Past projects 165
Read Baby Read!
Funded Mar 30, 2023Thank you for bringing representation and more diverse books to our classroom library! When the books arrived, my students couldn't wait to grab one of the new books and head over to the reading nook to begin reading and looking at pictures. As for me, I was excited to begin putting them on the shelves to display our new resources for all visitors to browse!
Through these books, I was also able to learn more about my students. From the Marcus Makes a Movie and Marcus collection, I could see which students had a current interest in comedy, much like the main character. It's safe to say that I sat through my fair share of jokes behind this resource. There are also my diligent spelling bee participants who enjoyed reading Stacy Abrams's book Stacey's Extraordinary Words book for inspiration.
Many books also connect to our Literary Unit themes for English Language Arts. This will provide appropriate and supplemental resources for our students as they tackle comprehension skills and annotation. I can't begin to express how excited my students become when they see characters who look like them navigate through their experiences. To be able to identify with characters can create further interest in reading and assist with reading comprehension.
We appreciate you for providing us with not only culturally responsive texts but a refresh of literature for my students to boot!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 3 other donors.Finishing the Year Strong!
Funded May 11, 2023Thank you so much for helping us to finish our previous school year strong! Towards the end of the last school year, many students and staff fell ill, as allergy season was not the kindest to our group of learners and teachers. But thanks to your donation, my classroom was able to see some healthier days as we approached the end of the school year.
The impact of being absent due to health-related reasons can present missed opportunities for instruction, no matter the work packet resource. We love and celebrate our students coming to school. As much as we tried to keep things sanitized inside the classroom, staff and students occasionally sniffled. Surprisingly, we experienced a bit of unexpected fun with the hand and foot exercise resource. For me, it was the perfect resource when working after school to grade papers. For my students, they were able to take a break from writing to "work out" their hands or to show me exactly how strong they are when compared to their siblings.
As with all of the resources I request on DonorsChoose, I believe in resources having utility. These resources not only helped us to finish the last school year strong but also helped us to start our current school year successfully. We are currently in week two, and now we have two air purifiers to keep a steady and healthy airflow.
Here's to another successful school year!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 5 other donors.It's the Final Countdown!
Funded May 9, 2023Thank you so much for funding my elective class for my doctoral program. When I found out that the project was funded within one week, I couldn't hold my excitement and shared the news with my classmates in my program.
Thanks to your funding, I was able to enroll in a Mindfulness and Restorative Justice class. The information obtained from this class was most valuable for both my professional and personal career. I am most pleased with being able to implement turnkey mindfulness practices for my students in my reading intervention groups as well as for the teachers whom I provide Reading coaching. This is my second year at my current school, and I enjoyed being able to view their Restorative Justice practices. This class has also given me the tools to support my school's Restorative Justice program. This class truly came right in the nick of time!
The cost of schooling is expensive, no matter what degree one is obtaining. But it pleases me that you see the importance as well. In approximately nine months, I will complete my doctorate program, and I am thankful that there are generous donors who not only look out for classroom needs but for the professional development needs of teachers!
I hope you enjoy glimpses from the kids I do all this for at our school!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors Corporation and 3 other donors.We're Getting the Hang of It!
Funded Apr 6, 2023Thank you so much for providing the Kindergarten-2nd grade reading teachers I coach with their own Kids Lip Cards to be used for classroom reading acquisition.
Last year marked the beginning of a new reading program with our school district. The change brought about a new curriculum, resources, and hours of much-needed professional development. With assistance, I have been able to cover some of the professional development topics. But we found ourselves to be in need of resources that weren't in our budget. It's safe to say that everyone was happy when we received the Lip Cards.
We were able to see such an improvement in reading with students in the Kindergarten-Second grade classrooms. All teachers were able to have their own copies for student learning and were provided with a blurb to interpret the mouth movements for students. This resulted in more reading with accuracy and continued love of reading from one of our most vulnerable populations in the building. Seeing the smiles on students' faces from working hard to decode words and recognize sound patterns has been nothing short of amazing.
We had such a great time learning with these Kids' Lip Cards and will continue to enjoy working with them during the upcoming school year. We truly appreciate your assistance with getting our project funded.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by LOFT and one other donor.I Scream! You Scream! We All Scream for Ice Cream!
