Past projects 3
Building Diversity and Inclusion in the Books We Read
Funded Aug 23, 2022I cannot tell you how excited my 5th graders were when we opened the boxes of books that we received from your generous donations! I am surprised you didn't hear the squeals from here!
We put all of the books out on display so we could oh and ah over them! Many of my students wanted to read multiple books right then! In fact, one of my students told me how they loved seeing heroines that were like them! That is one of the many reasons I wanted help diversifying my library.
My students are so eager to dive into our chapter books, they are writing book reviews to other students in our class to help inspire their excitement about reading our new books!
Your donations have helped bring about a positive buzz and a love of reading within the four walls of my classroom! Thank you from all of us in 5th grade!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Mason
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 10 other donors.Developing 1st Grade Community and Technology Leaders!
Funded Dec 3, 2015I can not express enough gratitude for your contribution toward my donors choose project. This project has impacted my students in so many wonderful ways through technology, school gardening and social skill development!
As I said before, many of my students use of technology is in the classroom only. The use of Apple TV, headphones and keyboards have put immediate smiles on their faces whenever they use it. This technology has made for more engaging and interactive lessons, and developed self motivation amongst many of the students. It has also allowed students to express their understanding of concepts at a new rigorous level! A simple, yet wonderful side effect is the confidence and pride my students feel knowing they have resources to use that they wouldn't otherwise have access to. And this, allows all my students to focus on what really matters...learning.
The character building books have created some wonderful, constructive conversations about what it means to be a caring, empathetic, and conscientious friend, classmate and community member. These books have provided beautiful segues into learning important problem solving skills for conflict resolution and cooperative learning activities they do on a daily basis.
With the rigor and higher expectations these kids have to attain, our school garden has provided my students an exciting and relaxing outlet to learn, cooperate, share and use teamwork. The one time of day where I see the entire class of 6 and 7 year olds getting along and teaming together for one soul purpose, is when we are gardening. They have such pride in what they are growing and excitement to work hard tending the garden and creating food to eat. It overflows out of them!! And for some, this is something to look forward to when the rest of the school day is hard.
Your contribution has already and will continue to make an impact on each child in my classroom! Thank you for believing in this project and the importance of creating a foundation for learning through technology, social and community development!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Mason
Let's Make a "Mini" Impact on Learning!
Funded Nov 4, 2014The excitement was in the air the moment we learned that our project had been funded! Everyday the kids would ask if our ipads had arrived. We opened them together and from that day on we haven't looked back! Everyday they are eager to have the opportunity to use them for math, reading and any other subject area that we can intertwine them into!
The ipads provide an opportunity for my students to develop their reading, and math skills. We use the ipads on a daily basis all throughout the day. In the morning the kids get an opportunity to use the ipads to work on their reading skills in which they develop and strengthen their phonemic awareness, sight word development, and comprehension skills. We also use the ipads to develop their fluency. The one thing that I absolutely LOVE about having the ipads is the fact that they are user friendly for 1st graders. They are easier to manipulate than the older laptops we have. They can log into the apps and programs they use so much faster. Just that, creates more time for them to practice and develop their literacy skills! The kids also work on their fluency. They record themselves reading a passage, save their document and then go back and listen to themselves read the passage. Their purpose is to celebrate their success and fine tune their fluency, accuracy and expression. It also provides me an opportunity to go back and listen to their reading so that I can modify my instruction to address their specific needs so they can have a stronger literacy foundation.
The ipads have also made an impact on their math skills! The kids use apps that help strengthen their addition and subtraction fluency, build geometric shapes and fractions. One of the most important areas they we really work on in class is explaining our thinking and justifying our reasoning for why we create or do a math concept a certain way. The ipads create a great forum to teach and encourage kids to explain their thinking out loud. An exciting way the kids, and even I, have done this is through the app Educreations! They create a lesson where they record themselves explaining/teaching how to use a specific strategy to solve an addition or subtraction problem. All the while, creating a video that shows how to actually use the strategy to solve the problem. Once they save the lesson, then other students who need supplemental practice are able to go back and watch the video their peer created about how to apply that math strategy effectively.
I even use the Educreations app to create mini lessons to show my students new concepts, such as how to edit their writing before they write their final draft. So, while a group of students are watching the video created by me, I can work with a small group or individually with a student on their writing. This is something I couldn't do before we had ipads in our classroom.
The great part is, we're not done! Every week I am looking for new ways to intertwine the use of the ipads into my reading, math, writing and science. I appreciate your willingness to believe in me and my vision and allow me to make this a reality for my kids. A continual theme I heard from my student about having the ipads in our classroom is, the ipads are helping them learn, helping them become better readers and mathematicians! I thank you Chevron, for making an impact on each child in my classroom, my teaching, and the community of first graders that I have now and in the future!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Mason