Past projects 45
Scholarly Seating!
Funded May 26, 2023Thank you so much for the extraordinary donation of four new tables! I cannot think of a classroom need more fundamental than functional and safe tables, and I deeply appreciate your recognition of this.
As you will find in my current students' thank-you letters, they adore the tables, and shudder to think of what past classes had to contend with. Our new tables allow for quality group work, flexible seating, and a clean, dependable surface on which to work.
Finally, and it feels silly to mention this, but keeping the old individual tables clean was a never-ending chore that was impossible to keep up with. However, cleaning the four large tables is a comparative breeze that I can complete on a daily basis in mere minutes.
Again, thank you for your generosity and dedication to my students. We appreciate you all so very much, and wish you all the best!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
Orton-Gillingham Training Is a Must
Funded May 24, 2022I am so incredibly grateful for your support with this project. It has been a long-standing dream of mine to receive real-deal training on Orton-Gillingham, and with your generous contribution to this proposal l was able to make it happen. Again, thank you so much for making available what a public school professional-development budget could not allow.
Since my training, I have been working with one of my current 5th grade students on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. This student has had an uneven experience with literacy and began the year reading at a first-grade level, but is extremely committed to making the most of our sessions and is now making strong and steady progress. I am grateful for his patience as I learn to use all the materials, methods and techniques I was introduced to during my extensive training. Learning a new skill can take a community, and I am grateful to your financial support, his cooperation, and all the other forces that have aligned to allow me to gain the skills that I will pay forward for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
Tech Tools for Friction-Free Remote Learning
Funded Sep 16, 2020I am so thankful for the extraordinary tools you gave me at the start of this extraordinary school year. After the trial-and-error fueled rollout of remote learning in the spring, I knew I would need a few more tech-type supports (of my own choosing) to allow September to begin smoothly. Thanks to your generosity, a smooth start was able to take place, and now, as I write this at the end of December, I can say that your donation came in handy in ways both planned and unplanned, and that as a result the first third of our all-remote year has gone off relatively hitch-less.
I hope you and yours are able to look back at 2020 and find similar moments of being able to say, "Well, at least that went off okay!" This year has been so hard for so many of us, and I am grateful for your trust and confidence as I work to chart some kind of path forward. Your support helps to keep me going, and I cannot thank you enough, and I wish you all a very happy start to 2021.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose 20th Anniversary Fund and 5 other donors.Part 1: Circle Seating Supports Socializing, Smiles and Self-Esteem!
Funded May 13, 2019Thank you so much for supporting such an important initiative at our school. With our new circular lunch tables, students are able to enjoy lunch and develop nascent conversation skills.
With our old bench-style tables, students would regularly vie for the end seats which could occasionally lead to heated disagreements. Now, the removal of kids trying to get prime seating, they are able to lessen the pressure during lunch and focus on the task at hand: eating lunch and making friends. Plus, as the circular structure leads away from one-to-one partner conversations and towards more inclusive conversations, kids are able to engage in conversation with a greater number of students and strengthen relationships.
As we adults know, friendships are often established and/or deepened over shared meals and conversation. Thank you for helping our kids begin what will hopefully be a lifelong practice!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 10 other donors.LEGO: The Magical Tool That Doubles as a Toy
Funded Dec 1, 2019Thank you so much for supporting this project, and believing in my students! There are so many kiddos who are desperate for extra time to build friendships and play during the school day. While we try to make space for unstructured play, the "busy-ness" of the academic day leaves many wishing for time where they can just play with one another. This club--and the awesome materials--will allow for that. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 4 other donors.Boring but Vital: Safe and Secure Technology Storage
Funded Jun 9, 2019Thank you for supporting this initiative in our classroom! We were already so fortunate to have enough computers for all kids to benefit from regular and thoughtful access to technology, but your donation of a fancy charging station/safe means that all devices are now reliably charged and ready for use on a daily basis. Thank you!
There is so much technology being secured for schools right now, and I am firmly in the camp of educators who want all screen time to be purposeful and lead to greater academic understanding and freedom. Not having to be beholden on my school or district for technology means that I get to choose exactly what my kids are using and how they use it--and I chose Chromebooks because they are most user-friendly, dependable machines on the market. However, choosing to go through DonorsChoose means that I also need to secure all related supplies, storage unit included. Thank you again for making my classroom into the workplace of my (and my students') dreams.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
Flexible Seating for All!
