Mrs. McDonald's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 8

• Mindful and Inclusive Books for Diverse Readers

  Funded Dec 16, 2019

  Thank you so much for making this project happen! It is so important that students see themselves in the books that they read and these materials will have a huge impact on the social-emotional learning and inclusive strategies used in my classroom.

  I cannot wait to share the new reading materials with my students and introduce them in our morning circle routine so that all students have the chance to make a connection with the characters in these books as they are added to our classroom library.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

  This classroom project was brought to life by CRUNCH and 11 other donors.

• SMART Board Projector to Complete our Technology Integration

  Funded Feb 14, 2016

  Thank you so much for donating the smart board projector to my classroom. Having access to a SmartBoard has transformed my teaching and truly engaged my students in learning.

  We love playing interactive games and breaking into teams for friendly competition using the smart software games. The smart technology is used in our classroom throughout the day and it is a huge motivator for students. They love using the components that integrate with their Chromebooks so that that they can see their progress live on the board.

  This is also used to differentiate. It allows to me reach multiple learning styles in one lesson seamlessly. The students move, manipulate items, have lots of opportunities to see photos and write in many fun colors throughout the day.

  This has been such an amazing addition to my classroom and we are so thankful for your support!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

• SMART Board to Enhance Student Engagement

  Funded Oct 13, 2015

  Thank you so much for donating to my class project. It is because of amazing donors like you that I am able to begin integrating a Smartboard into my classroom! This project has been quite the undertaking and the largest part has been accomplished, thanks to you!

  After receiving my Smartboard from this project, I put up a second Donor's Choose project for a short throw projector and mounting kit to finish off my Smartboard technology integration. I am so happy to share that the second half of this project will be fully-funded today! I am so excited to get the rest of my Smartboard kit and get everything set up and running in my classroom. Beyond the actual Smartboard "board," you also need a special projector to mount above it and I haven't been able to use my board just yet but the day is finally here where all of the pieces have come together and the installation can begin!

  My students are asking me non-stop when the Smartboard is coming and I can tell that they are incredibly excited to get their hands on this new technology! In fact, we just wrote essays about whether or not classrooms should have technology and the students answered, overwhelmingly, with a YES! I am so happy to be able to meet their needs with the help of your donation and make that a reality in their day-to-day lives!

  I can't wait to begin using my new technology. Thank you so much for all of your support and dedication!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

• iPad for Innovative Instruction in 5th Grade

  Funded Apr 16, 2015

  I wish you could have seen my students' faces when they learned that we received an iPad! Their eyes lit up and they started squirming with excitement. I could tell that they were already making a mental list of the apps that they want to use on the device!

  Many of the students have experience using iPads at home and in their previous classrooms and they immediately started listing their favorite things to do on the iPad at school and at home. Some of the things that topped their list were Class Dojo and a Jenga game with words.

  We're looking forward to getting the Scholastic News app to use with our current Scholastic News subscription and reading the magazines online! We also love using digital stories and I hope to find time to learn how to use some digital story telling applications so that we can publish our writing and share it with others in new, creative ways.

  Having an iPad for my class has already made a huge difference! I've been able to download apps that help organize my teaching (the Common Core Standards app) as well as learning apps that students can use independently to suit their individual learning needs (math practice apps, sight word apps, etc.)

  Thank you for your kindness and generosity. My students are incredibly excited about our new device and thankful for your support!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

  This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 7 other donors.

• Headphones for Hard-Working Self-Paced Learners

  Funded Apr 6, 2015

  My students have been incredibly excited since hearing the news about our new headphones. Their eyes lit up with excitement when they found out we would be getting 18 pairs of brand new Skull Candy headphones. They couldn't believe that we would be getting so many pairs of headphones and that so many students would be able to use them at one time.

  The headphones we've been using were inherited from a retired teacher. While we were appreciative of having any headphones at all, the selection was quite sparse. The headphones would cut out, the cushioned ear pieces were missing and the sound quality was less than impressive. Once I said "Skull Candy," the class knew that they would be getting headphones with great audio quality.

  We now have one pair of headphones for each laptop in the classroom. This has allowed every student with a laptop the ability to listen to videos or stories. Previously, students had to turn the volume down very low so that there wasn't too much noise happening in the room at once. This made it hard for students to listen to the videos or stories and drastically decreased their ability to learn and engage with the content. Now, everyone is able to listen at a volume that they're comfortable with and it has greatly improved their engagement.

  These headphones have revived our technology centers during the instructional day. While students were beginning to lose interest with using digital content because of the lack of headphones, they are now (once again) requesting to use digital devices during independent and small group work time. Knowing that I can engage more students at their independent learning level through engaging online content using both video and sound has been amazing! This has helped me to provide more engaging lesson content and differentiate for a wider range of students.

  We are so thankful for your kindness and overwhelmed with gratitude.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

  This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 9 other donors.

• Superb Students Seek Stellar Classroom Library

  Funded Oct 24, 2014

  Thank you for funding my project! My students love having new books to read and balls to sit on. The balls have been used as a reward and are a great incentive for students to keep up their good behavior! They have also helped students work hard who traditionally have a difficult time focusing.

  The new books were a great addition to my library. It was pretty sparse at the beginning of the year and now the students constantly have good literature to read. You can frequently find students over in the classroom library, browsing the reading selection. I have been able to engage a larger number of readers due to the current, quality selection available in my library!

  This project has helped students focus on the reading and read a greater variety of books. Thank you so much for contributing to my students' success in reading!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

• Powerful Writers Seek Pointy Pencils

  Funded Sep 21, 2014

  Thank you for the wonderful pencil sharpeners! My students have loved having them in our classroom! They've commented on how much sharper their pencils get now, how fast it is to sharpen pencils and how quiet they are compared to our old sharpeners!

  I could not have made this happen without your support! Having two sharpeners out in the room helps the students get their pencils sharp quickly so that they can spend more time writing and less time waiting for something to write with! The sharpeners look nice and don't make our classroom noisy because they're very quick and quiet!

  The students love using their sharp colored pencils to close read and love writing with well-maintained pencil points! Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

  This classroom project was brought to life by NEA Foundation and 2 other donors.

• Classroom Mail Center

  Funded Aug 25, 2014

  My students love the classroom mail center that you helped provide for our classroom! They've said that it's a nice color, it looks cool and that it fits in our classroom perfectly! One student said that they love the way that it keeps our classroom organized because it was very hard to sort papers and keep things together before we had it! I definitely agree with them! This has been an incredibly valuable part of our classroom.

  The shelf sits next to our door and students return their homework to this folder. This makes it very easy for my parent volunteer to come in and check homework and redistribute the next homework packet without disrupting the classroom. Since the shelf is right next to the door, the students can't miss their homework and other important papers on their way out of the classroom! This helps them stay organized and not miss important information. The students also appreciate that they don't have to store all of their papers in their desks and it helps keep their desks clean and organized as well.

  This has really helped the class with bringing items home from school and returning homework and other important papers to the teacher. It has really helped boost learning and teaching by creating an organizational system that will not take away from instructional time. With this new organizer, I'm able to put things away for students without passing it out or calling names for students to collect the papers. I also never have to worry about forgetting to send something home at the end of the day because I've tucked it away somewhere and forgot! Everything they need is always accessible!

  We're getting tons of use out of our mail center and we are so grateful for your help and support!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. McDonald

  This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 8 other donors.