Past projects 8
Getting Crafty in Kindergarten
Funded Aug 11, 2020These new activities for my students have helped them learn their letters much quicker than usual! It's given me some new and exciting ways to teach that is fun for the kids. They look forward to our phonics time every day!
The alphabet mats we use to build letters with playdoh have been so effective. I can use specific letters to reinforce the learning or do review with all of the letters. It's a great way to differentiate my teaching.
When I first showed the kids the new learning tools they were so excited. They wanted to use them immediately. They look forward to letter time now!
I will continue using these tools especially with my esl students to build a very strong foundation for letters and sounds. This will make learning to read much more successful for them!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.Learning Our Letters for Literacy
Funded Nov 10, 2020Our new resources have been such a great addition to learning literacy in Kindergarten. We use the alphabet kit during phonics instruction which provides students with a "hands on" tactile experience to further extend their learning. We are working hard on rhyming skills and use the rhyming puzzles to provide picture support for my ELL students. The writing boards have also helped give me a way to provide immediate feedback as students practice paths of motion in writing.
When my students saw the delivery they got so excited. We took time to look at each activity to build the excitement for when we started using them. The students could not wait to get to use them daily and helped build their phonics kits with some of the items.
These tools were necessary to help build a strong foundation for my students in reading. As a teacher, they helped me provide different experiences and reach different learning styles. I know my students need many different exposures to letters and literacy so these have help provide meaningful experiences to extend their learning.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
Books or BUST!
Funded Jul 25, 2017I want to thank you so much for sharing in our reading project for our Unit 2. We are starting a unit using our "super powers" to read. These books you have provided have really drawn the students in with interesting topics and because I have many books I am able to rotate them in and out to keep the choices fresh and exciting for my students.
We spend 45 minutes a day in what we call reading workshop. Each student has a book bag. They are able to "shop" every Friday afternoon for ten new books to keep for the week in their book bag. This gives them the opportunity to read books according to their interests and change them out often.
I have noticed a significant increase in interest and excitement for reading with these new books. I've been able to do themed baskets like Berenstein Bears or Curious George. It has been such an exciting time for me as a teacher to watch their excitement flourish thanks to your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 4 other donors.Let's Find Out Together
Funded Sep 12, 2016We are so thankful for our new Let's Find Out readers that we have received from your generous donations. We have been able to accomplish many things that we would not have been knowledgeable about without these readers. These readers have integrated well into our standards to compliment the learning we are doing by adding some fun and excitement to our day. Finally, we are able to take the readers home to share with our families.
The Let's Find Out readers have been able to let us see what pilgrims lived like in their time. The online games have provided us with fresh, new educational ways to learn sight words, matching sounds, and many other skills we learn in kindergarten. It has given us the opportunity to have discussions about how the material is relevant to our lives. The magazines also provide a reebus reader the kids are able to take home to read to their parents.
All of the magazines integrate well into our standards of teaching. I am able to use them as an extending resource that is hands on for the students to keep. They then take these magazines home and review what they learned with their parents and siblings. Some of the magazines allow opportunities for observations and discussions at home that they would not have otherwise.
Finally, the kids LOVE the magazines. They are colorful, age appropriate and engaging for kindergarten. The magazine provides great resources online that we use along with the magazine. The games are educational yet fun and the kids cannot wait for their turn.
We are so thankful to have received this magazine. It continues to be one of my favorite teaching resources each year and I'm grateful that you chose my class to make this possible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
Creation in Kindergarten
Funded Oct 22, 2015We are so very thankful for all of the wonderful art supplies we received from your generous donation. We use them every Friday to create an art project based on the unit of study we are doing for that week. For example, we created Abraham Lincoln masks when we were studying presidents and American Symbols. The feathers were perfect for creating 3-D turkeys at Thanksgiving time. We've used the paints to do snowmen and holiday crafts when we studied Christmas around the world. And today we will be creating some great Dr. Seuss projects in honor of his birthday. One of their favorite art activities was to painting a heart valentine for their families. It was so heartwarming for me to see the amount of time and effort they really put into the project.
When we received the box of supplies, I showed the students and they acted like it was Christmas Day. The paints, googly eyes, feathers, dot markers and everything else are things they have not had the chance to use until now so they were beyond excited and eager to get started.
We will continue doing art projects every Friday with our supplies. We are currently working on a research project about American Symbols and the assignment will be to create a poster along with an art piece to represent the symbol of their choice. These supplies will benefit them so much for this project by allowing them to really explore their creativity with very few limits like we've had in the past.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
This classroom project was brought to life by Thea Foundation and one other donor.Let's Find Out Together!
Funded Mar 23, 2015Thank you so much for the generous donation. My students have LOVED these weekly magazines. They get so excited to have a new magazine to take home and share with their parents each week.
We use these magazines each week for an integrated part of my teaching. We read the magazines together looking for sight words and new vocabulary. We explore videos with the magazines for a more in-depth look at the topic. Finally, the students take these magazines home and have a quick activity to do with their parents using the magazine. The activity may be rereading a part of the magazine or describing something they learned from the magazine.
This project has helped boost my students' learning by getting them excited for Science. They love having something colorful and different from what else we use to learn about Science. It also helps provide them with an easy mini lesson on a topic that is engaging to them while still relevant to our standards and expectations.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
Science Savvy in Pre-K
Funded Jun 15, 2014My students were beyond thrilled to receive these great science resources. I teach a class of 98% ESL students and it is important to their education to provide them as many hands on experiences as possible. By you providing these tools for my class they were not only able to learn new vocabulary but they were also able to use that vocabulary while working together on projects. They gained some experience with weather, insects and earth science that was much more rigorous and relevant than it would have been by just looking at a book. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with these tools and my students as well as myself are so appreciative. We are very grateful that you chose our class this year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher
This classroom project was brought to life by Lakeshore Learning and 5 other donors.Kid Connection (Bringing Reading Home)
Funded Mar 27, 2014I want to thank each of you so much for the generous donation to my classroom. We received 21 copies of My Big World magazines and we had great fun while learning with them! We were able to incorporate so many activities with the magazine and what I loved most is that the students saved them in their cubbies and were able to go back and reference them. The issue we worked on was all about growing and life cycles. My goal with this magazine was to bring more science and literacy in the classroom while creating opportunities for parents to get involved at home. The magazine provided an activity for math and using one to one correspondence. After doing the activity we extended what we learned to a matching numbers game with caterpillars and butterflies. We also modeled our math thinking with blocks. The magazine gave the students a written example to follow. We used the magazine to discuss life cycles and as a reference while our baby chicks were hatching in the classroom. Finally each student chose an animal or insect and created a poster, drawing and diorama about their animal or insect. They were instructed to reflect back to the examples their magazine in helping them describe the life cycle of their animal. Parents were asked to help their children by reading the magazine at home, adding facts to their posters and finding materials for their dioramas. This project was a class favorite and they were so proud of what they did! I loved the opportunity this gift afforded us. I loved the simplicity of the magazine and how age appropriate yet full of information it was for my class. I cannot wait to get back into school and plan our next big project around My Big World!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Fisher