{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"callToActionDisplayName":"Irene Hernandez Middle School","outOfStateSupporters":42.9,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":3620070,"projectId":9609196,"letterContent":"I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your generous donation of snacks for my students. Your kindness has made a genuine difference in our classroom. Many of my students come to school without having eaten breakfast or lunch, and your contribution has helped ensure they can focus, participate, and feel cared for throughout the day.\r\n\r\nHaving snacks available has reduced stress and increased engagement. Students are more alert during lessons, more motivated to complete assignments, and more willing to collaborate with their peers. It's incredible to see how something as simple as a healthy snack can lift their mood and build a stronger sense of community in our classroom.\r\n\r\nYour support reminds my students that people believe in them and want to see them succeed.","fullyFundedDate":1758222146552,"projectUrl":"project/fuel-for-focus-healthy-snacks-for-my-st/9609196/","projectTitle":"Fuel for Focus: Healthy Snacks for My Students","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Parodi","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp3620070_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1503972582073","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/3620070"},{"teacherId":5823731,"projectId":9579357,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generous donation to our classroom. The highly engaging books you provided — Dog Man, Goosebumps, Naruto, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid — have made an incredible impact on my special education students.\r\n\r\nThese books have quickly become the heart of our reading time. My students read them twice a week, and the excitement they bring is amazing to see. In fact, the Dog Man books are so loved that students often (playfully!) argue over who gets to read them first. Your donation has turned reading into something they look forward to and feel excited about, and that is a gift that will stay with them.\r\n\r\nThank you for supporting our learners and helping create a joyful reading environment in our classroom. Your kindness truly makes a difference","fullyFundedDate":1755694835978,"projectUrl":"project/turning-pages-sparking-smiles-high-int/9579357/","projectTitle":"Turning Pages, Sparking Smiles: High-Interest Books for Special Education","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Lithgow","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-6_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/5823731"},{"teacherId":3491033,"projectId":9447186,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generous donation to my DonorsChoose project \"Equipping Our Classroom for Success\". Because of supporters like you, our classroom at Hernandez Middle School in Chicago is now fully equipped with the learning materials and games we requested — including dry-erase boards and markers, cooperative games like Uno and Tapple, and tools to support both academic and social-emotional growth. \r\nDonorsChoose\r\n\r\nYour gift is already making a difference. These resources will allow my students to engage in collaborative, hands-on learning, promote empathy, curiosity, and resilience, and make our classroom a more vibrant, inclusive, and supportive environment. I appreciate your belief in our students and our mission.\r\n\r\nThank you again for investing in our classroom and in the success of these young learners. We are truly grateful for your partnership.","fullyFundedDate":1758824673525,"projectUrl":"project/equipping-our-classroom-for-success/9447186/","projectTitle":"Equipping our Classroom for Success","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Calkins","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp3491033_orig.jpg?crop=419,419,x0,y1&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1697385669712","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/mrscalkinsstem"},{"teacherId":6272074,"projectId":9069304,"letterContent":"As a middle school teacher, I've learned it's the little things that make a big difference. Hand sanitizer keeps us healthy, tissues keep kids comfortable, and wipes help us keep our classroom clean and cared for. The mints boost focus and calm nerves during tests. These supplies help create a space where students feel safe, supported, and ready to learn each day. I'm sincerely grateful for your kindness and support—it truly helps my students feel valued, confident, and cared for each day. Your generosity means more than you know.","fullyFundedDate":1744032840126,"projectUrl":"project/clean-hands-bright-minds-keep-our-clas/9069304/","projectTitle":"Clean Hands, Bright Minds: Keep Our Classroom Healthy!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Duffin","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp6272074_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1657649842413","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/ms-duffin"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9592140,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for the amazing donation of the very popular \"I Survived...\" series of graphic novels. I just received the books this week and was able to put them in my library the last few days. Safe to say, the boys in my classroom were chomping at the bit to read this series, especially the September 11, 2001, edition, which we learned about last month. \r\n\r\nThanks to your amazing donation, I am continually able to expose my students to highly-engaging texts like the \"I Survived...