Tim Ferriss' Giving Page

Edit title

My students were so excited about the materials you sent. "Finally", they said, "we are doing real science". All I heard about the rockets was that it was the best project they have ever done. Now, I have a whole cabinet full of chemical reaction experiments to demonstrate with and let students manipulate themselves.

We built rockets, we burned chemicals, looked at spectra, and inspired youth. The wonder that was created led us to discover an understanding of atomic structure and the way atoms interact with each other. The explanations for what we saw literally made some of my students jump alive with questions.

Confusion and wonder about the universe was sparked in my students. Their questions were endless and their curiosity was piqued. Many of my students are now talking about science being their favorite subject and it has been extremely successful to use the varied materials in class.

Your donation was the last key factor to make this year successful for my science students. I also still have materials for next year and your gift keeps on giving. Thank you sincerely.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Russitano

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your donation to my Donors Choose project, "Common Core Crazy for Math!" With your donation I was able to obtain valuable hands on resources to use in my Kindergarten classroom to help support the implementation of the Common Core standards for math. My students have been using the resources daily and are becoming excellent problem solvers. Without your help, this would not be possible. They use the materials during center time, Math "MAGIC" stations, and independent exploration. You have helped them to extend and strengthen their understanding of math concepts.

My students were very excited to receive the materials and we began using them right away. They enjoy every time they use the materials. Their learning has definitely been enhanced.

Thank you for recognizing the true value to education and importance of math. My students and I will be forever thankful to you.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Vohs

We absolutely LOVE our new seat sacks! My kindergarten students love having the independence of keeping everything they need right at their fingertips. All of the students are very proud of having their own seat sack. They have done such a great job keeping their supplies nice and neat. They are learning organizational skills and responsibility for their supplies.

The seat sacks have given me more instructional time with students. Before the seat sacks, I had to pass out journals, folders, ABC charts, and even library books. After the lesson, I would have to collect the materials and store them until they were needed again. Now the children have all of their important resources in their seat sack. They can get started with their independent practice as soon as they are ready, and they don't have to ask for extra supplies.

Thank you so much for giving my students seat sacks! You have helped instill pride and responsibility in our learning environment.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Dial

didn'tI cannot thank you ALL enough for your generous donation! There were so many of you who donated to this project it was amazing to see. Thank you to those who "passed the word along" about this project to others.

The first day that we used the TI-89 graphing calculators in the classroom my students were so excited that they didn'€™t have to do "everything"€ by hand any more. Thanks to this donation EVERY student now has a graphing calculator.

The unit that we just finished was on Quadratic Regression. Quadratic regression is an extremely tedious process that my past years of teaching I've had to teach student to do this by hand. The impact being that so much time had to be spent on how to do regression by hand that were never able to get into WHY regression is even used/useful.

Since we had the graphing calculators you donated to us we were able to focus on the analysis of the regression and what it tells us about the real-world problems.

The impact the calculators will have on students when they take their SAT or ACT in the spring is also important. By getting the calculators at the start of the year I’ve had all semester to teach students how to use them. Thus, students have had more time to become familiar with them and are no longer intimidated by them.

Again, I cannot thank you enough for the impact you have had on my students and myself. I am grateful that there are generous people out there helping to make a difference in the education of students you have never even met.”

With gratitude,

Ms. DeVeny

My class of Fifth Graders last year 2012/2013 were so excited to be awarded these wonderful slides and headphones. Due to school getting out in mid June, we weren't able to receive them until this past week. As you know my fifth graders last year are no longer with me, they are now in a new Middle School experience. My new class 2013/2014 will appreciate them just the same. I am excited to unwrap the headphones and get using them as soon as I can. The slides will be put to use in January with the microscopes.

Thank you all for donating your hard earned money to my project. You bring joy to students and teachers with your generosity.

Peace and know everything will be used and used well to improve students education every day.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Walsh

Thank you so much for your generous donations! I appreciate the contributions and my students have benefited greatly. When I opened the packages, the students were so thrilled in receiving the different human structure models. They wanted to touch and play with them immediately. One student said, "I can't believe people will just give money to others, they are so nice." I told them if it's a good cause, why not. Because of the generosity we received, they valued the models so much more and created a positive learning environment.

