Past projects 10
Engagement in Collegiate Model Classrooms
Funded Mar 25, 2025I am so grateful that you could support me and my students on this day!! The model of moving classrooms and having everything we need coupled with the research around high student engagement makes these materials vital and now I will have them available in multiple spaces and ready to use in a variety of ways!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 12 other donors.Collegiate Model Collegiality
Funded Aug 8, 2024Thank you so much for some materials that help me turn a collegiate model classroom into a workspace that encourages collegiality among my students. As I move room to room throughout the day and share wallspace and whiteboard space with other teachers my students and I need ways of creating learning opportunities that others can see but can be easily put away when our class is done and the next teacher comes in. We use the sticky note posters frequently to show our group thinking and create galleries for our classmates. Most recently we did this with causes of the Industrial Revolution. Groups created a poster that showcased one cause each in detail and then as a class we could walk around and take notes on the other causes (using our clipboards!) and by the end of class have all the information we needed. We have done this also with enlightenment thinkers, Spanish exploration and colonization, explaining market structures, and supply and demand graphs for scenarios. Then I as the teacher can easily gather them up and out away so the room can be used by someone else.
The students love the big sticky notes--they say it makes them feel grown up! Plus I let them use the Mr. Sketch markers(that I got in a donors choose last year) which they love. More importantly it makes their sharing of work look more professional to other students. And because we can stick and restick we can have them out during an assessment as a reminder of their learning.
We will continue to use these in other units of learning to showcase our thinking!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
This classroom project was brought to life by Governor Jared Polis.Multiple Perspectives in History
Funded Sep 24, 2023I am so grateful for the purchases I was able to make with this donation. As a teacher who leads other teachers in social studies, the new standards include many groups not addressed in our materials and groups that may be new to teachers themselves; having easy resources to reference has helped me build other teachers confidence and knowledge. In our inquiry and unit writing, they have been invaluable resources to uncover hidden figures in our history and provide references and information to both students and teachers.
Students of all ages like to look at childrens books because they are so colorful and interactive. They pick them up and page through them and then sometimes go off to research more on the person or the evnt they researched.
Thank you again for giving me the ability to purchase these resources.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
This classroom project was brought to life by Gov. Jared Polis & the Colorado Dept. of Education.Lewis and Clark Expedition into our Classroom
Funded Aug 10, 2019I appreciate the donations that allowed me to purchase a class set of Lewis and Clark magazines. These magazines were used as one of the resources students used to help them write a historical argument about if Lewis and Clark deserved to be called heroes. These magazines were easily read and used by all the students because they had high interest and easy to read stories and graphics.
In this class, I have kids that can read high school level texts and ones that are reading at the 3rd grade level. Reading anything takes a lot of instruction and time and lots of strategies to help everyone. Resources like these help me because I don't have to spend a lot of time on strategies--everyone can access the information.
A lot of students cited information from the magazine when writing their essay. I had several students go back to the magazine to look for specific evidence when they were writing. A couple of students felt that the magazine gave them more specifics than the video we watched!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
Touch Their Hearts Through Reading a Soldier's Heart
Funded Apr 2, 2019Thank you so much for the donations that allowed me to purchase a class set of A Soldier's Heart. Reading this book allowed my students a first person perspective of a soldier--who was their age--in the Civil War. They got insight into the fears, hopes, dreams, worries, and issues that faced soldiers in the Civil War. They read graphic descriptions of battles and medical care; inner monologues of Charley as he fought, survived, and marched on; and dialogue with other soldiers from other parts of the country.
Reading in my classroom looked like a bookshop on the days we read the novel. Students found comfortable places as I read out loud, gasping with shock or laughing together. There were cries of "wait wait what just happened" and "please don't stop there." There were concerned and thoughtful looks as we closed the book and compared it to non fiction battle descriptions. And then, "what will we read next?"
Many students in our core finished their first books on their own this year--so this added to their total. K.S., one of my students who is a self proclaimed non-reader, asked me if he could take a copy home and what else has this guy written. And everyone agreed that this was a way better way to learn about the Civil War then our text.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
This classroom project was brought to life by The Ned and Nathalie Fund and 2 other donors.Where in the United States have people been?
Funded Jan 30, 2018I am so grateful for the funding I received to replace the atlases in my classroom. So many of them were unusable and therefore ineffective teaching tools. Now I have enough atlases for each student to use with all the pages and necessary maps. We are working on regional differences between North and South and they have been able to use maps, graphs, and charts in our new atlases.