\" series. As I have written in the past, graphic novels and manga have been real game changers for me in terms of engaging middle school students as readers. This age is not always the easiest to engage in reading, but these genres have really served as great motivating tools. Getting more and more of these types of books into my classroom library has been a big goal of mine, and I can't thank the DonorsChoose community enough for helping me do during the past couple of years. \r\n\r\nAttached are some photos of my students enjoying some independent reading time in my classes. I apologize as I haven't had time to take pictures of them with the \"I Survived...\" series, though I feel these pictures convey the classroom environment, one that fosters a love of reading, that I have been cultivating. Once again, thank you. Words cannot express what your donations mean to my students and do for me!","fullyFundedDate":1758824671756,"projectUrl":"project/i-survived-middle-school-engaging-en/9592140/","projectTitle":"I Survived... Middle School: Engaging English- Language Learners as Readers","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9591883,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your amazing donation of the popular manga series \"Fruits Basket.\" Admittedly, I didn't know much about this series, but my eager sixth-grade readers have been filling me in on it. It's safe to say that within the two weeks I have added \"Fruits Basket\" to my Manga Mania library, it has been flying off the shelves, especially among the female readers in my class. \r\n\r\nIt is always so inspiring to see kids pick up and become enthralled with new books. For example, we just completed our second week of my special Husky Discovery Day elective class, Manga Mania. My students have been really engaged thus far in \"Fruits Basket\" and all of my other manga, which is a welcome and inspiring sight. I am looking forward to exposing my students to even more manga throughout this session and the rest of the school year. Thanks to you, I am able to do so, and from the bottom of my heart, I am eternally grateful. Best wishes, have a nice weekend, and thank you again for all you have done for my classroom.","fullyFundedDate":1758824672168,"projectUrl":"project/manga-mania-xxxvii-sixth-grade-girls-st/9591883/","projectTitle":"Manga Mania XXXVII: Sixth-Grade Girls Stocking Up As Lifelong Readers","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9592342,"letterContent":"Thank you for your amazing donation of all of these spooky novels for our Halloween-themed independent reading during the month of October. My students really enjoy reading scary stories, and the books have been flying off the shelves so far this month. Especially popular has been the Fazbear Frights Collection and novels like \"This Delicious Death\" and \"The Girl in the Well.\" \r\n\r\nOverall, it is truly inspiring to this teacher to see his students engaged with novels, especially in this day and age of so many competing technological distractions. Thanks to your generous donation, we have been able to pick up from the momentum of our September independent reading about Hispanic Heritage Month and September 11, 2001, to our Halloween-related reading this October. We are off to a great start, and I can't wait to see how many novels my students can read this month. \r\n\r\nOnce again, thank you for making all of this possible. I greatly appreciate it. Attached are some pictures of my students' reading in my classes. I hope you enjoy.","fullyFundedDate":1755694836369,"projectUrl":"project/freaky-october-books-spookingengaging/9592342/","projectTitle":"Freaky October Books: Spooking/Engaging Sixth Graders As Independent Readers","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9592025,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your amazing donation of the popular volleyball manga series \"Haikyu!!\" This series has been a major hit with a lot of my female sixth-grade readers, especially since they are in the middle of their fall volleyball season here at school. I have also had several students correct me on my pronunciation of this series, which apparently is more like \"haiku\" than \"hi-kie-oo\". In all seriousness, this donation has made my Manga Mania library even more diverse and allowed reluctant readers to find a hobby they love, volleyball, that they can read more about. It has been truly inspiring to see my students gravitate toward this series during my ELA and Husky Discovery classes. One girl named Jilliana (a character to say the least) has especially been enthralled with \"Haikyu!!\" Now if I could only get her to focus on my ELA lessons, I'd be all good. :-)\r\n\r\nFrom the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for this donation. It is truly inspiring during a tough time for our school community. With the fear of ICE raids, etc., my students have been a bit on edge the past few weeks. Having my manga around to read has been a great way to settle them down and get them to relax. None of this would be possible without you so thank you so much.","fullyFundedDate":1755694836616,"projectUrl":"project/manga-mania-xxxviii-sixth-graders-serv/9592025/","projectTitle":"Manga Mania XXXVIII: Sixth Graders \"Serving\" As Motivated, Engaged Readers","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9591722,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your amazing donation of the popular soccer manga series \"Blue Lock\" to my classroom's Manga Mania library. My students love the game of soccer, and the manga \"Blue Lock\" has been a great avenue for them to further explore the sport while developing as readers. I just finished the second week of my Husky Discovery Day class \"Manga Mania,\" and I can safely say that my copies of \"Blue Lock\" have been flying off my library shelves. It is easily one of the most popular manga among my students. Thanks to your generosity, I am able to expose my students to \"Blue Lock\" and the latest in manga. \r\n\r\nAttached are some photos of my students reading during my Manga Mania class. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for allowing me to get these books into my students' hands. It means the world to me. Have a great weekend, and thank you for all you do to ensure that public school students like my wonderful children get equal opportunities and access to such great books.","fullyFundedDate":1755694836099,"projectUrl":"project/manga-mania-xxxvi-from-sixth-grade-socc/9591722/","projectTitle":"Manga Mania XXXVI: From Sixth Grade Soccer to Reading Stars","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9442709,"letterContent":"Thank you for your amazing donation of the first 15 books for this year's Chicago Public Schools Battle of the Books competition. We are slowly forming our Battle of the Books teams this school year and have met the past two Wednesdays, with my sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade readers extremely excited to get started. Especially popular have been the books \"Impossible Creatures,\" \"Magnelia Wu Unfolds It All,\" \"Not Quite A Ghost,\" \"When We Flew Away,\" and \"Buffalo Dreamer.\" From the bottoms of our hearts, we just wanted to say thanks again for allowing us to participate in Battle of the Books this school year. We are excited to read these engaging novels and look forward to giving it our all during this year's competition. Thanks to you, we are getting an early start on doing so. Have a wonderful weekend, and thank you for all you do to ensure public school students get access to the best books around during a difficult time for public education.","fullyFundedDate":1753920774973,"projectUrl":"project/battling-more-budget-cuts-battle-of-boo/9442709/","projectTitle":"Battling More Budget Cuts: Battle of Books First 15 Selections","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"},{"teacherId":3491033,"projectId":9381300,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generous donation! We have been using the donated materials in our 7th grade STEM class for a collaborative marble maze challenge. Each group of four students worked through the engineering design process—brainstorming, planning, building, testing, and improving their mazes. The 12x12 cardboard served as the base, straws became the maze paths, and pom poms and pipe cleaners added decoration and creativity. This project not only allowed students to apply problem-solving and engineering skills but also pushed them to practice teamwork and communication as they figured out how to make their maze both functional and visually engaging.\r\n\r\nWhen the students first saw the boxes of supplies, their excitement was immediate. Many were surprised that they would get to design and build with such colorful and flexible materials, and they couldn't wait to dive in. Students loved the idea that the project had both a technical side—constructing a working maze—and an artistic side—decorating with pom poms and pipe cleaners. The materials made the activity feel less like a \"worksheet project\" and more like a real engineering challenge where their creativity could shine.\r\n\r\nThe next steps for my students are to reflect on the challenges they faced during the design process and to share their finished mazes with peers. They will also write about what worked well and what they would redesign if they had more time and resources. This reflection will lead into our upcoming unit on robotics, where students will again use the engineering design process, but this time to build functional attachments for our Dash robots.","fullyFundedDate":1753920775205,"projectUrl":"project/stem-marble-maze-materials/9381300/","projectTitle":"STEM Marble Maze Materials","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Calkins","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp3491033_orig.jpg?crop=419,419,x0,y1&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1697385669712","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/mrscalkinsstem"},{"teacherId":8019426,"projectId":9444228,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your amazing donation of all of these wonderful books connected to Hispanic Heritage Month. I introduced these books to my students this past Friday, right before Labor Day, and we began doing some independent reading with them today during class. My students were really excited and engaged with these novels. It has truly been a great start to the school year, thanks in large part to your wonderful donation of these new classroom library books, which have engaged the students as readers early in the school year. \r\n\r\nI have attached some photos of the books, along with a new classroom library system that we are implementing. Last week my students designed a library checkout inbox/outbox on which they listed and drew their favorite book of all time. Honestly, the books in my classroom have been flying off the shells, and I can't wait to utilize these Hispanic Heritage Month books throughout the rest of September. \r\n\r\nThanks to you, I am exposing my students to the latest literature and encouraging them to read for pleasure and joy. From the bottom of my heart, your donation has been a true inspiration.","fullyFundedDate":1753920774988,"projectUrl":"project/hispanic-heritage-month-books-making-mi/9444228/","projectTitle":"Hispanic Heritage Month Books: Making Middle School Students Independent Readers","teacherDisplayName":"Mr. Maynard","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8019426"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_97534","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":753,"numTeachers":50,"percentFrplEligible":94,"percentAsian":0,"percentBlack":1,"percentWhite":0,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":97,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","gradesServed":"6 - 8","studentTeacherRatio":"15.1:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":true,"metroType":"URBAN","ncesMetroType":"CITY_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":57.1,"schoolId":97534,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Irene Hernandez Middle School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Irene Hernandez Middle School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/illinois/chicago-public-school-district-299/irene-hernandez-middle-school/97534"}