Funded May 12, 2023Thank you so much for funding one of the ice cream vendors for our Field Day! To say that we had a good time is a complete understatement. It was my first year at my current school, and I had been told of how the school shows up and out for Field Day. I'm here to tell you that it did not disappoint! I am still thinking about all of the fun that was had that day.
Our original Field Day was rescheduled due to the fires in Canada. While we were all a bit disappointed, we knew it was best to cancel since most of the day would be spent outside. With all of the vendors willing to accept the rescheduled date, our plan of fun was able to resume!
The sun decided to shine its brightest on field day, and our ice cream vendors were able to cool us down while playing, dancing, and being creative! Due to dairy issues, I was concerned that some students would not be interested in the ice cream cones. To combat this, we also had shaved ice available for students as well. It was such a pleasure working with the vendors, as customer service is extremely important to me. It's also important for my students to be able to exchange pleasantries during goods and services exchanges. It was great to see all of this happen.
This was a day that included everything you could imagine, and by the end of the day, students couldn't even wait to get home to fall asleep. There was a petting zoo, popcorn, cotton candy, and many bubbles. Our administrative staff even sponsored a food truck for teachers. It was so much fun seeing everyone have a good time. Since we kind of cleaned up as we went along, it made it even better.
I hope you enjoy our pictures from such a fun day for staff, teachers, and parents! It was the perfect ending to a year full of hard work and dedication to our school's mission. Now that I have seen how my school plans for Field Day, I can't wait to begin thinking about improving it next year!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 3 other donors.Read Baby Read!
Funded Feb 8, 2023Thank you so much for funding our Read Baby Read project! I have two roles at my school. One requires me to interact with special education students to provide individual IEP goals. The other requires me to work with Kindergarten through Second-grade teachers to assist them with implementing best practices relating to the Science of Reading with their students. The UFLI books that you have provided have allowed me to provide each teacher I work with materials needed to turnkey reading instruction on a variety of levels.
Implementing an entirely new reading acquisition system at the beginning of the previous school year wasn't easy. But with your assistance, teachers were able to establish fluidity with their instruction and see the gains from their students.
The best part is that now that we were able to see the benefits of the resource you provided, we know that it will be put to use again this upcoming year with the new students coming into the respective classes.
There are so many additional benefits to this resource. With these books, teachers can access an online portal that allows them to project their lessons onto the smart board for visual access. Video components and extended worksheets are also provided to teachers to differentiate lessons based on student needs. The feedback has been so positive since acquiring these UFLI books, and I couldn't be more pleased to see and hear students engaged in the reading process!
You have truly helped us by providing us with the educational resource that keeps on giving! Thank you so much for thinking about the needs of our teachers and students.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and one other donor.A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That!
Funded Feb 8, 2023Thank you so much for funding our project. Much like the title of the project, we were in need of a little bit of this and that in terms of classroom resources to get us through the end of the school year. With your assistance, our needs have been met! It's always fun watching my students open and receive the packages. Many even offer to pick up items from the front office, which also helps them with multi-step directions. For this project, students were able to bring the stool and fidgets to our classroom, and a great time was had as some of them remembered creating the project at that moment.
I was unsure of the use of fidgets in the classroom during instruction. But I have learned that if done correctly, students are able to benefit from this resource! After explaining how we were going to use the fidgets in the classroom, students had an opportunity to explore the variety pack. We were only accustomed to the fidget stress balls, but these resources had a high interest and utility.
I couldn't help but notice my students like to move while seated. At the same time, I am new to the school and have noticed many classrooms have a nice mix of flexible seating for student choice. The additional stool has provided my small group of students with more flexibility during their time with me and has helped to keep the attention of my 1st-3rd grade readers. My favorites are the phones for reading and the markers for our anchor charts! The previous sizes of the phones left behind in my classroom were too small, and we had been unable to use them for their intended resource. Thanks to you, we have had some fun acquiring phonological awareness.
Thank you so much for thinking about the needs of our students!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 3 other donors.Can You Hear Me Now?
Funded Feb 8, 2023Thank you so much for funding our Can You Hear Me Now project. This was a project whose materials would serve an immediate purpose after opening, and we couldn't wait for the items to arrive. If my students were to vote for the best resource in this project, hands down, they would choose the headphones!
