Past projects 15
Math Stackers Make Math Make Sense
Funded Feb 7, 2023I am so grateful for each of your contributions to our project. When I found out our project was funded, I immediately told the class that a special delivery was on the way! We watched the videos on the Math Stacker's site to gain an understanding of the new goodies that were headed our way! I'm sure you can imagine just how much excitement was in the air when our package arrived!
Throughout this year, we used the Math Stackers in various ways. We've practice patterning, using standard units to measure objects, and of course, we've used them to practice our addition skills. The visual and tactile representations truly helped addition "click" for so many children. I made various addition booklets for the children, each one becoming increasingly difficult. It was astounding to see how many of them successfully completed the third and hardest version of the booklets. These children are mathematically well-prepared for first-grade addition and will have a bit of a head start since so many of them have a deep understanding of those basic facts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Can You Help Us Get a U-Table?
Funded Nov 2, 2012This is so exciting! The children and I are LOVING our U-Table! It has really changed how we do our small group work! The kids love coming over to the table to get help, share ideas, or to work together!
So many other teachers have stopped in to see the table, too! They also just love it! Your donations have inspired many other teachers at ECE to post projects for funding! Who knows, maybe we'll even see more new U-tables coming to our building!
I am so very sincerely grateful for your contributions to this project. Although to some this table may be just a piece of furniture, for us, it is an opportunity to learn, grow, and share. It has also taught our students an important lesson about generosity as we've discussed that this table is in our room because of so many wonderful people who want to help our classroom become a better place!
Thank you so very much for your donations. I am so very grateful for your help and if you are a parent/family member, please stop in to see our amazing new table!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Snug as a Bug in a Rug
Funded Oct 17, 2012Hello friends and family!
Thank you to each and every single one of you who helped to make this project a reality! The kids are LOVING our new rug! Many of my colleagues are also very impressed with our awesome new carpet! Each one of my students has his/her own square. We do lots of activities with our rug! The kids absolutely love sitting on the carpet while using the listening center!
This rug has truly made our classroom look and feel like a home away from home! It is bright and colorful, happy and cheery! We just love it!
We are also so, so, so grateful for it. We spent a lot of time talking about how people who care about us wanted us to have a nice place to sit. We talked about how they all worked together to help buy the rug for us. Each and everyone of us (but I think especially me!) are so grateful to you! Thank you for picking our project and for helping us to get our super-fabulous new rug!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Books Come Alive with a Digital Listening Center!
Funded Sep 19, 2012Hello Kevin and our Anonymous Donor,
We are so excited you chose to fund our projects. The MP3 players arrived a few days ago and my students are already in love with them! I was able to upload our books-on-CD to the players with ease. I also ordered several new audio books from Scholastic to add to our growing collection!
These MP3 players have been such a great addition to our class. Listening to a model of fluent reading is a vital component of learning how to read. I am able to get 12 kids daily to the listening center for this sort of instruction with your gift. They absolutely LOVE this center and I am so excited to get to share it with them.
Without you, this would have just been another one of my crazy ideas! But your generosity has made this idea a reality. I am so grateful for you and your donation to our class. Thank you sincerely.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Lonely Printer Seeks Toner
Funded Mar 14, 2012Thank you so very much for choosing my project to fund! I know there are a lot of choices out there - and I can't help but feel very special that you selected my class to support! Thank you!
Earlier this year, our printer ran out of toner. Unfortunately, there is just not any money to order more. This is frustrating to both teachers and students alike! The students LOVE to use the computers! They are really good at finding things on the Internet that they like to print out and do. Believe it or not - the kiddos love to find their own worksheets on-line and then print them for extra homework! Seriously!
Us teachers use the printer when we find some great worksheets for our kids on-line, too. We usually print one then run photocopies of the rest. However, this has been so challenging since all of the printers in the building are out of toner. We've been forced to hand-write worksheets which don't look as nice!
The children were super excited to learn that our printer will be functioning again soon! Thank you so much for helping my classroom (and the entire 4th grade!). We appreciate you and your thoughtfulness so very much. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Owl Pellets, Please?
Funded Mar 16, 2012Thank you so very, very, VERY much for your donations! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this project! I have not yet told my kids that this has been funded... I am waiting until our little pellets arrive so that I can surprise them! They are going to FLIP over this activity!
