Past projects 4
Bee-utiful Learners Need Bee-bots
Funded Oct 19, 2017The students in our school have LOVED working with the Bee-bots. Every grade level--and many classes--throughout the entire school (pop. 450) have enjoyed using them to learn both coding skills and other academic skills. The students in the photos, for example, are second graders who are learning to tell time. They must code the Bee-bots to travel to a particular time printed on the game board. They also must record their own coding instructions. Other students have used the Bee-bots to do multiplication and division.
The students enjoy the hands-on and whole body aspects of the Bee-bots. Children need a lot of movement as they learn and the Bee-bots provide that. They are excited about the appearance of the Bee-bots too. These robots look and seem like TOYS but they are enabling all kinds of learning to happen.
Students who are reluctant learners or participants in whole class or group instruction have responded beautifully to these children's robots because they are so exciting and inviting. Children enjoy both doing the activity and watching the Bee-bots as others use them. The large format game board style of learning produces many opportunities for all students to problem-solve and to discuss answers together with guidance from a teacher.”
With gratitude,
Teacher Daugherty&Taylor
We Are Virginia Readers, 2016!
Funded Dec 4, 2015Dear Donors,
The Virginia Reader's Choice titles are selected annually for their literary and artistic merit by a group of dedicated teachers and librarians in Virginia. These books are highly appealing to most children. Thanks to YOU, our generous donors, all ten of the books were read throughout our school in the spring, and teachers and I generated learning activities around them. In the library I taught students about elections and voting, and then I held a VRC election. Students used ballots and ballot boxes to vote for their favorite title, just as many others voted throughout the state. Additionally, students (1) wrote letters to friends--using proper letter format--to describe their favorites of the books, (2) drew pictures of their favorite characters, settings, and plots, (3) and made puppets and acted out parts of the stories, along with various other activities. Soon we will learn which title was the favorite in the entire state. It was/is a large-scale collaborative learning experience!”
With gratitude,
Teacher Daugherty&Taylor
Caldecotts and Classics Needed for our Collection!
Funded Apr 28, 2015, The fantastic collection of Caldecott and Classic picture books that we received thanks to YOUR generosity has been met with great excitement by our students! Many have never read some of these terrific stories because they were published twenty or more years ago. Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, for example, was published 50 years ago! Robert Munsch's witty Paperbag Princess was published in 1980 but of course it's timeless. George and Martha stories by James Marshall will be appreciated forever by both children and adults because of the hilarious illustrations and wacky escapades of these two loyal hippo friends--and they were published between 1972 and 1988. Recently, a student asked for a Dr. Seuss book so I showed her our brand new copy of The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, published in 1932, and she said, "I've never seen that one before!" Since all of these books are now sparkling clean with no rips or creases, the students are able to appreciate them as if they came out in stores yesterday. I am thrilled to be able to show them to classes, always saying: "We have brand new books thanks to some very generous people who GAVE THEM them to our library!" And after that I can't keep the books on the library shelves. Be happy that you've contributed something so beneficial to the lives of some very grateful little ones.”
With gratitude,
Teacher Daugherty&Taylor
We Are Virginia Readers!
Funded Oct 17, 2014The next Virginia Readers' Choice election will take place at our school in April, 2015. Your generous donations will help our students enjoy brand new excellent books AND learn about the voting process! I cannot wait for students to read these recently published books, carefully selected by librarians and teachers from across Virginia, and then use a ballot to vote for their favorite one. Eventually, we will know which book was the favorite of our school and in Virginia! I will explain to students and teachers that donors with big hearts took an interest in our school and GAVE us these books this year. You have made this annual project so much easier by providing our school with two copies of each book! I am including photos of the new books purchased with your donations, plus photos from last year's election (2014) so that you can see how this process will work in 2015!”
With gratitude,
Teacher Daugherty&Taylor