My school provided all classrooms with brand-new headphones to use for digital programming. However, my students have grown a bit and have been experiencing discomfort when wearing them. The headphones came right in time for end-of-the-year assessments, and my students couldn't be happier. Now, they don't have the headphones hanging off their ears and can maximize the sound. The benefits are truly endless with quality headphones, especially during the times in which we have to access digital learning.
Our Girls Mentoring Program hosted a High Tea event to provide lessons on etiquette. With the size of the group. we were in need of a projector for our presentation, and you were also able to assist with that. I can't tell you how much of a joy it was for everyone to hear the content with the Bluetooth speaker and the projector together. We just knew that we would have to strain our ears for this process, but everything worked quite smoothly.
The presentation clicker has helped me to be able to navigate throughout the classroom successfully while displaying images on the smart board. Lastly, the USB C cable has been a life changer as I am now able to connect my technology to other SmartBoards throughout the building and during professional development.
We appreciate you being able to fund this project for us before the end of the school year. Thank you so much for thinking about the needs of our students!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 2 other donors.Fidgets and Fun, Please!
Funded Feb 9, 2023Thank you so much for funding our Fidgets and Fun project! This was a project created with students being able to select most of the resources, provided that they were activities supporting cooperative play and socialization. I have a small group of students, and thanks to you, each student received the items they asked for. After checking in with my amazing scholars, their favorites are the multi-bake maker, kinetic sand, and the fidget toys!
I informed my students that I would be writing a thank you letter for all of the items that we received. My group of 3rd graders instructed me to "talk about the cake pops first." We had the absolute best time with the multi-bake maker! Students decided to try the cake pops first, but prior to eating them, we engaged in a lesson in measuring. I was able to teach the importance of measuring and how it can alter the taste of a dish if not measured properly. Once explained in detail, the next few batches of cake pops turned out delicious. We even had enough to share with our buddy class in the building, and even some of the teachers came back for more! We hope you enjoy our pictures as much as we enjoyed making these sweet treats! Next up will be to use the Popcorn Maker when we are learning about our Popcorn and Kernel Sentences in writing.
The kinetic sand and tools have been fun to observe because of the scents associated with many of the colors. When students engage in this task together, I can always guarantee one or two of them bringing me a food dish to "sample." Most recently, their favorites to share are multi-scoop kinetic sand ice cream cones and waffles! This is a resource that can get a little messy, but it's worth it to see the smiles on their faces.
Another student favorite has been the multipack of fidget toys. Unlike the stress balls and stretchy caterpillar fidgets, these are designed in a unique way and have kept students quite busy. The number of fidgets available exceeds the number of students in my small group. So, I was able to provide each student with their own fidget to use in their additional classes to support their learning and attention to tasks. We hope you enjoy our pictures from the day in which they selected the fidgets they would keep while having a little bit of a snack.
We are having a great time with the resources that you have provided. I wouldn't be the teacher that I am if I didn't consider items with utility that can possibly last for the years to come! You have helped me cross many of the items off my list for the next school year, and for that, I truly appreciate your support!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 2 other donors.Game Day Ready!
Funded Nov 23, 2022Thank you so much for providing our class with a Meta Quest for our Field Day celebration. We are two months away from revealing this resource as one of our options for play during Field Day, and we can't wait to reveal it to students. Coupled with the additional plans that we are brewing, our end-of-the-year celebration and field day will be a huge success.
The weather has proven its unpredictability this school year, and we want to be prepared to have a successful day just in case we have to be indoors. I also created this project to provide exploratory learning for my students. Many times, resources are limited to provide us with field trip opportunities. Through this one resource, students can at least feel like they have been transported to a new place and space, all while being in school. So instead of us going on field trips, we can bring the experience to us.
We will soon begin preparations for our end-of-the-year testing. I am excited to be able to soft launch the Meta Quest with small groups of students before our big Game Day. That way, they will be able to share their experiences with their peers and show them the ropes. It's safe to say that while we only have one Meta Quest to use, it will be a great time.
There is also an unspoken jewel to this resource for students. I believe that they will be able to have wonderings surrounding graphic design and gaming, which could lead to further inquiries surrounding jobs that they will want to obtain when they get older. I can't thank you enough for providing my students with an opportunity to see something new. I appreciate you for thinking about the needs of my students in the areas of learning and fun.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Social Change Fund United and State Farm.