{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Creative Montessori Academy","outOfStateSupporters":25.4,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":10353667,"projectId":9903920,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for supporting our classroom project focused on games and activities that help build friendships and strengthen social skills. Your generosity is creating opportunities for students to connect, communicate, and build positive relationships with one another.\r\n\r\nThese activities will help students feel included, supported, and confident as they learn the importance of teamwork, kindness, and empathy. The experiences you've made possible will have a lasting impact on our classroom community by helping students develop meaningful friendships and a stronger sense of belonging.\r\n\r\nThank you for investing not only in educational resources, but also in the emotional growth and well-being of our students. Your kindness and support truly make a difference.","fullyFundedDate":1769177321279,"projectUrl":"project/building-friendships-through-play/9903920/","projectTitle":"Building Friendships Through Play","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Dominique","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-4_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10353667"},{"teacherId":9338531,"projectId":9880869,"letterContent":"Thank you for finding my building for calm bodies project. The kids are loving the new legos, magnatiles, and all the other new building items. Each morning I have about 15 kids that do a morning check in, reset, and start their day in a quiet space. Having the building items allows them to focus on something other then the chaos of life and the anxiety that school brings for some kids. They use my office as their quiet space and focus on using their hands to build which helps to engage they vagus nerve resetting their nervous systems. \r\n\r\nI have also used the building blocks during my small group instructions focused on peer interaction. Having something to work on together like building allows kids to naturally have conversations with their peers and learn how to work as a team to create a project like a Lego creation. I look forward to continue watching my students grow though mindfulness and learning to o calm their bodies while building.","fullyFundedDate":1769177324036,"projectUrl":"project/building-for-calm-bodies/9880869/","projectTitle":"Building for Calm Bodies","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Lindsay","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9338531_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1726400651531","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9338531"},{"teacherId":9266983,"projectId":9792859,"letterContent":"The littles in my classroom have been able to enjoy listening to literature in the provided listening center. They have begun to explore folktales such as Little Red Riding Hood. The students have gained independence by learning to chose a cd of their choice and pressing play to hear the story. The listening center is a busy hub within my classroom. The students enjoy getting to share stories with friends.\r\n Another use of our listening center is having the students record themselves reading. This will help the students work on fluency and reading rate. It will be fun to hear how they are able to grow in their reading across the months of kindergarten.\r\n Some students like to act out the stories as they are following along in the books which creates an interest in literature. Our listening center will be enjoyed by many classes.","fullyFundedDate":1760693721889,"projectUrl":"project/reading-in-our-listening-center/9792859/","projectTitle":"Reading in Our Listening Center","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Bryson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9266983_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1729287495889","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9266983"},{"teacherId":9266983,"projectId":9539560,"letterContent":"Our students are able to manipulate objects which support their learning their numbers. At this time they enjoy quizzing each other on the numbers to 100 using the puzzles and matching cards.\r\n I have noticed an improvement of their number mastery with the repetitive traction the new materials provide. We are well in our way to grasping our numbers to 100. Thank you for helping us achieve our goal. By using the shared materials we are also improving our social skills such as taking turns and sharing.","fullyFundedDate":1757423314191,"projectUrl":"project/counting-on-a-great-year/9539560/","projectTitle":"Counting on a Great Year!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Bryson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9266983_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1729287495889","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9266983"},{"teacherId":9709847,"projectId":9243795,"letterContent":"Since I have started teaching four years ago (and even prior through non-classroom positions), I have found it difficult to get students to sit, settle, and engage in books. I have tried different systems, competitions, and even downright begging for students to just read. No assignment attached, no reading logs, and in reverse having accountability in completing questions and parents signing off on minutes read outside of the classroom. I was desperate to show my class that reading does not have to be a chore, to show the doors that it can open, but nothing was working. Until the deliveries of books came...\r\n\r\nLooping with my students, getting to know them, and with the barest minimum of sleuthing, I was able to create a list of more relatable or \"cool\" books that the class was talking about and submitted my first project on Donors Choose. When I started to unpack the books from the boxes, I just about had to fend off a horde of students as they were trying to grab the new books. I have never seen them act this way over a physical book before. I knew I still needed to scan them into our library system and get them on our classroom shelves before the students were really able to starting reading them, but that did not stop the students from creating their own sign out / wait list for the books! I was in absolute shock.\r\n\r\nReceiving the books at the end of the summer was able to give me time to get the books proceeded and put out just in time for summer school, where I was teaching our 6th and 7th graders (soon to be 7th and 8th graders) for the entire month of July. Some of these students were my own and some I was meeting for the first time. On the very first day of our summer session, my students were already asking about checking out some of the books. And was I so ready to let them. In their free moments, I caught even the new students checking out the newly set up library, selecting a book, and going off to a corner of the classroom to read. Even now, over a month into the new school year, I have these middle school students coming into my room asking to check out the next book in their series, or starting a new one.