Mrs. Ensley's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 20

• Terrific Tubanos!

  Funded Jan 9, 2025

  I am so grateful to you for funding this beautiful set of tubanos for my music classroom! Drumming is by far one of my students’ favorite activities and is so fun for me to teach. I know these drums will thrill my students and inspire musicians for years to come. Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• Help us Rise to the Ocassion!

  Funded Jan 9, 2025

  Thank you so much for your generosity in funding this Wenger flipform for our music classroom! I am very excited to incorporate this into my classroom activities to diversify the way we do rotations. I know it will also inspire different ways of performing and presenting our hard work to the entire school! Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• Djembe Joy!

  Funded Jan 9, 2025

  I am incredibly grateful to have this project completed! I absolutely love the sound and size of these particular drums as they are easy to store but make a big musical impression. My students are always asking to use them but we don’t get around to it very often because we don’t have enough for everyone. Thanks to you we will be able to use them as a full class and even do engaging performances!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• A Musical Book Nook!

  Funded Dec 27, 2024

  Thank you so much for supporting my elementary music classroom! I can’t wait to start the new year off with some exciting lessons based around these new books. I know my students will enjoy moving, singing, and playing instruments along with this diverse selection of literature! We appreciate your generosity!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• I'm Not Pulling Your String: We Need Some Puppets!

  Funded Nov 29, 2023

  Thank you so much for providing such a fun variety of puppets for my music classroom! I teach bilingual Spanish-English learners and as an English-only speaking teacher I sometimes am challenged by communicating with my students. The puppets have been super helpful in teaching animal vocabulary in both languages and I am so surprised in how much the puppets engage children! Their eyes just light up when I am using a puppet and connecting with them in that way.

  I just finished up a farm unit with my kindergarteners and the puppets were perfect. I had a puppet for each animal we sang about and I used the puppet to clap when the kids were supposed to play their instruments. It was a hit!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• Bring a Recorder Consort to Our School!

  Funded Jan 4, 2024

  Thank you so much for providing our classroom with a complete recorder consort! We were able to purchase a garklein (highest), alto (medium), tenor (medium) and bass (lowest) to compliment our pre-existing soprano recorders. My students were fascinated by the different sizes and loved comparing the sound of each one. It was a great challenge for them to try them out, because the spacing between your fingers on the larger recorders is so different to what they're used to.

  We worked on a four-part piece that alternated between unison melody on the sopranos and then a small consort with all the different sizes. This was such a fun challenge for my students and the great thing about it is that we will get to do this for years to come because we have these beautiful instruments in our classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• Books Make Music Magical!

  Funded Jan 4, 2024

  Thank you so much for providing the funding I needed to create a musical book display in my classroom. I had so much fun creating rotating displays that celebrated diversity! In January I was able to feature books to coordinate with lessons about Lunar New Year. In February we focused on books and music lessons that celebrated Black musicians and composers. In March, we learned about female musicians and composers. In May, the books centered Asian and Pacific Islander musicians and composers. Many students enjoyed checking out the books when I changed them up and then asked to borrow them from the library which shows me that they felt inspired! Thanks for bringing this excitement for learning to my classroom! I look forward to keeping this up for years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley

• Help My Students See Themselves as Musicians!

  Funded Jan 30, 2023

  Your donations to my projects were able to fund so many diverse and exciting new titles for our music lessons! We were able to highlight important occasions throughout the year such as AAPI Month and Black History Month. I was also able to feature some biographies of Latino musicians that greatly inspired my students.

  For example, we used the book "My Family Plays Music" to practice auxiliary percussion technique while simultaneously learning about different genres of Black American Music. We read "When Marian Sang" and then listed to her recording of "Ave Maria" whilst coloring a listening glyph. We moved our bodies in creative ways to express "Moving Words About a Flower".

  Thank you so much for supporting our classroom- I look forward to using these books again next year and finding even more ways to help my students see themselves as musicians!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Ensley