Past projects 12
Theater! Let's Take the ENTIRE School!
Funded Dec 3, 2019This field trip experience was absolutely amazing!! Helping us fund the 11 buses needed to take our entire school to the Bowie Performance Arts Center to see Cirque Zuma Zuma was a day our students will certainly never forget. The performance kept students actively engaged and helped them appreciate different cirque styles. Students were amazed by the contortionists and feats of balance. My personal favorite part of the day was when our students realized that this truly was an entire school trip: not only were their teachers, vice principal and principal accompanying them, but our cherished support staff members (nurse, aids, custodians, lunch ladies, etc...) were coming with us, too! Thank you for helping us provide our students with a cultural experience that brought our entire school together for a field trip full of love, learning, and cultural sensitivity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 18 other donors.Close Encounters of the Critter Kind: Beetle Edition
Funded Sep 12, 2019Wow! There was SO much excitement in my class the day the Bess bugs arrived! We've already had a chance to meet them and during reading class, students got to read to a Bess bug friend! I'm not sure how much the Bess bugs enjoyed the stories, but my students worked hard on their reading fluency for sure! Then we hit the nature trail at our school to collect materials for their habitat home you also provided us. I can't wait to explore and learn with the critter catchers and microscope attachment, which we will use later in the the year. We are also all looking forward to learning more about Bess bugs in science class as well. Once again, I am so thankful for supporters like you who help bring learning alive in classrooms across our country. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
Children, Let's Not Fight Over Who Gets an iPad Today!
Funded May 17, 2019Thank you for helping us supply each first grade classroom with additional iPads for students to use. These iPads allow more equitable access to technology tools and learning programs in the first grade classroom. It also allows the students to access reading databases, math curriculum, and provides students an engaging way to learn content.
As always, the generosity of the Donors Choose community leaves me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. My students are excited to learn and can grow more because of your support! Thank you once again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 14 other donors.Let's STEM It UP!
Funded Feb 22, 2019Thank you so much for once again supporting our classroom! My students absolutely LOVE all the literature books that are helping them make science connections to the world around them. So far, we've learned about pollinators and their importance to our food supply, how pill bugs aren't even insects at all but unusual crustaceans, and how the telegraph transformed communication around the world.
Currently, students are revisiting the texts we've learned about already during their small group rotations. And boy, when we hit our school's nature trail, they are looking under logs to see if they find pill bugs or their close relative - the sow bug. Imagine our local nature center's surprise when on our last field trip, my students were teaching their bug experts how to determine the difference between these two crustaceans! This is all thanks to your generous support of our classroom.
I can't wait to integrate the rest of our the books into our curriculum for even more meaningful learning in first grade!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
Let's Get Our Classroom Organized!
Funded Oct 20, 2018Once again, I am so thankful for the support of the DonorsChoose.org community. The DeskBros Desk File Sorters are sturdy and perfect for organizing all of my students composition books. No more messy towers!! In fact, they are so useful, I may look into getting a second set to organize other areas of our classroom. The student lap desk trays are a huge hit with my students. They allow for student choice when deciding where to work and have perfect cubby areas to organize writing supplies no matter where they are. The clip boxes organize center activities perfectly. Thank you so much for your continued support! My students' learning environment is richer and more engaging because of it. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
Help! We've Lost Our Desk Space!
Funded Aug 23, 2018Wow! This project REALLY helped transform my classroom. I was pretty worried about transitioning from individual student desks to tables without built-in storage. Now that we're into the second week of school, I am seeing the new metal carts in action and they are PERFECT! Easily movable, attractive, easy to clean and sturdy, they are allowing student materials to be housed nearby and easily accessible. Each tray is quite large and will organize all reading anthologies, clipboards, composition books, and math manipulatives right at the ready. These carts were just a bit outside of my budget to purchase on my own for my classroom, but your generous donations allowed my classroom to be outfitted with the ideal solution to our storage problem. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.Let's Art it Up in First Grade!
