{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Sidney Middle School","outOfStateSupporters":50.0,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":9282054,"projectId":10019950,"letterContent":"Thank you for supporting my 8th grade ELA classroom and helping make learning engaging, meaningful, and memorable for my students. Your generosity allowed me to use the board game Clue as an interactive way to teach one of the most important skills my students need as readers and writers: using text evidence to support their thinking.\r\n\r\nIn my classroom, reading is much more than simply reading the words on a page. I want my students to become active readers, thoughtful questioners, and evidence-based thinkers. Students learn to annotate, make inferences, identify important details, analyze characters and events, ask questions, and return to the text to support their ideas. We frequently discuss the question, \"How do you know?\" because I want students to understand that strong readers can explain not only what they think, but why they think it.\r\n\r\nClue provided the perfect opportunity to make this skill concrete. Students had to examine clues, pay attention to details, make logical inferences, eliminate possibilities, and use evidence to support their conclusions. Instead of simply guessing the solution, students were challenged to think like detectives. They had to explain their reasoning and identify the evidence that led them to their conclusions.\r\n\r\nThrough this project, students practiced several important literacy skills:\r\n\r\nCiting textual evidence to support answers and conclusions\r\nMaking inferences based on specific details\r\nAnalyzing information and determining what details were most important\r\nDrawing logical conclusions from multiple pieces of evidence\r\nExplaining their reasoning clearly and effectively\r\nListening to and evaluating the ideas of others\r\nAsking thoughtful questions\r\nDistinguishing between a guess and a conclusion supported by evidence\r\nRevising their thinking when new evidence was introduced\r\n\r\nWhat made this project especially powerful was the level of student engagement. Students were excited to play Clue, but they quickly discovered that they were doing much more than playing a game. They were reading clues closely, discussing possibilities, defending their thinking, and searching for evidence. Students who sometimes hesitate to participate in traditional reading activities were eager to share their theories and explain their reasoning.\r\n\r\nThe project also helped students see that evidence matters beyond an ELA assignment. When students made a claim, their classmates naturally asked questions such as, \"What makes you think that?\" or \"Which clue proves that?\" Those conversations reinforced the idea that good thinking requires support.\r\n\r\nMost importantly, students experienced reading and critical thinking as something they could enjoy. The excitement of solving a mystery gave students an authentic reason to pay close attention to details and use evidence. They were engaged, collaborative, curious, and willing to take risks with their thinking.\r\n\r\nThank you for investing in my students and helping me create opportunities where learning is both rigorous and fun. Because of your support, my students were able to strengthen an essential reading skill while experiencing the satisfaction of solving problems, defending their ideas, and thinking like detectives.\r\n\r\nYour generosity reminds my students that their learning matters—and that reading can be an adventure.\r\n\r\nWith gratitude,","fullyFundedDate":1777991453683,"projectUrl":"project/whodunit-with-proof/10019950/","projectTitle":"Whodunit With Proof","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Damm","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-8_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/9282054"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_78678","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":294,"numTeachers":21,"percentFrplEligible":35,"percentAsian":1,"percentBlack":0,"percentWhite":79,"percentIndigenous":2,"percentLatinx":12,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":3,"gradesServed":"6 - 8","studentTeacherRatio":"14.0:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":false,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"TOWN","ncesMetroType":"TOWN_REMOTE"},"inStateSupporters":50.0,"schoolId":78678,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Sidney Middle School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Sidney Middle School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/montana/sidney-school-district-5-1/sidney-middle-school/78678"}