Past projects 5
A Smorgasbord of Meaningful Supplies to Enhance Learning!
Funded Jan 20, 2025The work we teachers do is as exhilarating as it is challenging. So many fun, poignant, awe-inspiring moments happen in a day from the connections we make with our students and the activities we facilitate for them. The supplies we have or don't have, the materials we can provide or cannot provide, make a difference in being able to execute truly inspiring plans or just ordinary ones. Your donations make all the difference. Thank you for noticing the grant request and for following through with your time, effort, and money.
Already I have printed out vibrant note sheets, laminated a compendium of artwork to be used for years to come, and I'm gearing up to integrate other materials into fascinating, exploratory units. The kids look after and value their handouts and appreciate opportunities to touch and build and experiment. Each time we utilize the materials that you bought for us, we are moved to feel surrounded by people as concerned about our next generation as we are. Thank you for participating with us.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Graham
A Color Printer to Bring Vibrancy to Everyday Learning
Funded Mar 27, 2024What a difference a color printer has made! Thank you! I use it all the time to provide meaningful, beautiful illustrations for these young scholars to discover the world with.
Most handouts don't have the pizazz of vibrancy, and these do! Furthermore many important academic features are made much clearer in color. Having the printer to create handouts with appeal and clarity is one more important tool that makes our classroom more productive and happy.
The printer is so great that I made an activity in which kids could sort vivid photographs of different organisms in a fun classification activity. Thank you all SO much for generously funding this useful improvement to our class. I am so proud to count on you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Graham
This classroom project was brought to life by LOFT and 19 other donors.Discover the Universe! Electromagnetism!
Funded Sep 22, 2023Electromagnetism has been the showcase of the universe's wonders I'd hoped it to be. Not only have the kids been learning about the academic component of this fascinating force -- did you know that water is actually repelled by a magnet, and that most substances are? -- learning about the different elements involved in magnetism, what their unpaired electrons have to do with it, and even how the Earth's magnetic field deflects the dangerous solar wind, protecting our very biosphere. But they are also -- thanks to you -- getting their hands in all of it. So far we have magnetized steel needles to construct compasses, and we've explored motors, generators, and compasses. We've connected batteries to wound copper coils and made electromagnets, whose fields we have detected with compasses. We have, I hope, convinced students that school is a place for investigation and intellectual play.
Your generosity has elevated the ordinary, text-based aspects of electromagnetism into this much realer, tangible, in-your-face exploratory learning that propels thinking by engaging the entire person, not just the part that can sit assiduously still and consider things internally. These are the lessons which build a sense of wonder.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Graham
Origami Paper for Eager Little Scholars
Funded Aug 9, 2022Dear Generous Donors,
We have such a huge supply of origami paper that it will last many years and impact many student's lives. The kids learned how to make boxes with lids, water bombs, cranes, and butterflies. Some kinds have taken the art home and continued to practice, coming in with truly stunning examples of skill and perseverance. Kids who at first struggled started to appreciate this new concept of precision and will have future opportunities to practice. Sometimes it takes a few years and we can afford to give them that!
Since there is so much paper I taught a three-day lesson to high school students in an adjacent school who walked here as refugees from Venezuela. My wife came and translated. They enjoyed this art and patiently learned to do something new and fun.
Thank you for enabling these experiences. We teachers are lucky that you are partners in our work to educate the next generation. "Education" includes things that are fun and off the beaten path.
Warmly,
Nick Graham”
With gratitude,
Mr. Graham
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 8 other donors.Something to be Creative With!
Funded Dec 2, 2021Dear Generous Donors,
Children will let you know if your lesson doesn't cut the mustard. No matter how many hours you spend planning it, or how convinced you are that you are on your game, there are times when what the adult is trying to accomplish is just out of synch with what the child is ready or willing to go along with. The first time I brought out the little bags of Legos I had made and labeled for my second, third, and fourth graders, I knew it was going to be a success, but I didn't know how much of a success until I watched a perfect harmony between play and learning effervesce in my classrooms.
To ensure that we comply with social distancing requirements and good sense, even the thousands of Legos I'm using became a bag of just twenty for each student I teach. This is not how most kids are used to employing them – kids who have Legos at home often have an entire bucket for themselves. But working within constraints is its own demand for creativity and every single child undertook the tasks with joy and zeal.
They dutifully proceeded from directions on their handout to organize their collection according to their own scheme. They built a tall object and a wide one, and then constructed a pencil holder, taking breaks to show their teachers and peers how they approached the different activities. I must say I learned a lot about how manipulatives bring out a natural energy and gusto which is sometimes overlooked, particularly in a school where most students are already willing to comply with less tactile assignments. I look forward to integrating these little bricks into a wide range of activities that can synergistically connect different components of students' beings, bridging their minds and muscles and spatial intuitions.
Thank you for stepping in and contributing to this endeavor. It is a lovely thought to brainstorm some way I can enhance the precious minutes I have with these wonderful children, reach out to a broad community for assistance, and then actualize ideas into real, concrete moments. It is never lost on me, especially now that I am a parent of three children myself, how valuable and potentially transcendent these moments can be. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Warmly,
Nick Graham”
With gratitude,
Mr. Graham
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 2 other donors.