Past projects 12
Breaking the CODE to reading
Funded Aug 18, 2023Thank you so much for the literacy materials you donated to our classroom. Students were excited to see the new centers they would be using to help them with their reading and understanding of how words work.
The reading cards helps students with their one to one reading practice as they touch each dot to read the words. The decoding dots helps them to say every sound of the word then put it together to make the word. They are then encouraged to reread the sentence to see if it makes sense after decoding. When it does big smiles all around. Lastly they find the picture that matches their sentence. The smiles that come from student when they are successful when reading a complete sentence is so wonderful to see and celebrated.
The making word games and CVC game are so fun that the kids want to play and make words over and over again. Both games reinforce hearing the sounds of a word as they read the word or make the word that goes with the picture.
I already see the growth in blending words and the confidence in the students as they work with these materials, once again thank you for helping me make a difference.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 10 other donors.Let's Think, Plan and Create!
Funded Jan 3, 2023The students were given the challenge to use the STEAM kits to create a vehicle that would take them by sea or air to a place of their own imagination, you could feel the excitement of wonder and joy in the room.
They first shared with one another what and how they would engineer their vehicle and where they wanted to go. When the students talked and listened to one another, drew up their plans and used of the hands-on materials, the energy, the brain stimulation, and satisfaction (squeals) of success was amazing. The students was able to go through the process of thinking through an idea to the end in order to engineer a working vehicle.
The robot kit helped students to read and follow an already written plan in order to engineer a robot that they could control to movement. The impact in learning robotics is it helps the students solve challenges in a creative way. They also benefit from a variety of learning possibilities by creating and recreating the robot in kit.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 3 other donors.Hands-on Math Manipulatives Will Help Our Brain to Grow!
Funded Aug 1, 2022Thank you for your donations; the students were extremely excited to use the items during math center and science engineering projects.
The math games you provided gave the students hands-on practice in applying mathematical principles, and having fun while doing so. They are able to use the manipulatives as a visual representation of the numbers that they can move around in order to subtract or add. They are then able to write a number sentence under each number representation in order to help place their work in working memory.
We use the magnetic tiles in our S.T.E.A.M. (Science, technology, Engineer, Art and Math) challenges as engineers. We plan and draw out which tiles we can use to construct an solution to problems. The students are learning what shapes connect well together, which geometrical shapes can be used to create new or needed shapes and what type of foundation is the best to use. The tiles are awesome because they are magnetic and the students find that they can build structures interesting ways.
We thank you for your gift and your help in the building of our future mathematicians, engineers and scientist
.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron and 8 other donors.Ready, Set, We Are Ready To Go Back to School!
Funded Sep 24, 2021Thank you so much for the resources you supplied for my classroom. The students were so excited to receive the items from the "Friends of our Success" and are really enjoying the items given to our class.
The head phones supplied helped my students to focus on the various reading and math sites given to them to enhance their learning. The learning puzzles are a big hit during our literacy centers time. They work out the puzzles with their friends and go over the letter sounds to say the words that match the pictures. This also helps them with letter sound recognition when they are writing. The writing journals are used to write book reviews and reports. Students take the journals home and read books to their parents and together they create a report or review of the book. The parent component of learning is very important to me. The parents enjoy the growth they see in their children's writing as well as reading my responses to their child's work.
We really appreciate your gift of learning supplies to our classroom. The supplies are a great financial support for me as well as our school. Thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 6 other donors.Building Our Knowledge of Our World Through Non-Fiction Reading
Funded Mar 16, 2021Thank you for giving us the gift of reading and knowledge through the News weekly Readers. This publication help us in many ways such as; vocabulary building, expanding our knowledge of the world, and giving us topics that are motivating and fun to read.
We know that learning to read involves more that just reading words, it also involves comprehension of the topic or text. These readers help in the development of both areas. The high interest topics in each article help my learners see the world around them with beautiful photos. The children enjoy talking about these photos before we begin our reading which helps with comprehension of the text. The discussions are rich and non-stop which is a big help for my second language students. It allows them the oral practice needed to build comprehensive sentences and language practice.
