We have been enjoying the astronomy materials quite a bit over the last month. The Sunspotter Telescopes have transformed the solar system portion of science for my students. Each day, they ask if they can analyze solar processes and features by using the materials!
We set the Sunspotters up, open up our lab notebooks, and track solar features. My students exclaim each time they note a solar flare or sunspot. It is really powerful when they are able to track changes over a period of time. This truly brings dynamic solar processes to life for middle school students.
We are now moving into extending our learning to other stars. My students will have a firm foundation of knowledge of our own star and will soon hypothesize about other stars. Thank you so much!”
Thank you so much for your generosity! This project, ""Help us Celebrate the Many Heritage Months" , has allowed me to celebrate Hispanic, Native American, Black and Asian-Pacific Heritage Months this year at my school. I am an elementary school counselor for grades K – 8 in a high needs community. Our students come to us with such great potential but staggering needs, as many are homeless. This project will help to bridge gaps that may allow these students to rise above seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The program materials will be housed in the Culture&Heritage Library that I have created so that the materials you provided us with will be used not only for this initiative but also into the future by the entire school so future students can benefit from your generosity. I especially appreciate the materials you have helped to provide. As a new counselor it can be difficult to find ways to provide materials for your students.
Also I am so sorry for the lateness of thank you letters, my students attempted to make you all origami swans as a thank you- I hope you like them.
Your assistance has been invaluable to me during this process. Again, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate your generosity. ”
My classroom is located in a large urban district in California. We have nine students, all with a diagnosis of autism. My students come from very diverse backgrounds; there are eight home languages spoken among the nine students! All of my students are receiving behaviorally-based early intervention that will help them succeed in academics and social skills.
Every year the mix of students is a bit different. This year I have students who are very active and enjoy running and jumping. Unfortunately, we don't have a play structure. Our play yard is simple asphalt, and not much fun for small children. Rainy days are even worse, because we're stuck in the classroom. I used these mats to set up two gross motor areas for my students. They have a safe place to run and jump and play with each other, and a safe place to jump on a trampoline. Many of them really love this, and it gives them a great opportunity to get some of their wiggles out!
Social skills are often difficult for children with autism. Having these gross motor areas in the classroom gives them a great space to engage with each other socially. It's been great watching their social skills develop as they interact with each other during this gross motor play.
It makes a huge difference for my students to have a place to run and jump. Even though we don't have a play yard that is safe or appropriate, they still get a great chance to run and play! It means so much to me, my students, and their families that you have donated to our classroom so we can have these wonderful spaces. ”
Thank you so much for your generous donation. Our students are thrilled with the result. As you can see from the photos, our activity has been a great success. The fifth grade class set up stations in an unused classroom. Our six stations included 1) food chains - the swimming pool was used to show predators, prey and how living things find food. 2) life cycles - we had two puzzles at station 2 and a cut and paste project at station three showing the life cycles for frogs and butterflies, 3) station 4 was our painting station, students painted the life cycles of one of animals we discussed, 4) station 5 was our fossil/classification station - students sifted through sand and placed what they found into groups, 5) our final station was a reading table - our fifth graders helped read stories about animals.
Both the older and younger children were impacted with this project. The younger children enjoyed the attention and were introduced to important concepts they will study later on. The older children had the opportunity to design and implement lessons. As you know, we remember 90% of what we teach and this was a time of learning for all children involved.
After each group (and we did the entire pre-school - first grade) we had a "debriefing". One student was selected to facilitate and another was chosen to write. The children discussed what went well, what required improvement and what we could do in the future to make our project better and more effective. The teachers and children involved in this project enjoyed themselves as they learned and, hopefully, developed positive attitudes toward both school and science. Thanks!
Thank you for all of your contribution and support. The student's are having a ball in the "Kidz Greenroom Library. The specimens, slides, books, laptop, microscope and posters have turned our library into a world class hands-on learning experience. This environment has encourage our students and excited their imaginations.
