Past projects 8
Growing as a Teacher
Funded Sep 22, 2023I am immensely grateful for your generous support in funding my Maintenance of Certification for Teachers. Your contribution has played a pivotal role in enhancing my effectiveness as an educator.
Through this certification process, I've learned invaluable lessons that have directly impacted my teaching approach. For instance, I successfully created a safe space for a student with selective mutism, enabling them to speak up in class. Additionally, I discovered the importance of recognizing and nurturing students' unique strengths, as exemplified by a student excelling in drawing despite academic challenges. This led me to celebrate his talent by entrusting him with a special role in our class's jack-o'-lantern creation.
The certification journey emphasized the significance of giving students a voice. As a result, I've been intentional about inviting my first graders to explain their thinking to the class, fostering a sense of empowerment and ownership in their learning journey.
Furthermore, delving into students' social-emotional health has been a key takeaway. Conducting interviews revealed the depth of their love for collaborative work and the immense learning that occurs through peer interaction. This insight has shaped my teaching practices to prioritize the holistic development of each student.
In advancing myself as an educator, your financial support has been instrumental. Thank you for investing in the growth of both my professional skills and the positive impact I can make in the lives of my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
Put Away the Electronic Devices and Let's Get Creative!
Funded Mar 8, 2021"These scissors look funny, Ms. Lau!" "What are the paper and stick for?" My students were so curious when they opened the bag of arts and crafts supplies you donated. I couldn't get their attention back as soon as they opened their bags! Their imaginations were unleashed! They dived right into using the materials to create art pieces and they conversed with each other about their creations while we were having our Zoom meeting. Our Zoom meeting was loaded with conversations about what they could do with their art supplies and tools. There were so many, "LOOK! Look at what I made with the rainbow scratch paper!" They were inspiring each other with their ideas!
After our Zoom meeting, I created an online assignment on a platform that my students are familiar with to upload videos and/or pictures of their creations using the art supplies I sent them. Students could use the voice recording tool to describe what they made. It promotes oral presentation skill to my English learners. After the videos and pictures were uploaded, students could see each other's creation, get inspired and then they created more!
These students went on to their summer break shortly after they received the wonderful art supplies. Since they got to keep the art supplies, they were able to continue with creating more art work over their summer break when many of them were still staying at home during the pandemic. These students' families and I are so grateful that our young children received such wonderful gifts to keep their minds and hands busy during the time of social distancing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
This classroom project was brought to life by A Northern California family and one other donor.No More Fuzzy Images!
Funded Sep 17, 2020I cannot begin to tell you how helpful it has been to teach remotely with the document camera you donated to my online classroom! I've been using it to teach different subjects. Since my students do not have access to the books that I have, I have to project the contents of my books from my document camera. My students can see very clearly of what I am projecting! The zoom in feature comes in handy since my students have very tiny monitors.
As you can see in the photos I submitted, I was doing an art project integrated with literacy. On that day, we had a virtual visit to Asian Art Museum. The storyteller told my class a folktale about a puppy and a Tiger. After the event, I taught students how to make paper puppets so they could retell the stories they heard. The document camera made it possible for me to show my students step by step. Every student made a video of themselves retelling the tale with their paper plate puppets. My students were so into it. They were developing their oral language skills while having fun. Engaging young students during remote learning is a big challenge but this activity engaged everyone. We watched each other's video the next day.
In the future, I will continue to use the document to show students how to write. On the computer, it's very challenging to show them how to grip the pencil correctly or write on the lines. With the document camera, it's possible. There were times I attempted to demonstrate something to my class and forgot to use the document camera. Someone from my class would always remind me to use my document camera. It's funny to see how very young children know to best utilize digital tools. Thank you for supporting my students. This donation will also benefit my future students too! Thank you very much for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and one other donor.Invest in Our Children!
Funded Jan 26, 2020With the help of your donation, I was able to move forward with my pursuit in National Board Certification process in Literacy. I have been doing applying many best practices I learned from the National Board literacy standards. I diligently seek information about my students using many sources. planned my lessons and assessment based on my knowledge of my students and made adjustments to accommodate to their needs. I seek to expand my knowledge in meeting the needs of my students by participating in professional development outside my work hours. As a result of all of these actions, I delivered lessons that are more relevant and meaningful to my students and I also established a more meaningful partnerships with my students' parents and community members.
A favorite classroom moment I had after learning about guiding students to own their learning was the time I had students take over my seat and explain their mathematical thinking to their fellow students in front of the class using the big screen. The students presenting were empowered and the audience was very engaged to learn from their friends. The audience asked the presenter questions and the presenter answered or clarified. That moment really highlighted the impact of my project.
As I am going through the certification process this year, I see that I still have a lot room to improve. I would like to deepen my skills and knowledge in technology so my students can be more active participants in using technology. Presently, they are more of a passive participant in which they just sit and receive from whatever technology I present with but I'd like to see my students contributing and interacting with each other using technology.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
I Am Learning Even Though I Can't Sit Still!
