Past projects 3
Health and Hygiene
Funded Oct 20, 2022I first want to thank you for donating to my classroom and students. Your donation has truly made a big impact. My students were very excited to have the necessary items for their well-being. The students were the ones that have kept our Health and Wellness Closet organized and taken ownership of distributing items to our middle school grades.
These items for sanitary and health items have made my students feel more less self-conscious. They carry hand sanitizer along with deodorant in their backpacks to have in case of emergencies. Additionally, the snacks has helped students stay focused on academics since they don't feel hungry.
Your kindness has inspired my students to do more for other grades and people around the community. We are currently looking to expand this project to benefit more than our own classrooms.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Diaz
A Comfortable Reading Corner
Funded Sep 1, 2022The materials you have donated have allowed my students to take up an interest in reading. They always ask to sit in the reading corner with their favorite book. So many students ask to sit there that we now have a daily schedule. Many students can spend up towards 30 minutes writing silently. The students also take their writing assignments to the library corner to complete. They truly enjoy the reading corner.
When they students saw the materials, they were shocked at first. It was an unexpected surprise for them. Having these materials made them super happy and excited to read. A group of students helped organize the reading corner and library and set up all the materials. Additionally, students have take the responsibility of keeping the area clean and taking care of all the materials.
Currently, my students are writing their own narratives. They feel inspired to write fiction stories because they are constantly reading. My students are becoming authors and we hope to publish our stories into a classroom book.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Diaz
Spark A Love Of Reading and Creativity
Funded Oct 10, 2014At the beginning of the school year, I asked my students what kind of materials and resources they would like to have in this classroom. The majority of them said they wanted books that they would enjoy. I promised them that we would make it happen one way or another. Thankfully, Donors Choose and Chevron were able to make this a possibility. My students were excited to see the boxes come in everyday for a few weeks. They asked who had sent them and when we would start reading the books. My students were very curious and surprised that someone had sent us all these materials.
We are using the resources in many different ways. The majority of the materials we chose were novels for the classroom. These novels have been used as supplementary materials for World History. I've added these novels to support topics we are covering. For example, during the topic of Age of Exploration, we read excerpts from Things Fall Apart to get additional perspectives on the impact of exploration in Africa. These novels have also inspired many of my students to read. They have been different novels that they did not expect to like. Many of the students enjoyed reading The Fault in Our Stars. This book was read in my Freshman Experience class. We were able to watch the movie and write an essay arguing whether the book or movie was better. We still have many more novels to read that will be read when we reach the 20th century in our history class. Lastly, these novels have been pushing students to read more independently. As a school, we are in the Accelerated Reader (AR) Program. Students read books and take quizzes Ondine. Based on those quizzes, students will receive points if they pass. My 9th grade students are currently in the lead by more than 500 points as compared to the other grade levels.
We also received paper and highlighters. Students have been able to have their own copy of a worksheet instead of having to write down their answers on a separate piece of paper. We no longer needed to share worksheets. This has helped tremendously because my students are annotating and analyzing primary and secondary sources. These sources eventually lead up to a written response from 1-4 paragraphs.
To end, having nutritious snacks have helped my students a great deal. Many of them do not eat during the day so having a small snack has helped keep them focus. Although it is not a full meal, it does provide some substance.
This project has boosted my teaching and student learning by making my classroom more engaging and hands on. Throughout the year, students have been given packets of primary and secondary sources which eventually lead to a written response. My students have grown academically and have been able to complete these independently. They use the highlighters we received to show their textual evidence when answering the questions. My room is also more welcoming because of the different color paper we received. Their assignments are sometimes in a multitude of colors because it brightens up the room when I put them up on our "Student Work Wall." My classroom has become livelier because of this project.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Diaz