This unit of study has integrated geography so much into our discussion of the Civil War and its causes. Now students can point out differences that are more than just slavery and can use maps to show economic differences and political differences. They have also used maps to trace the compromises that led to the Civil War.
All my students are shocked that people they don't even know would donate money to give them new books. It gives them a sense of pride and ownership.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
A Flexible Student-Centered Classroom
Funded May 10, 2016Dear Donors:
Thank you so much for contributing to my project with money and with encouragement and excitement. My classroom has completely changed physically and even philosophically with the addition of the ball chairs. The ball chairs and other seating arrangements I have created are just one step into being more student centered. The students love having options on where to sit and work--depending on the project, their mood, or even just who is sitting where. It makes more for more flexible grouping of students and allows me to move around much easier to see who needs what in my room.
The reaction was immediate when they walked in the first day. "What is this room about?" "Oh my gosh this is so cool!" "Do we actually get to sit on these?" And the parade of teachers and parents into my room to see and talk about this kind of seating has been eye opening for both them and me. I had all the students try out every kind of seat so they would know what works best for them and then we created guidelines for being able to have flexible seating options. Many students know what works best for them and can even explain why. And I have very few tardies because it is first in first choice for almost everyone.
My next steps are to continue to build more student choice and voice into my classroom, the environment is now set. I even find myself behind my desk and podium much less, and I move around to various whiteboards to present so its more open then before. I am hoping to see the types of collaboration improve in different ways.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
Taking Students from Night into Light
Funded May 23, 2012My AVID students and I have just started reading the book Night. We have had several interesting discussions about a wide range of topics. My students have learned about Jewish culture and are looking forward to some speakers about culture and watching video interviews of Holocaust survivors.
Students have also asked many questions about the history of why the Holocaust happened and what happened in World War II. My students have not had this information in any class yet and have lots of questions about what happened and why it happened. It is interesting for my students who are currently learning about United States history that the world is bigger than US. I hope that my students can use this as background information when they do learn about in a history class or in reading other books about the Holocaust. It has inspired one of my students to read Between Shades of Gray, a current young adult novel about the Holocaust from a perspective of a young Lithuanian girl who was given to a German family to raise.
My students have also started to have discussions about human nature and why evil exists and what we can do to change that. They have really connected to Elie Wiesel since he is their age when this happens. They are horrified and want things to be better. They will be creating some technology based products when they finish with their reflections and I can't wait to see where they go with it.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
This classroom project was brought to life by The Leo and Libby Nevas Family Foundation and one other donor.Where in the United States am I?
Funded Dec 16, 2010Thank you for the donation you made to my project. My students and I are so grateful for the resources we are able to use because of your generosity. Our new atlases arrived right as we were beginning our study of Lewis and Clark, Westward Expansion, and Manifest Destiny. The students have used these to research information for their persuasive essay: Are Lewis and Clark heroes? And they have used them to help understand the spread of the United States westward and the concept of Manifest Destiny. The best part of having new atlases is the students treat them with pride. They like not having to use books that are torn or missing pages. And although they might groan at the prospect of more work, they are learning geographic information every time I take them out.
My school, like many others across the United States, is facing budget issues. Without your help, I would have had to make do with the old atlases and students would have to share 1 atlas for every 4-5 students. It is very important that students understand their place in the world geographically, as well as historically and your donation helps bring that to my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp
Gators Need High Impact Book to Chomp On!
Funded Feb 7, 2009Thank you so much for donating the money to purchase the Nightjohn books. My students really benefited from having access to these novels.
We just finished reading the novel in class as the end of our slavery unit. I read the book over 2 days in my class and I have never heard my class so silent as I read the book. When I would pause they would all look up for me to go on. When they discovered the things that happened to the main characters they reacted and wanted to know more--several students are planning to read the sequel novel independently to find out what happens to the characters. They are disappointed that the movie version takes away so much of the story that shows the impact of slavery and the importance of learning to read.
My goal for this lesson was for students to be able to explain the personal experience of slavery using fiction. The kids had a choice of several projects to show their comprehension. I have wanted posters, poems, illustrations, maps, and interviews that they completed.
I would not have been able to have my students experience this novel without your contributions, so thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deschamp