Funded Sep 13, 2018I want to tell you much I appreciate you for contributing to my project. I am so blessed with a huge classroom and a bunch of motivated six and seven year-old learners. Many of my students live in tiny apartments where the whole family shares the same room and they have to share kitchen and bathrooms with other families in the same building. Having a comfy spot to read or work is a luxury to many of my students. However, your contribution to my project allows my students to have a comfortable and inviting space to learn, work, read and make new friends. With the money you donated, I managed to buy quite a few pieces of furniture to transform my classroom into a flexible seating environment. My students are learning to make wise choices as to where to sit to produce their best work and to read without getting distracted. These are only six and seven year-olds, yet they are so focused and engaged. My entire class is so calm as a result of them having the power to choose where to do their work. My students' eyes lit up when they saw the boxes of flexible seating furniture delivered to our classroom. They were eager to learn the safety rules before we put the furniture on the floor. My students listened attentively on how to take good care of our new seats so they can last for a long time. They were in awe when I told them that people whom we never met bought them for us. The children really felt appreciated and loved. They also learned an important message that we help each other out in our community. We put your contribution into good use because we use them throughout the day, reading, writing, doing art work and etc. My students also learn to put the furniture away neatly. They have become very responsible, organized and independent. It's amazing how the learning environment can help with the little ones' growth! My students will continue to use the flexible seating options to make good choices and to produce their best work!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
Rug=Collaboration & Meaningful Talk
Funded Dec 30, 2016"Wow!" was I heard over and over again when my students walked into the classroom and saw our new rug. I can't say enough how much my students and I love this new rug. It looks like a simple rug but I have been using it for more than just sitting! Please allow me to name a few exciting things we have been doing with the rug and how it helps me to manage the class so much more efficiently!
Because each letter on the rug takes up a space that's perfect for one person to sit on, everyone has his/her spot. As soon as my students walk to the rug, they sit, turn to their rug partners and name things that start with the letter they sit on. This has become our routine. When it's time for me to dismiss the students from the rug, I would say something like, "If your letter begins with ____(I say a letter sound), you may go line up." Sometimes I say, "If the letter you are sitting on has the same beginning/ending sound as ______, you may go line up." We're reinforcing our phonics skills all the time without traditional worksheets! I believe children can learn so much from working with different friends. Sometimes I would draw two letters from my bag and students who sit on those letters would pair up, work together, respond to my questions or play math games together. They get very excited to find out who they get to work with. With the designated spots, it's been easy to teach my students how to be respectful to their friend's space. Classroom management has become so much easier because of this rug!
We have spelling words every week. My next step is to create a learning center on the rug area where students get to throw bean bags on the letters of the spelling words with friends. Reviewing spelling words might not be the most exciting thing for my little six and seven-year-olds but I think spelling them with beanbags would motivate them! I would like the rug to be used throughout the day! Did I forget to mention that my students get to read the books they published on the rug area? I take pictures and video of them doing that and the colorful rug really beautifies our room!
Thank you again for your generous donation and support. Your contribution really made a big difference in my students' learning AND my teaching!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
"Ahhh, This Chair is Just Right!"
Funded Mar 29, 2016Thank you for your generous donation of the informational books, bean bag chairs and the beautiful "Author's Chair." With my own collection of books on animal facts, I don't have to scramble around to look for books from my school library and public libraries anymore! The books that I selected meet the wide range of reading levels of my English learners so that they can read for contents on their own. With the information they gather on their own, they could teach others about their researched animals through writing. Not only do those books benefit my class, they also benefit students from my neighboring classrooms. I lend them to other teachers so they could read them to their students.
As you can see on my pictures, my students LOVE reading on the bean bag chairs. They are very popular. My students don't just sit around on those bean bags but they actually enjoy reading on them. When the classroom library is open, it is jam packed like a popular cafe! The bean bag chairs really added that magic touch to my classroom library. It is a very inviting place, a place that they don't have in the little apartment that they live in. We just had a publishing party to celebrate their first finished writing piece. Our little authors got to sit on the "Author's Chair" to share their stories to the class. I emailed pictures and videos of the students reading off their stories to the entire class and their families were thrilled to see their children being so confident, joyful and proud as an author. Did I say that my students are only six and seven years old?
None of the above could not have happened without your generous support. Thank you on behalf of my students and their families. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 4 other donors.We Love Dr. Seuss Books But...
Funded Aug 28, 2014It's been a few months since our class received your generous gifts of books to our classroom. A lot of wonderful action have been taken place since the arrival of the books. Students have learned to "shop" for their "just right" books. Everyone has a book box to store the books they have shopped and to be read during our Reader's Workshop. Students have utilized these books to practice what they have learned from the Reader's Workshops. For example, they've learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction books. They've learned many effective reading behaviors and skills that helped them to tackle tricky words, to understand what they have read and to stay focused. A few of my students who were not motivated to read before have become more interested in reading because they feel successful from reading books at their levels. They used to flip through the pages from the books that I had. Now, they're actually reading books after books! We're currently learning to use the text features (table of contents, headings, labels and etc.) to help us understand the non-fiction books that we're reading. As I mentioned on my proposal, the gift of these books would also help students with their writing. We're about to embark on writing our own non-fiction books after being exposed to so many of them. Students are excited to "teach" their readers about what they know!
I had the opportunity to learn how to run reader's workshop over my last summer vacation but I would not have been able roll it out if it wasn't for your generous gifts! Thank you on behalf of my classroom community! Your kindness has added extra warmth to this cold winter!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Lau
This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 8 other donors.