Dan Strachota's Mustache

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I cannot fully express my excitement and thanks for your generous donations to our project. It is wonderful to see that you share my vision for the musical education of our children.

Through traditional West African drumming ensembles, students not only learn to perform traditional polyrhythmic music, but also about honor, respect, self-discipline, motivation, communication, listening, focus, balance, teamwork and cooperation. Some of the rhythms/songs we are working on include Welcome Songs such as "Funga Alafia," Harvest Songs such as "KuKu," and Ceremonial songs such as "Sinte." According to the Bamana people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes directly from the saying "Anke dje, anke be" which literally translates to "everyone gather together" and thus defines the drum's purpose. With two more drums, more students will be able to play together. While listening and watching is a great way to learn, more drums means more effective instructional time. This has an immediate impact on student achievement as students are more motivated and learn better with an actual drum in front of them. While playing the rhythms of the traditional West African djembe ensemble students students also learn about the background and culture of each song, which is equally as important. Students make geographical, historical, and social connections through studying this music. I am honored that you chose my project as the recipient of you kindness. Thank you once again.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Champion

Thank you so much for caring! Seriously! 

You should see the absorbed expressions of the students as they play jazz and blues on these instruments. Arts education is about understanding, -and expressing that understanding- in minds fully connected to bodies. When the students can discipline their hands to play along in an ensemble on a real instrument, can see the layout of the notes so clearly on these xylophone instruments, can hear and enjoy a clear and beautiful sound, they really understand the power of playing together in an ensemble. 

We featured these beautiful instruments in our spring concerts, and had students doing jazz solos on them: the perfect metaphor for life in community.

In this time of budget cuts, we're back to the days of community schooling, in that we ourselves have to organize and fund our children's education.    

Thank you for your enthusiastic support. ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Willner

I hope you donors know how much this donation has impacted my students and their ability to learn important organizational skills in conjunction with an opportunity to write their feelings in a safe, personal and protected place.

These journals have provided a wonderful opportunity for my students to connect the content of the curriculum with their personal feelings and experience; an impacting and meaningful way to learn. The students have also learned how to organize their notes and journals in a way that makes learning accessible and easier to access. These are all important features that the students will need to know as they enter the professional world and college.

Thank you again for your help and your donations. Your kindness has truly changed and touched many hearts. ”

With gratitude,

Mr. N.

Thank you very much for the white board that you donated to our classroom! We have been able to use the board every morning in order to write our morning message. The students are able to reach the board, so they practice spelling, sight words, and other phonics activities.

When the students heard that they had received such a wonderful gift, they were very excited! They love that they have a board "like the big kids" because "our board was so hard to use." Thank you for being so generous, and making our learning so much easier!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Muniz

Thank you for your generous donations. Many days we read from The Lightning Thief, and while we were unable to finish the book due to time restrictions, it lead to many in depth discussions about learning disabilities, Greek mythology, and even alcoholism. How does a centaur use the restroom anyway? There's nothing greater than watching young people get ready to read. One of my students would never forget, "Can I pass out the red things?" (The Disk O' Sits)

My only regret is that I could not provide you all with more pictures, as it was certainly quite a sight. I work with a challenging population, and despite resorting to bribery, I was unable to secure many permission slips for photos. Thank you for everything!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Miller

Thank you so much for your very generous donation towards our trip to MOSAIC Peace Camp. Our students learned so much and had the time of their lives at camp. They made new friends, learned new skills (all in a beautiful outdoor setting) and came home with amazing stories and memories that will last them a lifetime.

As witnessed in the photographs, our students spent their time at camp building community with new friends, learning new skills, reflecting, and singing together! They opened their hearts and minds to learn new things and about new people, and in the process, they came away with new ways to deal with conflict, aggression, and how to work as a team.

Since coming home from camp, several teachers have overheard students using healthy productive language to resolve their problems and talk about positive ways of being with each other - something we very much needed.

Without your support, this would not have been possible. Educators are struggling to bring resources and materials that are beyond the basics to our classrooms, and this is an experience that is invaluable to the students at our public school.

Thank you each from the bottom of my heart!”

With gratitude,

Ms. GUERRA

Thank you so much for your generous donation to our classroom! We love the cameras and the students are having a great time taking photographs all over the city. We've taken the cameras on community mapping trips, newspaper interviews and performances - I've posted examples on our donor's choose website.

With funding being limited, especially for the arts, it's wonderful to have support from people like you to continue to build a rigorous and creative program. Our newspaper staff will value tremendously the investment you've made in them.

Thank you very much!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Larkin

I can't thank you enough for donating enough to buy my classroom a projector. Your donation opened up a world of new possibilities for my instructional ability - I can now project my document camera's feed onto the whiteboard of my classroom, showing the students what they are supposed to be doing and increasing their accountability - they no longer have "I don't know where we are!" as an excuse. I can hook up my computer the projector to create PowerPoint presentations that break down the steps in making an inference and creating a constructed response around it. I can show short, high-interest videos from my laptop that create the background knowledge that many of my students lack and that is so vital to their ability to comprehend what they're reading.

I have done all of this in the time since the projector arrived. I love it more than words can say. Whatever space in my heart is left after my kids have cut it up and divided it amongst themselves is totally reserved for y'all.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Eaton

This is just a short note to express my gratitude for your generous donation to my classroom. The digital camera and photo printer and materials have helped me and my students every day. We have used the camera and printer to document our science lessons about trees, our units about teamwork and friendship, as a tool for writing, and how our classroom has been working on mindfulness as a focusing technique. The students have also used the camera to document and track the process in our garden as our vegetables have begun growing. I have also used the camera as tool to supplement my newsletters and let my parents (many English Language Learners themselves) see and learn about what's going on in our classroom through photographs. I hope to put together a photo album of the 2010 Kindergarten year for my students.

Our school and district has been facing many budget cuts, so without your help, my students would never have had the opportunity to use a digital camera and see the photos printed out. These photos have really become a talking and teaching point in our classroom.

Without donors like you, thousands of children and classrooms in the United States would go without!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Aiello

"Can we PLEAASE have a silent reading day?" is not an utterance that is spoken very often by struggling readers in inner city schools. I, however, have heard this question daily since your amazing gift of graphic novels arrived in my classroom a couple of months ago. The groans of "nooooo" that used to fill my classroom when I would tell students to read have been replaced by cheers of "YESSSS!"

While these novels have the same rich plot elements and same word complexity as other novels read in middle school classrooms, their stories are accompanied by comic book-like pictures that make their information infinitely more accessible to my formerly struggling readers. Thanks to your incredible contribution, my students now love to read, write book reports, and discuss literature. Your gift has truly opened the world of books to my students and changed their perspective of reading forever.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Cole