{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Tongue River Elementary School","outOfStateSupporters":40.0,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":3305985,"projectId":10248605,"letterContent":"Card shufflers have a surprisingly positive impact in kindergarten classrooms, especially for quick-paced, repetitive math or literacy games. Efficiency and engagement: They allow teachers or small groups to shuffle a deck (numbers, shapes, sight words, etc.) in seconds instead of minutes. This keeps math games (like matching, war, or sequencing) moving fast so kindergarteners stay focused and excited rather than waiting and getting distracted. \r\nFairness and social skills: Automatic shufflers reduce arguments about \"who shuffled unfairly\" and model impartiality. Kids learn patience while waiting for their turn to press the button or receive cards. \r\nTurn-taking and routines: Following the steps (load cards → press button → deal) reinforces classroom routines and executive function skills. \r\nMotor and cognitive benefits: Even with an automatic shuffler, handling and sorting the cards afterward builds fine motor control and one-to-one correspondence.\r\n\r\nOverall, they make games smoother and more equitable, turning potential frustration into joyful, repeated practice of math concepts. Play-Doh is one of the most valuable tools in kindergarten for holistic development: Fine motor strength and dexterity: Kneading, rolling, pinching, and cutting strengthen the small muscles in hands and fingers, directly preparing kids for writing. \r\nCreativity and imagination: Open-ended play encourages storytelling, problem-solving, and artistic expression. \r\nSensory and calming benefits: The tactile experience helps regulate emotions and focus, making it great for transitions or for students who need sensory input. \r\nMath and literacy integration: Teachers use it for forming letters/numbers, making 3D shapes, counting balls of dough, or acting out stories. \r\nSocial skills: Sharing tools, collaborating on creations, and cleaning up together build cooperation and responsibility.\r\n\r\nPlay-Doh is low-pressure, high-reward, and supports almost every area of early childhood development. Shrinky Dink paper (the plastic sheets that shrink when baked) creates magical, high-engagement crafts with strong learning value: Following directions and sequencing: Kids draw/color, cut, punch holes, then watch the adult bake them—teaching patience, cause-and-effect, and multi-step processes. \r\nFine motor skills: Cutting along lines and coloring small details build precision. \r\nMath connections: Measuring before/after shrinking demonstrates size, scale, and transformation. Many teachers link it to geometry or fractions. \r\nPride and motivation: The dramatic shrinking creates a \"wow\" moment that boosts confidence and makes kids eager to complete their work carefully. \r\nPersonalization: Keychains, ornaments, or game pieces become meaningful takeaways that connect home and school.\r\n\r\nIt turns a simple drawing into a memorable science + art experience. Magnetic base ten place value sets (rods, units, flats, and cubes that stick to whiteboards or trays) are excellent for making abstract math concrete: Hands-on place value understanding: Kindergartners physically build and trade ones for tens, tens for hundreds—making the foundation of our number system visible and tangible. \r\nVisual and kinesthetic learning: Magnets keep pieces organized and allow easy demonstration on the board for whole-group lessons. \r\nOperations and problem-solving: Kids can add, subtract, group, and decompose numbers with immediate feedback. \r\nDifferentiation: Struggling learners get extra support while advanced kids explore bigger numbers or patterns. \r\nCollaboration: Group work with the set naturally encourages discussion of strategies and peer teaching.\r\n\r\nThese tools help move kindergarteners from counting by ones to true number sense, which is critical for later math success. Together, these materials support academic skills (math, literacy, science), executive function (turn-taking, following steps, focus), fine motor development, creativity, and social-emotional growth. They keep learning playful while building the foundational abilities kindergarteners need. \r\n\r\nThank you, as always, for your continuous support in my Kindergarten classroom. You truly make my job fun.","fullyFundedDate":1777986204058,"projectUrl":"project/kindergarten-essentials/10248605/","projectTitle":"Kindergarten Essentials","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Woodward","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/3305985"},{"teacherId":10432470,"projectId":10132655,"letterContent":"Your generosity in purchasing a class set of novels for our 5th graders has made a meaningful and lasting impact on student learning—thank you.\r\n\r\nBecause of your support, every student now has consistent access to the same high-quality text, which allows us to engage in a true novel study experience. Instead of working in fragments or sharing limited resources, students can read, annotate, and revisit the text daily. This has strengthened their comprehension, vocabulary development, and ability to think critically about what they read.\r\n\r\nThe impact on engagement has been especially noticeable. Students feel a sense of ownership and excitement when they each have their own book. They are more invested in discussions, eager to make predictions, and confident in sharing their ideas because they can reference the text directly. Our classroom conversations have become richer and more collaborative as a result.\r\n\r\nThis opportunity has also allowed us to build important literacy skills such as close reading, identifying themes, analyzing characters, and supporting ideas with evidence—skills that are essential for their continued success in middle school and beyond.","fullyFundedDate":1773733764458,"projectUrl":"project/flip-the-switch-on-reading-excitement/10132655/","projectTitle":"Flip the Switch on Reading Excitement!","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Olson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp10432470_orig.jpg?crop=273,273,x102,y14&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1770781145399","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10432470"},{"teacherId":10432470,"projectId":10093071,"letterContent":"The use of Apple TV in the classroom has had a clear, positive impact on both student learning and engagement.\r\n\r\nApple TV allows for seamless screen sharing, which makes it easy for teachers and students to instantly display work, model thinking, and share ideas. This immediacy keeps lessons moving efficiently and reduces downtime, helping maximize instructional minutes. \r\n\r\nAdditionally, Apple TV helps foster a more collaborative classroom environment. Students can easily work together, provide feedback, and learn from one another by viewing and discussing shared work. This promotes deeper understanding and strengthens communication skills.