Past projects 4
Tea Party ~ Immigration Culmination Celebration
Funded Dec 8, 2021Thank you so much for the $200 donation which enabled me to purchase supplies for a proper tea party! Why a tea party? Our immigration ELA unit focused on Japanese traveling to America. Sharing their traditions of tea, culture, dress along with challenges and victories. A big part of the mentor books was "tea" ~ green tea and the proper manners and expectations of the Japanese tea ritual. I, myself, love tea and have had tea parties before and even having been to England having high tea and Elevensies I knew what I wanted to do to celebrate with the children for all their hard work. A tea party with cream cheese and cucumber /sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, scones, tea, muffin, fruit cup, shortbread cookies! The supplies you purchased included the plates, cups, decorations, tablecloths, tea, napkins. I physically made 120 finger sandwiches and plated them on a tiered platter. There was Tea Party Bingo and of course, some academics to start ~ two poems about "Tea." The poems fit in to the curriculum because it allowed extra practice with stanzas and lines and answering questions.
I will send some pictures as well!
There was a menu checklist so as each food was plated, students checked if they liked it. It was so amazing ~ I'd say 80% loved the cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches! Moms have messaged me saying they are adding to their grocery list! The students were in their fancies clothes, and I had a selfie station with tea-themed props. Each student received a photograph as a memory. They loved the scones too ~ I am just so happy to give a new experience! One thing the students have asked for is another day with just the tea as we get closer to state testing! You can for sure know I am going to offer tea again! Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Doktor
Rolling Carts Add Color and Independence in Classroom!
Funded Nov 18, 2014These rolling carts have been a Godsend! The last two photos show group work in blue baskets and file folders before the carts. To correct and distribute these folders/baskets on a daily basis had me bonkers! Now each child has their laminated name on a tray. Their work, highlighters, post-it notes and word work files are inside and they have taken complete responsibility in the care of the carts and take more pride in doing their work. I modeled how to open, close and keep the papers all going one way. None of the 25 students have had to be reminded. Being in an inner city school, we have a homeless population living in a local hotel. I have 4 of those students. One homeless boy said to me in a quiet voice, "Mrs. Doktor I am so excited to use these." I asked why and this was his response, "I don't think I've ever had anything brand-new untouched before and it's exciting for me." Wow, that hit my heart. He has an older brother and I'm guessing he only gets hand-me-downs. The carts are wonderful to move and correct and record their work before putting papers in their mailboxes. These carts have not only made my organization and days go smoother; the part I wanted these most for, to promote their independence and responsibility, has worked 1000%. Our interventions for reading start January 20th so the other drawers will be utilized then.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Doktor
This classroom project was brought to life by People's United Community Foundation People's Unit and one other donor.Back-to-School for Teachers Already Thinking About It!!
Funded Aug 27, 2012Hi everyone!
Thank you again for your choice in my project. The green and white bins have been so wonderful to get important things up and running in my classroom. I have posted 6 photos and wanted to describe those photos in this letter. The first 3 photos you see are from my classroom borrowing library that has been set up due to the fact we do not have within our budget, a line item for a school librarian =-(. I have a Book Hospital in the green bin for those pages that need some TLC. In the hospital bin is a pack of post-it notes and the students know to place a post-it on the Boo-Boo page for me to fix. The white bin on the bottom right is where there are 30 books all numbered so students can choose which book to sign out and borrow and then sign the books back in before taking another book out. There are a mix of genres in the borrowing box including mathematics reading books on time, money and fractions. Also pictured, is one of the green bins for a community colored pencil box. The final two pictures show two of the white bins that are a part of our classroom recycling area. We save the juice pouches with the silver backing (middle bin on cart) to send to www.terracycle.org for a savings plan for our school while the pouches are recycled into other products. The bottom white bin is for plastic recycles (water and juice bottles) from snack. Each Friday we count the juice pouches in groups of 10. Our grand total so far, in just our classroom, is 270 since September 26th. Also each Friday, we gather those plastic bottles and place them in our school's general plastic recycle container. We have the perfect recycling system in our classroom and it has been complimented and recognized by our principal. The children are so happy to recycle and one girl brings in pouches from home to add to our count! The colored pencils have been a hit and I use freecycle.org to find free supplies for the class and I have gotten many colored pencils FREE from the web site. The borrowing library has been immensely popular and the return/borrow rate is at 100%. The students are so conscientious of everything in our classroom they just have the borrowing routine down to a science! Please let me know if you have any questions!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Doktor
In Search of White Copy Paper
Funded May 2, 2012Thank you all so much for your generosity of the donation of copy paper. There's so much to tell you...with each classroom allowed three reams per month it has been a conscious effort to stay within that allotment, but most months I've had to buy an additional ream to get by. We are not wasteful and double-side when needed. We are a literacy collaborative school so we are all about recording sheets, graphic organizers and folders for units of study. Another reason our paper supply goes quickly is that our individual student math books did not come in this year, so we have to copy each day's math worksheet for our curriculum from a master book. We are not allowed ditto sheets so everything is student-directed/written.
One of the Massachusetts writing standards is friendly-letter writing, so this thank you writing project was perfect for them to do. As this is the ninth friendly letter the students have written, we brainstormed reasons why the paper is important, and for me, it was rewarding to read what they value academic-wise in the classroom.
The paper is under lock and key daily. I also am thrilled to have the paper, as actually now is the time we copy blank reading running records for September as well as the contents of some student folders to get ahead.
The pictures show the children working on paper provided by you, and also showing the cases of paper that arrived. (It was like Christmas morning when they wheeled it to my classroom!) Also shown is the lock I bought to store the paper in a closet, and with this comes my promise to wisely use the paper and I will think of your generosity every time I open a ream.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Doktor
This classroom project was brought to life by DIRECTV GOES TO SCHOOL and 2 other donors.