The entire grade will be participating in this activity. I have SO many awesome plans that we will be doing. My student teacher has been very busy planning her first thematic unit around owl pellets! After we dissect the pellets, we will be counting, measuring, and graphing the contents (insert "ew" here!) for math. In language arts, we will be writing paragraphs that compare and contrast the differences in what we found in our pellets. In science, we will be researching owls and other woodland creatures. We will do some exploration into food chains, predator/prey relationships, the digestive system of animals and humans, and SO much more! We're going to spend a whole week on this unit and we will be VERY busy!
The last time I did owl pellets with a class was back in 2005. Oh my word - those children LOVED the activity! I just know my little ones will have a blast digging through the pellets (insert another "ew" here!).
Not only is your donation helping out my kiddos, but it's also helping my student teacher out! She is well on her way to becoming a "real" teacher! I'm so excited for her - that she gets the materials she needs for her unit (not to mention a crash course on how awesome Donors Choose is!). I know this is going to be an awesome, awesome activity! I cannot wait to post pictures of all of the fun stuff we do! Stay tuned - we will post them sometime in April!
Thanks again - you are so appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Pencils Please!
Funded Dec 15, 2011Thank you so very much for donating to my project! The children in my classes were so excited to hear that we have plenty of pencils to last us the rest of the year!
A few years ago, I had a Donor's Choose project funded for pencils. That project lasted clear through this year! However, as our pencil supply ran low, I started to get nervous. Good pencils are expensive - and kids lose them all the time!
For a while, I resorted to picking up "garbage" pencils from the custodian's swept-up pile of trash at the end of each day. I'm so glad I don't have to do this anymore!
Your generosity is helping a lot of kids (and teachers!). We don't have to worry about where to find a pencil - we can just get straight to work!
It's so nice to know that there are people out there like you guys - who don't know me, or my kids, but still went out of your way to help us meet our basic educational needs. It's unfortunate that school's can't provide these essentials, but with budgets being cut left and right, my school tries to save every penny so that we can hire as many teachers as possible. We knew that money for supplies this year would be tight - we decided to hire extra teachers to help bring class sizes down. Although I don't regret that decision, it has made life a little harder when it comes to having what we need to get our work done.
However - with your help, I no longer have to worry about pencils! Yay! Thanks again for your donations - and please look out for the "Thank You" cards my kids wrote. They had a blast doing them and are very excited for you to get them!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
Little Learners Love BIG Books!
Funded Oct 21, 2010Thank you so much for your donations! The Big Books have been a HUGE hit with my students! They love to play teacher during centers using the books!
Without a doubt, The Gingerbread Man has been our favorite! We read the story (several times!) and then signed up to participate in a nation-wide Gingerbread Exchange! Friends from all over the country have been sending us letters and gingerbread men! The students love to reread the books and then look at the letters from our Gingerbread Friends!
These books have brought so much happiness into my classroom. The students love having the nice new books to read! We love to read them all together during large group instruction! It's so cute to see them read the lines out loud with me!
I am very thankful for your generous donations. Your gift has brought some amazing books into my classroom! Thank you so much for your gift!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 3 other donors.Leveled Learners Need Leveled Books!
Funded Oct 19, 2010Merry Christmas! I am so, so, so grateful for your generous donations! My students absolutely LOVE our new books. On the day that they came, we gathered on the carpet to open our special package! We made predictions about what could be in the box!
The Big Books have been such a wonderful addition to our class. We love to read them as a whole group! We have fun pointers that we use to point out words! During centers, my students love to play "teacher" and use the big books by themselves. It's so cool to watch them read with each other!
Through your donations, you have brought the gift of reading into the lives of my dynamic students. You have made reading a fun and exciting adventure for my students. The Big Books have been a big hit with my little ones and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful donors! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 4 other donors.Paper, Please?
Funded Dec 22, 2009There aren't words to describe how grateful we are to you! Thank you SO much for your donations. It is late April, and we still have 3 boxes of paper left! Our 2nd grade team has been able to copy worksheets, study packets, and tests with your donation.
Additionally, my students have been able to complete some awesome activities and crafts with the donated paper. We have decorated our room and hallway with our wonderful work.
Without your donations, we would have had a lot of trouble completing the necessary work for 2nd grade. I'm happy to say that this paper will carry us through the rest of the school year, and hopefully even in to next year.
Once again, thank you sincerely for your donations. You've made a difference!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Griffith