constantly trying to make the most of very limited resources. Your generosity has changed that.\r\n\r\nNow, our students have enough equipment to actively participate, practice skills, play games, and—most importantly—play together.\r\n\r\nThese balls are used every day by students in all three grade levels during PE classes as they learn and develop skills in soccer, basketball, volleyball, and other activities. Having enough equipment means more students are moving at the same time, spending less time waiting for a turn, and getting more opportunities to practice, improve, and experience success.\r\n\r\nBut the impact goes far beyond PE class.\r\n\r\nOur students also use the equipment during lunch and brunch breaks, giving them a positive way to be active, connect with friends, and build relationships through play. I see students organizing their own games, inviting others to join, learning to work together, resolving disagreements, encouraging one another, and practicing good sportsmanship. A simple soccer ball, basketball, or volleyball becomes a way for students to connect with people they might not otherwise interact with.\r\n\r\nAs a middle school PE teacher, some of my favorite moments happen when I see students cheering for one another, helping a fellow student with a new skill, including someone who is standing on the sidelines, or high fiving after a competitive game. These are important life skills that cannot always be taught from a textbook. They are learned through movement, teamwork, cooperation, perseverance, and play.\r\n\r\nYour donation has helped us create more opportunities for all of these experiences.\r\n\r\nYou have given our students more than just new equipment. You have given them opportunities to move, compete, cooperate, socialize, build confidence, and belong. You have helped create a more active and connected school community.\r\n\r\nOn behalf of our entire Physical Education Department—and especially on behalf of our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students—thank you for investing in our kids. Your generosity has a daily, visible impact, and we are incredibly grateful. Thank you for helping our students discover that sometimes, something as simple as a ball can bring a community together.","fullyFundedDate":1778036192276,"projectUrl":"project/play-ball/10045145/","projectTitle":"Play Ball!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Miller","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp1165495_orig.jpg?crop=315,315,x0,y9&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1641478502656","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/julie-miller-pe"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_4159","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":895,"numTeachers":36,"percentFrplEligible":51,"percentAsian":18,"percentBlack":3,"percentWhite":24,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":38,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":15,"gradesServed":"6 - 8","studentTeacherRatio":"24.9:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"SUBURBAN","ncesMetroType":"SUBURB_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":37.0,"schoolId":4159,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Sequoia Middle School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Sequoia Middle School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/california/mount-diablo-unified-school-district/sequoia-middle-school/4159"}