Past projects 25
Headphones for a Quiet Computer
Funded Dec 25, 2017Thank you so much for your donation that provided us with much needed headphones. Some of the students finally don't have to share headphones with someone else in the class or mute their sound so it doesn't interrupt instruction. I went around to classes and asked students who did not have headphones to raise their hands. They felt like it was Christmas when they got to pick which kind they wanted to use for the remaining part of the year. These headphones and earbuds will make all the difference to some of these students.
Thank you for making our New Year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Amy Hayes & Sophie Leake Memorial Fund and 2 other donors.Scientists Investigating the Butterfly Lifecycle
Funded Jan 26, 2018Thank you so much for our wonderful new pets. They arrived last Wednesday and were about a half inch long. It has now been just over a week and they have grown 3x their arrival length. Every day when we come to school it looks like they have grown overnight. The students from Pre-K through 5th grade are excited to tell you about their caterpillars and compare them with the ones in the Science Lab. The teachers are also getting excited and are beginning to prepare for the next stages of the caterpillar's life cycle. The fifth graders excitedly did an observation science experiment with their caterpillars and couldn't wait to share what they did with others. Watch for our pictures as we watch our babies grow and change over the next couple weeks.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Amy Hayes & Sophie Leake Memorial Fund and one other donor.Mad Scientists Ready for Work but ----Lab Coats Needed!
Funded Dec 19, 2017Thank you so much for the fabulous lab coats! The students instantly fell in love with them. They came just in time for Science Fair presentations. The instant the students put the lab coats on their whole demeanor changed - they became Scientist Jazline instead of just Jazline. We will be having a Science Fair night in a couple weeks and all the coats will be out for the Scientists to wear as they view the projects and receive awards for the best projects.
I can't wait to see how excited they will get when they are working on a science experiment and the teacher passes out the lab coats. I am waiting to see if there is a difference in the atmosphere.
Thank you again for your donation. We are feeling like scientists so we are scientists because of you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Amy Hayes & Sophie Leake Memorial Fund and 4 other donors.Ten Frames in 4th Grade - Large Number Computation
Funded Aug 31, 2017Thank you so much for donating the giant ten frames and the place value discs. The students have enjoyed using them in various ways.
- Some students who were struggling with place value used the ten frames as a 5-digit place value mat - (10,000 - 1's place) and then used the discs to build a number. ex. 13,284 - the 4 is in the ones place so I need 4 ones discs and they need to go in the ones place, 8 tens discs - they go in the 10's place, 2 - hundreds discs which go in the hundreds place......
- Some students enjoyed using the mats to subtract. It was easy for them to see when they needed to regroup. What they noticed each time they regrouped and did their exchange they filled up a 10's frame. A 10 disc was exchanged for 10 ones, a 100 disc was exchanged for 10 tens, and a 1,000 disc was exchanged for 10 hundreds! We found the pattern of what was happening each time.
I haven't tried yet, but I think the ten frames and disc would also be powerful when you are rounding. (is the frame less than half full or at least 1/2 full?) What does that mean?
I am sure we will find many uses for them throughout the year.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Amy Hayes & Sophie Leake Memorial Fund and 5 other donors.New Ideas and Strategies Learned at the National Mathematics Conference!
Funded Nov 14, 2016Thank you so much for providing me the opportunity to attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Exhibition and Meeting. The conference was wonderful and I came away with so many new ideas to share with my teachers and students.
I think my favorite session had to deal with numberless word problems. Our students have a hard time knowing how to solve single and multi-step word problems. This 75-minute session had to do with sharing word problems with your students, but take all the numbers out at first. This way they have to concentration on the relationships within the problem and not just jump to the numbers.
Here is an example of how to present the problem and slowly add the numbers.
Some girls participated in an art competition. Fewer boys than girls took part.
- Discuss what you know.
134 girls participated in an art competition. Fewer boys than girls took part.
- Discuss what you know with the additional information.
- What do you know about the boys now? Between 2 and 133 – Why?
134 girls participated in an art competition. Fifteen fewer boys than girls took part.
- What questions could be asked? Discuss
134 girls participated in an art competition. Fifteen fewer boys than girls took part.
134 girls participated in an art competition. Fifteen fewer boys than girls took part.
How many children participated in the art competition?
Thanks again for your generosity. I know my students will benefit from this new strategy.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
Let's Exploragon It!
Funded Dec 30, 2016Thank you for making math fun for my students. I have used the Exploragons with both my 4th and 5th graders. They both loved using and creating shapes with them. However, the stories I am about to share all come from my 5th graders.
Two weeks ago as we were working on area and perimeter of rectangles and right triangles I use them during my After School Remediation group. This is a group of 5th graders who stay after school 2 days a week for extra reading and math instruction. The students were given 10 tasks that they had to complete. The tasks involved following directions on how to make the shape using the Exploragons, using the ruler to measure the length of the sides to the nearest inch to calculate the area and perimeter of each. They had such a great time they asked me if I could bring them back the following week. Since it went over so well I redid the lesson with other 5th graders I work with during the day and they also wanted more. Well, when students ask for more how can we as teachers turn their requests down. I noticed that they were having trouble finding the area of a right triangle. So this week out they came again. Only this time we focused on creating right triangles, building the rectangle around the triangle to find the area and then finding the area of the right triangle. Guess what - they wanted more! Since they had begun their unit on polygons we made polygons today. They had to identify the shape and characteristics along with using the protractor that came with the Exploragons and measure their angles so we could identify their angles.
