Past projects 12
Cozy Corners and Book Storage
Funded Aug 14, 2024Thank you so much for all your support! I realize this was a large project to attempt during the summer months but I am so grateful to complete it and upgrade my room with some comfy spaces and better storage. I look forward to starting the year with a fresh look for my classroom and the quality materials my students deserve.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 12 other donors.Tomie dePaola Engaging All Types of Readers
Funded Dec 13, 2023Our class loved the Tomie dePaola books that were donated to us! We have been reading them daily since they arrived and many students have developed a certain fondness for the different characters that dePaola writes about.
We did a class project on character traits and evidence where students read different series of books that dePaola had written. They read multiple books about the same character and then made a poster with a picture of that character on it. They wrote trait words describing the character and gave evidence from the book to prove their thinking. Then they presented it to their class. We loved the posters so much they've been hanging in our room for months and we still get compliments on them.
Thank you so much for helping me to get such good books into the hands of my students and helping to create memorable ways of learning about reading.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Feel What You're Feeling and Tell Me About It
Funded Sep 13, 2023Having the Spot books in my classroom this year has been a life saver. Admittedly, working with emotions and strong feelings in my classroom has been a tricky spot for me as a teacher over the years. I love curriculum development but didn't always know where to go with my social emotional teaching.
After receiving the books and other mood calming tools I purchased a Spot curriculum the company provides for life skills. My students and I have talked about having a sense of belonging, team work, and diversity since then. These are all things I wanted to target within our classroom community.
The books provide us with an easy way to have a conversation about hard concepts. They also give us activities and visuals that make the learning more concrete and memorable. One of my favorites was asking students to create a rainbow with only a red crayon. They knew it wasn't possible because of their need for all the other colors. We talked about the diversity of our classroom and how each different person has something valuable to add to the whole picture.
Thank you so much for your donations. My classroom has begun thriving in new ways because of your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Requesting Rugs and Rockers Please!
Funded Aug 24, 2023These rugs, rockers, and ball chairs have made a huge impact in my classroom. Without them the seating choices were a tile floor and hard metal chairs. Now students have a variety of comfortable seating to choose from.
We have developed a system for sharing the different seating options and the kids really work to be fair with one another and take turns. We came up with a reward system for when we could get extra time in the rockers and ball chairs because we liked them so much.
As far as the rugs go, students fight over a space on them and can often be found lounging on the library rug in their free time. Personally I love the way they break up different zones of our room and encourage students to meet up in different spaces for different types of work goals. Thank you so much for your support.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Seeing Ourselves in the Books We Read
Funded Jan 10, 2022Thank you so much for your donations towards our book projects! Students were so happy to see books with faces that looked like theirs. Many of my girls specifically were dying to get those Yasmin books and have been hoarding them in their book bins ever since. They have made goals to finish the whole series and are comparing with one another about who has read the most.
It is so nice to have books that represent the students in my classroom. I truly do strive to find my students' faces in the stories we read. Thank you for supporting this goal of mine.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Access to Just Right Books for All Readers
Funded Jan 1, 2021My class is so grateful for the resources that you helped to provide us with.
I used our storage cart to sort out the books we use for independent reading by levels and have labeled the bins with student names so that they know which books are their just right level. It makes it really easy for them to find accessible books and gives them goals to work toward with other bins further along. It's also a great sorting tool for me and helps me to track student growth.
The individual book bins are being used for a class intervention group to organize student materials. Each student in the group has a bin with their books, a white board, dry erase marker, writing notebook, writer's checklist, and progress monitoring folder. Again, it is a helpful tool in keeping us organized and on track in our classroom.
The kids are so happy to have new and useful tools in the room and it really has helped with the productivity and organization in our room- helping things to go smoothly during the school day.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Celebrating Who We Are Through Picture Books
Funded Mar 17, 2018Thank you so much for your donation to our classroom library! These books were a wonderful addition to our classroom library. My principal was talking to the staff today and told us that in the past few years that he has been leading our school the ELL student population has gone up by 3% each year. We are now at 41% of our student body not being native English speakers. These books have helped my students to feel more at home in my classroom.
The messages in these books were about acceptance and friendship and my students loved watching characters grow and develop. We had a lot of meaningful conversations about these books and students who were quiet most times were now given the opportunity to teach their classmates something about themselves.
I had one student in particular who loved sharing about the Muslim religion, Ramadan, and Eid. We were lucky enough to end our year celebrating the holiday with them and now my students were so much more aware of what was really going on. Then, students whose parents were refugees, were able to go home and talk to their parents about our new books and ask more pointed questions about their experiences because they now had more of an understanding and schema because of the class read alouds.
Our classroom community has really grown and matured reading these books and we owe it all to your generosity. Thank you so much for providing my students and myself with such an enriching experience.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 10 other donors.Making Small Group Teaching Successful
Funded Dec 7, 2017I just would like to say thank you for your generosity when donating money towards our classroom project. The easel, book bins, magnets, whiteboards, and markers have been a great addition to our classroom organization and productivity.
When the materials arrived, the class couldn't believe how much we had really gotten! The school principal also came in to check on our new materials and was surprised at the amount we had received. We were all very excited to begin using what we now had.
The easel has come in very handy with my math groups lately. Students have been using it to develop word problems that they and their classmates can solve. We also use it to model different strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.
The book group storage has been helpful to me as well because it is much easier to find what I need when I meet with my students. It's also a lot closer to the group meeting place than my materials were before. In addition to that ease, I also have the magnet letters right on hand and since they are stored in letter labeled pockets, I can easily get the materials I need and have students put them away afterwards without worrying about losing something and not being able to find it later.
I can't wait to continue using these materials with my students this year and future classes. I am a very organized teacher who was struggling with the materials I had before and didn't feel as effective when teaching small groups in such short periods of time during our class day. Now with your support I am able to get to things quickly, keep everything organized, and feel better about how my students and I are using our small group teaching time together. Thank you again for your support of my teaching and their learning.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Safe Storage Desperation
Funded Sep 5, 2016Thank you so much for donating to our class project for book baskets. Because of your donation we know have enough book baskets to store the entire classroom library as well as sort it into separate color coded categories.
The day the book baskets came, the students were so excited to grab them from the office. I remember sending three students down to help carry the boxes back and the school secretary was even excited. She helped the kids to cut open the big boxes they came in so that we could just carry the baskets up more easily. They basically ran up the stairs to deliver them to the class and as they gasped for a breath they had the biggest smiles on their faces. The students who didn't help get the baskets couldn't wait to get their hands on them and helped to sort the whole classroom library that day. It was such a great afternoon!
Students have now worked to identify the differences between fiction and nonfiction genres and grouped them that way in our new baskets. We have also stored and labeled our series books in a special area of the classroom library. This storage solution has helped us to find what we need more easily. Again, thank you so much for your support in helping to better organize our classroom. My students and I appreciate it so, so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 7 other donors.Getting to Know You- Meeting Characters in Series Books
Funded Aug 23, 2014Dear Donors,
Our students are absolutely in love with the series books that you have provided for them. They take up a large space in our classroom library but often spend a majority of their time in students personal book bins. I remember the day we opened the box full of new books and all the oohs and ahhs that filled the room. Because of your donations, children are becoming avid readers whose conversations are now filled with giggles about Fly Guy's antics, concern for Baby Mouse's drama and amazement at the adventures of George, Harold and Mr. Krupp... or should I say Captain Underpants?? Thank you for bringing my hesitant readers the gift of series characters they can love. I truly do appreciate it.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 8 other donors.