The content is highly engaging and it's hard to stop the kids from talking about all the cool things they are learning as we read. I really like the fact that we are covering many of the social studies and science standards as we enjoy the articles, the videos and games on the website.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 2 other donors.Building Our Knowledge of Our World Through Non-Fiction Reading
Funded Sep 25, 2020Thank you for giving us the gift of reading and knowledge through the News weekly Readers. This publication help us in many ways such as; vocabulary building, expanding our knowledge of the world, and giving us topics that are motivating and fun to read.
We know that learning to read involves more that just reading words, it also involves comprehension of the topic or text. These readers help in the development of both areas. The high interest topics in each article help my learners see the world around them with beautiful photos. The children enjoy talking about these photos before we begin our reading which helps with comprehension of the text. The discussions are rich and non-stop which is a big help for my second language students. It allows them the oral practice needed to build comprehensive sentences and language practice.
The content is highly engaging and it's hard to stop the kids from talking about all the cool things they are learning as we read. I really like the fact that we are covering many of the social studies and science standards as we enjoy the articles, the videos and games on the website.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
Expanding Our Knowledge Through Reading
Funded Dec 24, 2019I would like to thank you for you generous donation of the Scholastic News monthly magazines. The children enjoy learning about different things and topics from the interesting articles written in the weekly packets. The photographs are engaging and my students, build their nonfiction-reading skills, as well as increase their knowledge in content areas.
I appreciate the extra resources provided such as videos, slideshows, graphs, charts, maps, diagrams and printable sheets that accompany the articles all of which help to create a clearer picture of the topics for all my students especially my visual learns.
I have many second language and special need students in my classroom who are really loving the interesting facts that they are learning from the articles. My ELLs'(English Language Learner) are having fun learning how to say new words presented in the articles and sharing them with their families. My Autism kiddos love looking at the videos and an engaging with the actions and sounds presented, this helps to create a fuller picture of the topic for these students.
Thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
Come Relax and Enjoy a Book at the Table
Funded May 2, 2019The students were really excited to see the new comfy chairs and table addition to our library. They loved the feel of the soft fabric and cushions as well as how they can adjust to lean back a little.
They are used for buddy reading, reading groups and library reading. I tell them that these seats are for serious readers which helps to hold them accountable for their use as well as make them feel special as they sit and read in them. The table is a perfect fit for the 4 chairs in the library area.
I've been told by students that they feel like real readers when they sit in the chairs, because they are so comfortable and soft. They say it's really cool to be able to lean back a little and read a book.
The chairs are a great motivator for building reading stamina, as well as the joy of reading. Thank you for the great addition to our classroom. The chairs and table will be enjoyed by many wonderful readers.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
Learning Science and Math the Hands-on Way!
Funded Feb 2, 2018My first grade classroom would like to thank you for the amazing donation of math and science materials. The activities purchased for science help the students to imagine, plan and create projects that will help them to develop an deeper understanding of how to bring their ideas to life. Some of the activities requires the students to look at an blueprint or picture card, decide on the tools needed to create it and then put their plan into action to see if it works. This type of critical thinking helps with brain development, problem solving as well as fine motor skills. The math games have increased their number sense as well as the efficiency in number problem solving. Its a joy for me to watch them work together while having fun as they learn and build brain capacity. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods
Our Great Efforts Plus Great Tools will Equal Great Writers!
Funded Nov 1, 2017The first graders in Room T, truly thank you for the very much needed writing boards and chart paper stand tools which are helping us to become better writers and mathematicians. We use our tools everyday to practice phonics skills such as sounding out words, shared writing and word building. We love using the magnetic letters on the board and being able to manipulate t letters on it. Being able to manipulate and writing letters on the board and our lap boards help us to internalize putting sounds together to create words as well as allowing us to correct misconceptions. We also use our lap boards to practice our math skills. Once again we thank you for making this possible for us, your donation has helped us in ways that will prepare us for second grade.
The Outstanding Wonderful Learners (OLWs ) in Room T say thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woods