The student's in one class room did a lesson on insects; the insects and spiders were incorporated as visual aides. The students had a wonderful time discussing while handling the specimens. They were amazed by the physical makeup of the spiders and insects. They were able to compare and contrast anatomical characteristics of each group. Some of the girls were squeamish about holding the spiders, but after a little coaxing and explaining that the specimens were dead and in cased in glass, the got over their fears. The students will always remember this lesson because of the specimens you guys graciously gave them. The library is being used by all classes in the school; The library is an addition to the school that was really needed and the students and staff cherish.
One of our students in the upper grade said "I didn't even know we had this many books!" Our student council was amazed by the slides showing plant cells, using the microscope. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity as it has enabled us to construct our first fully functioning library.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Rhodes
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney's Planet Challenge and 9 other donors.
Thanks to your generous donations to my classroom my students have become more engaged and excited about their lessons. I am overwhelmed by how generous everyone who has donated is, and I greatly appreciate your donations.
My students have used many of the materials that arrived already. My third graders were studying plants and their life cycles. We began by germinating our been seeds and discovering that there are tiny plants inside of every seed. After the germination we used the soil and planters to plant our seeds in the soil and observe and record its growth. They students were very excited about the entire process. They took them home just before Christmas.
The rest of my students will be using the materials this spring. We will germinate and grow plants so that we can start an indoor garden. I have great hopes that we will be able to grow enough to start a small farm market in the school. We will use the grown produce to donate to a local food shelter. Some of the plants the students can later take home and show their parents and grow their own gardens indoor or on their patio.
Again I can not express enough the impact you have had on my classroom and my students. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. S.
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney's Planet Challenge and 6 other donors.
Since receiving the science activity tubs and themed libraries for Strengthen Science and Literacy Skills, Part 2 of 2, my students have been more enthusiastic and eager for science time. After receiving the first set of activity tubs and libraries and studying some of those themes, they were anxious to study more and now we have four more themed units to help guide our science instruction.
Students are asking about topics to research and looking for books on those topics and, now, because of your donations, I have those books to offer them immediately. As they read, examine the fabulous photographs and illustrations, or learn new fact, I hear them exclaim,"Look what I found!" and, "I didn't know that!" It's music to my ears to see them enjoy reading and enjoy science inquiries.Thank you for your support. You have permitted me to provide materials and experiences that would have otherwise been beyond our reach financially. ”
I want to thank everyone who helped to make this class possible. Nutrition is a new elective at our school, which has turned out to be a wonderful class. Thanks to all the supplies we received my students were able to complete many hands-on labs. They began by using the chemical tests to test for nutrients. They then explored the nature of oils and antacids. The posters and charts helped me create a nutrition environment in our classroom. The nutritionist food models were eye openers for both my students and me. Seeing the true size of recommended portions compared to what we are use to being served or eating was very valuable. Relying on just textbooks and handouts, regardless of their quality, can never take the place of hands-on authentic experiences. Thank you once again for your support in our quest to provide meaningful science experiences for our students.
I hope you all have had an excellent winter break and I am writing this letter to you to give you all an update on how my students have been benefiting from your generous gifts. First of all, the projector is a God send! Students have been able to watch videos on climate, a DVD on the abolishing of the Slave Trade, and power points ranging from how climate impacts history to the Compromise of 1850! All in all, its been a much more visually appealing classroom!
Also, students have given presentations on causes of the Civil War, and we will gear up for next semester's power point presentations on their families stories on immigration and what pull and push factors lead to their immigration to the United States.
The printer has been helpful for the students to print out their Tall Tales and now we have a classroom full of student writing and we have donated a copy of our Tall Tale collections to our school's library!
Photos will be up soon showing their excellent work! Without you all, this would not have been possible. So thank you again for making this year a memorable year for all of my students.”
I wish to thank you for the calculators you have donated to our school. As you may be aware, schools are facing very difficult financial strains and we do not have sufficient budget to purchase calculators.
They have been useful in preparing our urban students for the Michigan Merit Exam and they will be used to take the exam in March. These calculators provide all the functionality students require to be successful on this high stakes test.
Again, our thanks go out to you for this generous donation. ”
With gratitude,
Mr. Ciampa
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