Ms. Grass' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 2

• To Read, to Love, and to Keep: My Own Book

  Funded Aug 11, 2020

  I write on this Monday evening with a heart full of gratitude that you made this project, this BOOK, happen for my students this school year. As we prepare to read the final pages of the novel in the coming days, I can say without hesitation that it has been a source of authentic and unparalleled connection between myself and my students during challenging and uncertain times. When I approached this new school year and imagined teaching a group of students fully-online for the first time in my teaching career, I did not yet know what that would look like or how it would work. As I considered the hope and possibility of reading this book with students, I wondered how we would possibly manage the experience across screens, all of us individually wading through so many challenges, stresses, uncertainties, and even grief. As it turns out, this book has been a unifying and healing source of connection and reflection to return to, together, week after week. Students have reflected deeply and personally regarding what they have read, in ways that I have never before witnessed. They have exceeded my expectations, and then some. They have left me in awe of their compassion, wisdom, and resilience. Many of them will cherish this, their book, for life, thanks to you! I simply want to say, with all sincerity, THANK YOU.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Grass

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 10 other donors.

• Books and Supplies for Voracious Teenage Readers!

  Funded Oct 11, 2016

  Greetings from Ms. Grass's classroom! I write you as my sophomores are in full-swing reading their brand new books - and loving them! Not only are the books all "checked out", but the notebooks, sticky notes, glue sticks, pens, pencils and highlighters are getting a ton of tread right now as well! I wish you all could have been in our classroom with us to see the magic and the true impact of the gift of these supplies unfold over the past month and a half.

  When the supplies first arrived, I recruited a small corps of students to help me carry the MANY boxes from the main office to our classroom. Although they were quite curious about the growing pile, I only gave them tidbits of information until I was able to truly share with them the scope of this project and the meaning of these gifts. It took all of my self restraint to finish up our fall units and prepare for their first big read of the year! I really wanted introducing all of the supplies to go hand-and-hand with the books that I knew the students soon would fall in love with.

  The fact that we had sets of 3 brand new titles to explore was a HUGE success. In December, we began the preliminary exploration of the books, dedicating a whole class period to introducing each one so that the students could become familiar with the different stories and voices, so that they could get excited about them, and ultimately so that they could make the tough choice of which they would MOST like to read! I had so much fun pulling the sets out of drawers where they had carefully been waiting, and ceremoniously handing each student a brand new book. We smelled the new book smell of the pages and marveled at their perfectness! Then to hear students say day after day, "I am going to read this one!" and then "Wait, now I think I'm going to read THIS one!" was food for my soul.

  We started our Literature Circles in January and I could not be more pleased with how they are going. Ultimately, I had so many students whom I had to assure would be able to read the other titles as soon as they finished the first one! I have had upperclassmen pass through and "check out" two books from me as well. One of my students recently notified me that her mom saw her so engrossed in her book that she finally asked her what it was about and if she would read it to her. Now they are reading together. On any given day, I look around and hear enthusiastic conversation bouncing back and forth, mixed with earnest reading as even some of my most struggling readers make great strides because they WANT to keep reading.

  In short, the gift from all of you has made our year! And many more to come in my classroom. Thank you so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Grass