Funded Nov 18, 2018My heart is full of gratitude, my mind is full of ideas, and my students are full of joy--we love flexible seating! Your generous support brought a range of flexible seating options to our classroom, and we will never forget it. Being able to move around the room has fostered growth and independence for all students, created new alliances and learning partnerships, and made the year that much more worthwhile. Plus, the seating options themselves will stand the test of time and be used by countless classes to come.
I know flexible seating is very much en vogue right now, but I urge you to believe the hype as it really is transformational. When the options first arrived in late fall, I experimented with having the kiddos choose their seats every morning, but that soon proved too time-consuming and tedious. We already were moving around the room for small-group instruction throughout the day, so I figured that having the kids just choose where to sit for the periods where they would traditionally be sitting in a "home" seat to take the experiment of "choosing a smart seat" that much further. We've talked so much about how to choose where and how to sit, how to negotiate with a classmate if you both want a particular seat, and how to revise a choice that's just not working. All of this feels very much like real life, and I am so glad that I--again, with your generous support--have managed to find yet another way to bring the realities of everyday life into the classroom.
Your support means so much to all of us, and we will put this donation to use for years to come--thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
Teachers Can Benefit from Book Clubs, Too!
Funded Oct 18, 2018It is with a huge smile and a brain buzzing with new ideas that I write you this thank-you note. By supporting this project, you provided simple materials that inspired innumerable projects and changes, and will continue to motivate other teachers for years to come. These two powerful texts--"Teasing, Tattling, and Defiance" and "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain"--are chockfull with ideas, and are sure to bring about many passionate debates, foster dialogue, and inspire reflection for many years to come.
Teacher book clubs provide the opportunity to do so much more than just read books. Teachers have such busy days, and rarely have time to speak to one another, let alone meaningfully and collectively engage with ideas. These book clubs allowed new alliances to form, relevant best practices to be shared, and new initiatives to get off the ground. Every single teacher who participated said they would absolutely participate again in future clubs, and would recommend this work to anyone who wants to grow their practice, learn new skills to reach more students, better understand their colleagues, and help strengthen our school culture.
The amount of money (and time!) that schools spend on "professional development" programs is truly mind-boggling. Teacher-organized book clubs can be such an effective tool for personal and professional growth, and I am so grateful for your generosity in granting us the tools to get this work started. Thanks to your donation, we now have club-sized sets of two key texts, and they will be pored over and put to use in many rounds of teacher book clubs to come.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
Chromebooks Are Like Gold, Part 2
Funded Jan 25, 2018As I said in my counterpart email, thank you for once again coming to the rescue and providing our students with crucial support. Now more than ever before, students must have meaningful, rich experiences with technology in school to be ready for all the challenges that lay just ahead. I do not want to sound alarmist, but far too many of our students go to bed while watching YouTube, play video games online (with minimal oversight), and share personal information on social media sites with only short-term gains in mind. Moving forward, responsible and productive use of technology must be an integral part of each and every school day. Using technology to enhance learning, explore the world, forge connections and more are just a few of the things we aim to do with the resources you provided.
The kids cannot wait to meet you, and more than a few are hard at work preparing additional pieces of writing to present during your visit. Thank you for everything--as I hope I have communicated over the years, it means so much.
We wish you the very best!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and one other donor.Chromebooks Are Like Gold - Part 1
Funded Jan 25, 2018Thank you for once again coming to the rescue and providing our students with crucial support. Now more than ever before, students must have meaningful, rich experiences with technology in school to be ready for all the challenges that lay just ahead. I do not want to sound alarmist, but far too many of our students go to bed while watching YouTube, play video games online (with minimal oversight), and share personal information on social media sites with only short-term gains in mind. Moving forward, responsible and productive use of technology must be an integral part of each and every school day. Using technology to enhance learning, explore the world, forge connections and more are just a few of the things we aim to do with the resources you provided.
As soon as we opened the boxes, we began our mission. In the months since, the kids have written essays, typed letters to their Pen Pals in Urbandale, Iowa, produced "Book Buzzes" (voluntary book reports that are a wonder to behold), and much, much more. We are so thrilled with their thoughtful work, and we are beyond grateful for what your generosity has allowed. Thank you for everything!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Whittemore
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 2 other donors.