\r\n\r\nStarting off the new school year with my own students, I was slightly nervous on if the new incoming students would like the books just as much as my returning students. Every year, I do a \"Book Tasting\" event to help students find genres and texts they may like to read, while exposing them to books them might not have selected themselves for whichever reasons. This was the perfect activity to debut these beautiful books. As I previously stated, I loop with my class for 2-3 years, so some of my students are aware of this kick-off event, but I also know how painful it was to spark their enthusiasm in participating. \r\n\r\nI had one particular student, one who has had a past of struggling to read even some of the most beginning of chapter books or wouldn't even attempt at fake reading, actually select (and have now completed) 3 100+ paged books. Every Tuesday and Friday during are scheduled silent, independent reading time, I would see this student RUSH to go grab his book to read. Even had his aunt messaging me asking for the book title to look up similar books to buy him for his birthday.\r\n\r\nThis is the very thing I wanted to accomplish these past few years. I true love and enjoyment of reading. While I still have to poke at some students to make sure they have their book or give them a look during silent reading because they are goofing off (we are still searching for their perfect fit), I cannot stress how much of a different mood my students have towards reading. This has not only reflected in their independent reading, but in their class work as well. I don't have a chorus of groans when we start new stories for closed-reading, or when the receive a reading assignment for social studies. \r\n\r\nAll the long rambling is to say, I don't think I could truly express my thanks for this incredibly generous donations. It has sparked a new generation of readers in my classroom and I cannot wait to continue to grow this flame.","fullyFundedDate":1746463094159,"projectUrl":"project/pages-for-progress-promoting-diversity/9243795/","projectTitle":"Pages for Progress: Promoting Diversity and Mental Health","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Samantha","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9709847_orig.jpg?crop=2328,2328,x72,y208&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1737240045667","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9709847"},{"teacherId":9266983,"projectId":9187711,"letterContent":"My students are loving the hands on letter activities. The well made wooden puzzles allows them to feel in 3d the shape of each letter. This added support helps them identify the differences between a d and a b. They are gaining strength in all areas of their decoding skills. I look forward to continuing their reading journey supported by your generous donation.\r\n We also are using our listening tubes to sound out cvc words. This allows the students to practice on their own their decoding skills.","fullyFundedDate":1746672510231,"projectUrl":"project/crack-the-code/9187711/","projectTitle":"Crack the Code!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Bryson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9266983_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1729287495889","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9266983"},{"teacherId":9990713,"projectId":9227048,"letterContent":"Thank you for your support. This project has been so fun and rewarding for my students. We saw a need for our school restrooms to be better. There was a huge issue with students destroying the restrooms. Each day new inappropriate words and drawings were happening on the stalls. The restroom would be closed for cleaning many times throughout the day, making it inconvenient for those that know/knew how to use the restroom appropriately. My class saw this an opportunity to make a change and try to help the current problem. They believed that if they made the restrooms a bit more beautiful and fun that maybe some of the negative behaviors would stop. \r\nWe got right to work coming up with designs and working hard on making them come to life. All the hard work seemed to have paid off because the writing on the stalls has become very minimal and the students were so excited that so many people complimented their idea and project. We hope to continue adding paintings in other restrooms throughout the school this year. Again THANK YOU for your support. They could not have completed this without the help of you!","fullyFundedDate":1744483600959,"projectUrl":"project/school-bathroom-murals/9227048/","projectTitle":"School Bathroom Murals","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Kristen","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-7_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9990713"},{"teacherId":9338531,"projectId":9293465,"letterContent":"This project went funding snacks for our care closet. The care closet was created by a kindergarten classroom as their project based learning two years ago. This year we expended to keeping a full stack of uniforms, snacks, hygiene, and so much more. These snacks are used daily for kids that forget a snack, parents cannot afford snacks, homeless youth, and sometimes even to help reduce behaviors. Since receiving the snacks we have worked our way through most of them and I'm so grateful we have been able to help our hungry kids.","fullyFundedDate":1746786144167,"projectUrl":"project/snacking-through-our-care-closet/9293465/","projectTitle":"Snacking Through Our Care Closet","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Lindsay","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9338531_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1726400651531","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9338531"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_44510","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":759,"numTeachers":36,"percentFrplEligible":85,"percentAsian":3,"percentBlack":30,"percentWhite":38,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":21,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":6,"gradesServed":"K - 8","studentTeacherRatio":"21.1:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":true,"metroType":"SUBURBAN","ncesMetroType":"SUBURB_LARGE"},"inStateSupporters":74.6,"schoolId":44510,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Creative Montessori Academy on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Creative Montessori Academy","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/michigan/-county-run-/creative-montessori-academy/44510"}