They enjoyed "Mr. Bones" (the mini size skeletal model) visiting the classroom. He was great to have in the classroom because students are able to actually view the human bones up close and relate it to their own bone structures. When I'm talking about the levers and joints, I can refer to Mr. Bones and they can see the working mechanism behind it. The owl pellets were a great way to introduce the homologous structures to the human bones. They were able to see the similarities each organism contains and how evolution is possible. We had to overcome some hurdles as we dissected the owl pellets. Some of the students did squirm in their seats as they used the dissecting probes to uncover the bone structures. While others dived right in with their bare hands. In the end, everyone completed the task and was satisfied with their discovery and appreciated the experience. The pregnancy, eye and ear models were a great addition to allow the students to have x-ray visions into these areas. They were able to see the position of the fetus and the different parts of the female reproductive system. It also permitted the kids to manipulate the different layers and identify the various structures and explain the functions of the eye and ear.

These models that have been donated to my classroom were excellent tools for assisting students' understanding of the human body, from the structural appearances of the human bones to the different layers of the eyes and ears. My students are visual and tactile learners who need to play and touch the objects. They also understand that these objects are inside their bodies to assist in their everyday living. With that, the models helped them conceptualize that their bodies work in an amazing way to fight off pathogens, transport and distribute molecules to different areas of the body, as well as organs are dependent of one another to function properly. They are able to connect how their bodies functions depend on how well they maintain themselves with proper nutrition, making annual check ups, avoiding drugs that may cause malfunction.

My students and I appreciate the motivating messages and we are thankful for all your donations big or small. It made a big impact in our classroom. Once again, Thank You!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Hoango

I want to sincerely thank you for donating to my project through Donors Choose. I requested a document camera specifically for my Anatomy and Physiology class but I have found it to be very useful in my other classes as well. I received the camera at the beginning of the year but we are only now getting to the dissection portion of class. We have used the camera many times in the past two weeks.

My students have been excited to work under the document camera and demonstrate for the class proper dissection technique and also the identification of various parts of specimens. It is easy to point out a structure and allow each group to confirm that identification on their own specimen. We have used the camera for other purposes as well. Often, we need to draw and label a diagram. It is nice to be able to clearly show a exemplary example for the rest of the class to emulate.

I think having the document camera has increased the rigor of my Anatomy class by ensuring that all students see the same material in the same way. Also, it is easier to answer questions when all students can refer to the same organism.

Thank you again for supporting my classroom. I truly appreciate your generosity.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Murray

I would like to thank you very much for donating to my Math Mania Night For Families project. I teach in a high needs district where there is little parental involvement. This project enabled me to work with a special education teacher of a lifeskill's classroom. These students are well below grade level especially in math. We organized a family math night where the students and their families were provided with opportunities to play math games and participate in activities that would enhance their basic math skills. One of the students worked with her older sister while playing shut the box, a math game that utilizes both math and logic skills. The girls played this game for the longest time and it gave me such pleasure to see the siblings working together and the older one helping the younger one. This is the ultimate goal of my project.. encouraging families to work together on math skills! Families were also given math games and manipulatives to use at home to reinforce math skills. Each family was given a Duo math game that was purchased with your generous donation. They were very excited to be able to have a game of their own.

Another resource that I purchased is a Hip Hoppin 100 board mat. I worked with the students on numbers from 1 to 100 and concepts such as greater than, less than, ten more than, ten less than, etc...The students worked on patterns using the hip hop mat. They could visually see the patterns and then were able to answer questions. The students in the lifeskill's class enjoy activities where they can participate instead of being passive learners.

I would like to thank you again for your support of my project. It has given me great pleasure to be able to provide the students in our lifeskill's class with hands on activities to enhance their math skills. I will continue to use the resources that I purchased with your donation for years to come and plan on continuing to provide Family Math Nights to encourage parents and guardians to become more involved in their child's math education.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Summerfield

Thank you again for your generous donation to my classroom project. The students have begun using the materials and they ask to have Science over and over again! They especially love the discovery tubes. I love to listen to their discussions about why the different liquids move faster or slower.

They also enjoy using the magnifying set. There are different lenses on each one, making objects look a different color or adding an interesting "texture" to the look of the object. The kids love to use them and think about what is going on. And of course they can't get enough of the giant magnifier!

Your thoughtful donation will be enjoyed for years to come.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Fuller