Christopher Doll's Murray the Mustache Giving Page

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I just wanted to thank you all for your generous donations that were given to fund this project. My students love the Math and Language Learning Games. They are students that have special needs and one of those needs is for communication. With these games their vocabulary is growing and they are allowed opportunities for repeated "fun" practice with building their language skills.

The students are also enjoying the Slide and Count Simple Addition Center. The hands-on and visual experience has allowed them to grasp the concepts of addition.

With you donations, you were able to enrich the lives of my students.

Thanks so much from ALL of us!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Smith

Thank you all very much for your financial contribution and ongoing support of my classroom. For those of you who are returning donors, you'll notice how my classroom has changed! The projects you supported made those bean bags and library books possible!

Although the original intention of the bean bag chairs was derailed--we were planning to create a Literacy Lounge--I am fortunate to teach a Modern Poetry class this year. As the student letters (will) indicate, the bean bags help us all relax, find a comfortable space, and really get into the writing zone.

Again, thank you all very much for your generous and heartfelt support of learning, community, and engagement. My students and I are very grateful.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Blackmore

Thank you so much for your generous gift to our students. The materials we received provided many opportunities and a variety of activities to encourage healthy active participation. We started with simple activities and were able to advance to more complex tasks with the use of the flags and hula hoops.

Because we did not have to reserve equipment, we (students and teachers) were able to plan different activities for each day of the week. Their favorite game was Capture the Flag. Students were separated into two teams, sometimes male and females, other times randomly. The object of the game was to enter the opposing team's area and capture the flag without your flag being taken and subsequently sent to 'jail'. The game required strategy to maneuver through 'enemy territory'. During the initial games, everyone wanted to be the hero and capture the flag, but they were also caught and jailed. With very little prompting from the referees (teachers), they learned to 'huddle' before the beginning of the game and create a game plan.

It was interesting to note how students who seemed to avoid each other during the school day worked together, during their healthy active period, for a common cause. At the end of the year, we noticed less friction and more positive interaction among students, especially the few we initially identified as bullies. I love what I was observing, the students were actively engaged, learned how to work together, whether at play or during class time, and by the end of the year, the complaining about 'movement' had minimized.

Thank you so much for your support; without the equipment, planning structured physical activities for our students would have hinged upon obtaining equipment. Your donations removed that obstacle; our students became a part of the activity planning process and as a result we had Happier, Healthier, Active Children this school year. We are eagerly anticipating the new school year, our new group and beginning our healthy activities the first day our students enter our classrooms. Thank you again for your kindness and generous support of our children. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Robinson

Dear Donor,

Thank you for your donation of the book bins, personal book boxes, and the display stands. My students will now easily be able to go "book shopping" to fill their "Book Bins". (Plastic bins that they keep five books in at their desk.) My students used to say, "I can't find a book I want to read!" Now they are able to find books in bins that are well organized and not falling apart.

Your donation provided us with new sturdy bins that have helped my students find books in our classroom easily. The books are no longer being housed in cracked bins that were dangerous for little fingers! The student's personal book boxes that were cracked will be able to be replaced thanks to your generous donation. They and I, can't thank you enough!

By providing our class with book bins and personal book boxes, and two classroom display bookstands, you have helped organize our classroom library. You have also helped my students find a love of reading again! Thank you for helping us complete our "Mission: Organization"!

”

With gratitude,

Mrs. E.

I would like to thank you for the tremendous contribution you have made to my current and future students. You enable us to engage in a daily routine where groups of students rotate to the listening center, then respond to the literature after listening / reading the book at the center. All of my students look forward to this routine, and inquire about it every morning to ensure they will get their listening center time. They have remained engaged in this routine through the year, and have gained exposure to a wide variety of literature.

I am extremely thankful for your kindness, and your support for inner-city public school classrooms like mine.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Arafin

Thank you so much for providing take home readers for my classroom! The students loved them and we were able to use them for even more than take home readers! We received so many great books that we were also able to utilize them during our silent reading time. I was able to color code the books according to their reading level and place them in corresponding crates. Each student was assigned a color (which also happened to be the color of their reading workshop groups). They then knew what books were at their level and each day chose their own books to read. They loved the books because there were not only fiction books, like most books are on a first grade level, but there were also some great non fiction books as well! The students had a great time and they were also able to pick from these crates for their take home readers as well. Parents even commented that they liked the new books because their kids were much more excited to read the new attractive materials. As a result, kids began to read at home again and were even able to track their improvements by when they were able to move up to the next color, or level of books. Thank you so much for renewing the excitement of reading in our classroom. I hope you realize the impact that you have just made for 19 six and seven year Olds in my classroom. ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Secor

Thank you SO much for your generous gifts of math books (as well as an accompanying teacher manual) to my classroom. I have taught for six years, and I have never had a class that is so enthusiastic about math. It makes me smile when I hear kids say things like, "Math is awesome!" and "I love math!" in class (seriously, they do!).

I think a big part of keeping them interested in motivated has to do with keeping things fun in the classroom. When I received your books, I showed the class and they were very excited. I immediately had to label them, because they wanted to check them out of the class library that very moment!

Recently I read one of the books as part of our geometry unit. The kids loved doing the fun activities with manipulatives that followed the reading of the book. One girl -- a girl who actually is different from most of the class in that she does NOT normally enjoy math much -- seemed to change before my eyes. She was much more engaged and interested. When I mentioned it later, she said she liked that we were doing "reading" at the same time as math.

I hope you realize what a great difference you are making. With a rough economy and ever-diminishing school funds, these kinds of things that could never come from our school budget. Your generosity has made it possible. Thank you for helping make math fun for my students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Stokes

We can't tell you how grateful we are for your monetary support to our project! We are honored by your commitment to our students and their future. Your contribution will make a difference in their approach to learning a foreign language; and of course, the kids will love using our new listening center. Please know that this tool that you have funded will help bring to life Foreign Language education to each and every one of my students. With the new listening center you have donated my students will be able to enhance their listening comprehension and pronunciation of the French language. Through our listening center, students will be able to connect grammar and sentence structure with speaking and listening, therefore, bringing language to life. Once again, thank you for supporting our project and believing in the power of languages.

”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Caraballo

It's impossible to express how much your donation has meant to myself and my students. As soon as I found out that this project had been funded, I felt as though a huge burden had been lifted - I knew that any kid who wanted to go on the trip would be able to, no matter what their financial situation. From there it was just a matter of letting parents know that we could help them. Soon we had our bus full of students, teachers and chaperones, and we were ready to go!

The trip to Chicago was unbelievable. We stopped half way there to take a ride on the Dell's Ducks, to tour the area of Wisconsin Dells on an amphibious vehicle and get a lesson on the area's history and natural history. We stopped in the Dells again on the way home and played mini-golf, which was a great finale to the trip.

While we were in Chicago we were so busy, filling the days with visits to the House of Blues, Lincoln Park Zoo, Millenium Park, the Magnificent Mile, Adler Planetarium, Navy Pier, Chinatown, and the Willis Tower. We ate at famous Chicago landmarks like Giordano's Pizza and Portillos Hot Dogs, and the Rock and Roll McDonalds. We took an architectural boat tour and a Haunted Chicago bus tour.

That list of places makes it seem like the trip was a whirlwind, and actually, it was! But we were able to spend time learning about many things that makes Chicago the amazing place that it is, and the kids were really engaged the entire time.

The best part of the trip for me was knowing that for the majority of the students, this was something that they could not have done on their own. Everyone was so well behaved, so focused on absorbing the culture and having the best experience that they could. It was such a great finale to a wonderful year, and I thank you so much for your part in making it possible!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Kobilka