{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Western Elementary School","outOfStateSupporters":20.7,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":8150545,"projectId":10704105,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for investing in our students and helping bring Growing Community: Forests, Farms & Civics to life at Western Elementary!\r\n\r\nIn our small rural Appalachian community, opportunities for hands-on learning and real-world experiences are especially meaningful. Because of your generosity, our students are getting the chance to become Junior Parks and Recreation Commissioners, exploring how their ideas, voices, and creativity can help shape the future of their own community.\r\n\r\nOur students are especially excited about the opportunity to design their own parks and public spaces! Using the building materials, art supplies, and planning resources you provided, they are beginning to think like engineers, conservationists, and community leaders. They are discovering that a park can be so much more than a playground. It can be a place for growing food, protecting pollinators, exploring nature, learning outdoors, and bringing families together.\r\n\r\nOne of the most exciting parts of this project is connecting our STEAM Lab to the natural resources surrounding us. Our mushroom-growing kits will introduce students to forest farming and sustainable agriculture, while our wildflower and milkweed seeds will help them explore the importance of native plants and pollinator habitats. These experiences will give students opportunities to investigate, make observations, ask questions, and see science happening right before their eyes.\r\n\r\nOur next steps are where the real magic happens! Students will work together to develop three-dimensional park models, consider accessibility and community needs, create budgets, and vote on which features they believe would make the greatest impact. With Pike County developing its first Parks and Recreation program, the timing couldn't be better. We hope to give our students an opportunity to share their ideas with community leaders and demonstrate that even our youngest citizens have something valuable to contribute.\r\n\r\nFor many of our students, this may be their first experience realizing that they don't have to wait until they are adults to make a difference.\r\n\r\nYour donation did so much more than purchase classroom supplies. You gave our students the tools to imagine a better future for the place they call home, and the confidence to believe they can help build it.\r\n\r\nThank you for believing in rural public education, investing in our little corner of Appalachia, and reminding our students that their ideas matter. We can't wait to see what they grow, build, and dream up next!\r\n\r\nWith heartfelt appreciation,\r\n\r\nMrs. Buckler \r\nK–6 STEAM & Career Development \r\nWestern Elementary School \r\nLatham, Ohio","fullyFundedDate":1793391397223,"projectUrl":"project/growing-community-forests-farms-civi/10704105/","projectTitle":"Growing Community: Forests, Farms & Civics","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Buckler","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp8150545_orig.jpg?crop=640,640,x0,y53&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1691607272201","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8150545"},{"teacherId":8150545,"projectId":9711579,"letterContent":"Thanks to your generosity, my students are actively using these new resources every day to explore real-world problems through play, creativity, and collaboration. One of our favorite projects so far has been transforming the Wooden Market Stand into a \"community hub.\" Students worked together to design different stations—a medical clinic, a grocery stand, a technology repair shop, and an engineering center. They took on roles such as doctors checking patient charts, engineers designing solutions with blocks and tools, and programmers explaining how technology helps solve everyday problems. Watching them problem-solve, communicate, and adapt their ideas in real time has been incredibly powerful.\r\nWhen the students first saw the materials, their reaction was pure excitement. Eyes lit up, hands shot into the air, and they immediately began asking questions like, \"Can we build our own store?\" and \"Can I be the engineer today?\" They couldn't wait to touch, explore, and imagine what they could create. That initial excitement quickly turned into deep engagement as students began working together, negotiating roles, and taking pride in their ideas.\r\nBecause of your support, our next steps include expanding these dramatic-play experiences into more structured STEAM challenges. Students will be designing solutions to real-life problems, such as creating a market system, building structures that can support weight, and exploring how technology and science connect to everyday jobs in our community. Your donation has not only provided materials—it has opened doors. You've helped my students see themselves as thinkers, creators, and future problem-solvers, and that impact will stay with them far beyond our classroom.","fullyFundedDate":1765809617553,"projectUrl":"project/steam-career-quest-community-helpers-/9711579/","projectTitle":"STEAM Career Quest: Community Helpers & Dramatic Play","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Buckler","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp8150545_orig.jpg?crop=640,640,x0,y53&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1691607272201","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/8150545"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_85423","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":417,"numTeachers":9,"percentFrplEligible":95,"percentAsian":0,"percentBlack":1,"percentWhite":98,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":0,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":0,"gradesServed":"K - 6","studentTeacherRatio":"46.3:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":true,"metroType":"RURAL","ncesMetroType":"RURAL_REMOTE"},"inStateSupporters":79.3,"schoolId":85423,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Western Elementary School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Western Elementary School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/ohio/western-local-school-district/western-elementary/85423"}