\r\n\r\nOverall, Apple TV enhances instruction by making learning more visible, interactive, and student-centered—leading to higher engagement and improved understanding across the classroom.","fullyFundedDate":1770914610683,"projectUrl":"project/small-screens-to-big-dreams-apple-tv-fo/10093071/","projectTitle":"Small Screens to Big Dreams: Apple TV for Student Learning","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Olson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp10432470_orig.jpg?crop=273,273,x102,y14&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1770781145399","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10432470"},{"teacherId":10061459,"projectId":9997024,"letterContent":"Thank you Jim and Angie for the classroom materials that have made a big difference in classroom organization and easy access for my students.\r\nHaving the ipad docs have been a blessing and have provided easy access to all students leaving the frustration of retrieving, returning and recharging their ipads. The students comment weekly on how nice it is to have easy retrieval and returns.\r\n\r\nThe students have also benefited from the privacy folders. They are able to do their assessments and other work privately if they prefer. They are pretty funny when they peak around or above the folders to see me. :). The organization box for task cards also have provided for easy access and organization for students to access materials they need for remediation practice, daily flashcards and toothy cards.\r\n\r\nThe magic erasers and math manipulatives are also a big hit!\r\n\r\nWe are pleased with all of your donations and greatly appreciate ALL you have donated for our class.","fullyFundedDate":1768367460288,"projectUrl":"project/second-grade-supplies-for-efficient-lear/9997024/","projectTitle":"Second Grade Supplies for Efficient Learning","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Simmons","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-10_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/10061459"},{"teacherId":3305985,"projectId":9581616,"letterContent":"In a kindergarten classroom, where young learners aged 5-6 have short attention spans, high energy, and developing language skills, slideshows tailored to social studies (e.g., Native Americans, Presidents, Monarchs) and science curricula (e.g., animals, plants, farms, weather, five senses) serve as powerful visual tools. These digital presentations, often created with tools like Google Slides, incorporate colorful images, simple animations, short videos, and interactive elements. When aligned precisely with curriculum standards, they transform abstract concepts into concrete, relatable experiences. Below, I outline their impacts on engagement and knowledge retention, drawing from educational research and classroom practices.\r\n\r\n1. Boosting Student Engagement Kindergarteners thrive on multisensory input, and slideshows capitalize on this by blending visuals, sound, and interactivity—far surpassing traditional lectures or worksheets. Visual and Interactive Appeal: Bright, high-quality images (e.g., a slideshow on \"Life Cycles\" showing a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly with click-to-reveal animations) capture attention immediately. Studies from the Journal of Educational Psychology show that visual aids increase engagement by 40-60% in early childhood settings compared to text-only methods, as they stimulate curiosity and reduce fidgeting.\r\n\r\nMovement and Participation: Slides can include polls, \"turn-and-talk\" prompts, or simple games (e.g., \"What sound does this animal make?\" with audio clips in a science unit on farm animals). This kinesthetic element encourages whole-class chanting, hand-raising, or group pointing, making passive listening an active experience. In social studies slideshows on \"Community Helpers,\" embedding short role-play videos (e.g., a firefighter demonstration) prompts children to mimic actions, sustaining focus for 15-20 minutes—double the typical kindergarten attention span\r\n\r\n Overall Impact: Engagement rises as slideshows turn lessons into \"mini-adventures,\" reducing behavioral issues and increasing eagerness for repeat viewings.\r\n\r\n2. Improving Knowledge Retention and Understanding Slideshows break down complex curricula into digestible chunks, leveraging dual-coding theory (words + images) to strengthen memory pathways in young brains. Concrete to Abstract Progression: For science topics like \"Weather,\" slides start with real photos (sunny day vs. rainy), progress to simple diagrams (water cycle with arrows), and end with predictions (e.g., \"What clothes for snow?\"). This scaffolding aligns with Piaget's preoperational stage, where children learn best through symbols and examples. \r\n\r\nRepetition and Reinforcement: Built-in reviews (e.g., recap slides with \"What did we learn?\" questions in a social studies unit on \"Columbus\") reinforce key facts. Animations reveal information sequentially, preventing overload—ideal for kindergarteners processing 3-5 new ideas per lesson.\r\n\r\nReal-World Connections: Embedding videos or photos from everyday life (e.g., plant growth time-lapse in a \"Plants Need\" unit) helps children connect curriculum to their world, enhancing long-term retention. A meta-analysis in Review of Educational Research found multimedia tools like slideshows boost knowledge recall by 20-30% over verbal instruction alone in early grades.\r\n\r\n Overall Impact: Students grasp and retain core concepts (e.g., \"producer/consumer\" in social studies or \"solid/liquid\" in science) more deeply, as visuals create memorable mental anchors.\r\n\r\nThank you for supporting the entire Kindergarten teaching team, district-wide, in improving their lesson delivery and engagement with their students.","fullyFundedDate":1756235742576,"projectUrl":"project/student-engagement-through-slide-present/9581616/","projectTitle":"Student Engagement Through Slide Presentations","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Woodward","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-3_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/3305985"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_39524","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":255,"numTeachers":20,"percentFrplEligible":45,"percentAsian":0,"percentBlack":0,"percentWhite":83,"percentIndigenous":5,"percentLatinx":2,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":6,"gradesServed":"K - 5","studentTeacherRatio":"12.8:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"RURAL","ncesMetroType":"RURAL_REMOTE"},"inStateSupporters":60.0,"schoolId":39524,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Tongue River Elementary School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Tongue River Elementary School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/wyoming/sheridan-county-school-district-1/tongue-river-elementary-school/39524"}