Funded May 23, 2018Thank you so much for the funding of our art supplies! My new first graders are so excited to use them to make some spectacular art projects! We've already created our first collaborative art project the first week of school, when we "signed" our giant classroom pledge in rainbow hand prints! Other projects that I have planned during the year include illustrating student stories, giant hallway displays, and creating special gifts for others throughout the year (winter holidays, spring, and Mother's Day). Once again, this wouldn't be feasible without the generous support of donors like yourself. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Arts Funder and 7 other donors.Let's Make Learning Math Spectacularly FUN!
Funded Mar 19, 2018Thank you so much for funding our new math center games. My students are thoroughly enjoying the additions to our math rotation time. They are an excited bunch of learners - and just having a couple more games really makes a huge difference. These games are high interest and students are staying on task with minimal reminders from me. This really frees me up to work with the struggling learner or touch base with a student that's ready for an additional challenge.
Already, I see students setting goals with the sand timers and having some friendly competition in speedy recall of subtraction facts on the Subtraction Machine. Students are building number sense with the three Pop and Add Games. Since there are three levels of play, all students are being challenged right at their own individual levels. The Build a Number Houses are fantastic! They are a much better quality item than I was anticipating. The blocks are so sturdy and colorful. Students can easily see the part/whole relationship within numbers!
I truly appreciate your support of my classroom. It makes my heart glad to know that there are such caring individuals and organizations that want to just help kids learn!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
Perk Up With Comprehension Games!
Funded Oct 16, 2012Thank you for providing my students with a fun interactive way to review key concepts and reading skills while building team spirit and good sportsmanship in the classroom. The interactive skill games you donated to my classroom add action and adventure to everyday reading comprehension practice. These wonderful games build essential skills as my students team up and play them. Each game targets a specific reading skillâchallenging my reading students to make inferences as they snowboard down a mountain, identify cause & effect on a quest for precious jewels, or critically think about comprehending non-fiction text while they play the ever popular game skill! As an added bonus, these games are customizable â whether it's a small group of students engaged in play during indoor recess or the whole class working in teams to try to win, my students are super-engaged and having a blast with their reading practice. These games target practice in the areas of drawing conclusions, critical thinking, vocabulary development, recalling facts/details, and understanding/analyzing text. In addition to the Smartboard reading games, the box of 5 minute reading activities help me make every minute count as these fun activities reinforce key skills in a short amount of time. Classroom activities like these help spice up our reading class, and for this I thank each of you. I hope you enjoy the posted photos and get a feeling of how much my students all enjoy the reading comprehension games that you so kindly funded. Thank you again for your kind generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry
Bring Food Chains Alive - Help Students Dissect Owl Pellets!
Funded Oct 17, 2012It is wonderful to see that you share my vision for reaching children through science. This owl pellet dissection unit was a huge hit with all my science classes. Students felt like they were real scientists! Listening to them "talking science" as they delved into their owl pellets, made hypotheses, compared results, and connected this experience to their prior learning was something that I know they will remember as a fourth grade highlight.
My fourth graders learned so much about the skeletal structure of animals, how owls fit into the food chain, how owls have adapted to survive, and how to conduct themselves during a science lab investigation. These skills will serve them well as they move on to fifth grade and beyond. Having enough supplies so that each one of the fourth graders at my school could participate really enhanced the learning experience. This year's addition of the informational owl book gave my students valuable insight to understanding owl adaptations. The owl pellet common prey biorama enhanced my students' science investigation as we connected what students found in their pellets to the common prey skulls on display. Even though we are through with this science activity students are still talking about it! Projects like this one may spark a student to decide on pursuing a career in science, and for this I thank each of you. I hope you enjoy the posted photos and get a feeling of how much my fourth grade science classes all enjoyed this science lab that you so kindly funded.
Thank you for your continuous support to our classroom! I am most thankful!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ells Perry