For example - a shape that had 4 sides that were the same length
- We named it a quadrilateral, square, rectangle, rhombus, polygon, and parallelogram.
- We measured the angles and found out a square had 90 degree (right) angles, but we could make a rhombus has acute and obtuse angles.
You will never guess, but they asked for them AGAIN next week!
What a great time of learning!
Thank you all for making learning fun!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and 3 other donors.Math Manipulatives Lead to Mastery
Funded Oct 2, 2016Thank you once again for providing needed materials to my students. We have not used all the materials as of yet (units are upcoming later this spring), but the giant magnetic chart and the ten-frame dice have definitely been a hit.
My third grade students enjoyed being able to model their newly discovered multiplication and division arrays on the dry-erase magnetic chart. We have metal lockers behind our small group table so how convenient was it that the chart could be stuck to the lockers without taking up the extra room of a chart stand. I think they would have worked all day solving problems just to be able to use the array chart and a dry erase marker.
My kindergartners have enjoyed the ten-frame dice during three different units since receiving them. This fall we used them when we were talking about teen numbers (11 - 19). They had to roll the die, count the dots, and then practice writing the numeral. It was interesting to see the difference in the students who have great number sense (they saw 10 and some more) and those that had to count each dot. The next time we used them was during our addition to 10 unit. The students had to roll 2 of the 0-5 dice and create their own addition problem by completing their addition sentence ( _____ and _____ is ______ ) Some of the students would even draw the dots above the numbers. Finally, just this past week we were learning about subtraction. The students were working with partners. One partner had the red 6 - 10 die and the other partner had the blue 0 - 5 die. The red die was rolled and the partner had to create that set on their 10-frame. Then the blue die was rolled and that many had to be taken away. As this was being done they also created their math equation ___ take away ____ is ____. What fun they have had with the dice. Now I just wish I would have gotten more so everyone could have them.
Thank you so much for adding some fun learning to our math classes.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and 3 other donors.What Does 100,000 Look Like?
Funded Nov 14, 2016Thank you for the opportunity to show my students what 100,000 looks like! We have always used the place value blocks to model ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Today we got to see what 100,000 looked like.
I asked the students what they thought 10,000 would look like and they talked about 10 one thousand blocks stacked on top of each other. I then asked them how big they thought 100,000 would be. Someone commented that they thought it would fill the room. We then built 10,000 and compared it to 1, 10, 100, and 1,000. Then the students, as a class had to unpack the cubes and create a 100,000 model. Enjoy looking at the picture that shows the model that they came up with.
The next thing we did today was talk about how many ones would be in 100,000 (100,000), how many tens rods would be in 100,000 (10,000), how many hundreds flats would be in 100,000 (1,000), how many thousands cubes (100), how many 10,000 (10), how many 100,000 (1). We talked about the pattern we noticed. The thinking was amazing.
We also looked at where numbers would be in our wall of 100,000. - Where would the 54,302 block be? What about the 98,989? It was a great time seeing the students process their number sense skills.
However, I think my favorite part was the clean up. The blocks came in 3 boxed - 2 large and 1 small. I ask the students to put the blocks away in the boxes. Only the 2 large boxes were in the middle of the floor. They neatly stacked the blocks in the 2 boxes and then discovered they needed a third box. They did find the box which was big enough to hold 6 cubes. However, they only had 5 cubes to put in the box. Someone stated that they were missing a cube. I asked are you sure? How many are in the other boxes. After just completing their multiplication division unit this week they found out the one box had 3 layers of 15 (3 x 15 =45) and the other big box had 2 layers of 25 (2 x 25 = 50) plus our box of 5. Upon their discovery they did have all 100 sine 50 + 45 = 95 and 5 more in the small box equaled 100. Mystery solved and we had a great time. I can't wait to do more with them!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and one other donor.Algebra in Kindergarten - 3rd Grade? No Way!
Funded Mar 4, 2016Thank you again for your donations. We are having so much fun with the number balances and weighted numbers! My first grade students have been working on solving various addition problems using the balances and numbers. They can also compare 2 problems (2 + 5 > 4 + 1) and then check their work the number balances and weighted numbers in a balance scale.
The students are challenging themselves to make harder problems that they can solve just so they can use the new materials to prove themselves right!
Thanks again for you help in making learning exciting.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and 6 other donors.Help Us Draw Our Mathematical Representations
Funded Apr 28, 2016Dear Donors,
Thank you again for supplying my math groups with dry-erase markers and math stickers. When my students came to group today they were very surprised that I had all new (not half-way dried out) markers for them to use. They said, "Mrs. Gray, you got us new markers!". I then went in to explain that 3M and an anonymous donor donated the money and bought us the markers. They were amazed that people that didn't even know us were "giving" us makers.
Today we used the markers in 5th grade to solve multi-step word problems. Now, how exciting can that be - but with new markers and some great math stickers the students worked hard on the problems for our 30 minute group.
During my three third grade groups we worked on solving multiplication and division problems, their fact families, and showing that problem represented in various ways (array model, number line, and sets).
Thank you again for the markers. They will be well used and appreciated by all my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gray
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and 2 other donors.