Past projects 11
Libros for Latino Parents
Funded Jul 25, 2024I am so grateful to you for helping purchase books in Spanish and Haitian Creole for my students and their parents. My students LOVE being able to read and hear books in their native language. It is also a true gift for the parents to be able to read to their children each night in a language they both share and understand. The bonding and love of reading this fosters will serve my students and their parents for the rest of their lives.
These books build not only love but reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. As students understand and discuss these rich stories they increase their comprehension and native language vocabularies. Research tells us that these skills transfer as students learn to read and speak in English.
The Haitian Creole and Spanish book bins are always well used and nearly empty as most of the books are in take-home book bags or students' class book boxes. Each Monday as students "shop" for new take home books they are eager to choose from these bins to bring home new stories to share with their families.
Thank you so much for giving us this wonderful gift!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
Dozens of Decodables
Funded Aug 15, 2023These new decodable books have begun to make a huge difference in my reading instruction. Last school year we had one set of books that were fully decodable (meaning beginning readers can sound out all the words). It gave me limited choices for books to use with small groups. This year I have so many titles that I am able to offer more books across more levels to my small groups.
As a result students have more books to practice reading, when they are not seated in front of me, that are just right for them. This practice helps them to become stronger readers.
These books are especially important to my classroom because all the students are learning English as a second language. They, more than their English only peers, need more books as lower reading levels in order to boost up their acquisition of English. This new set of books is helping them to do just that!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by The SONIC Foundation and 16 other donors.Organization Station
Funded Jan 18, 2023The organization station has been a game changer for our classroom. The furniture is clean and bright and helps our classroom look so much better! In place of cardboard mailboxes tapped and dipping precariously to the side we have sturdy, well made furniture! Our classroom has a lost a bit of the yard sale vibe and is looking much better for it.
The students are able to keep the headphones, folders and papers neatly tucked away all day. The bins are just the right height for them to access all that they need without teacher assistance and without making a mess.
My students have really enjoyed this piece of furniture because it is so clearly just for them! It has the look and feel of an elementary school classroom.
I want my students to have the best but I cannot always afford to buy them everything that a classroom needs. I am grateful for your help in providing this for my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
Organization Station
Funded Aug 9, 2022Our beloved second grade classroom holds so much: desks, chairs, a rug and easel for meeting, a kidney shaped table for small groups and our beloved library. Our room did not have anywhere to hold our work or supplies. I cobbled together storage bins and shelves to try and keep all of our materials orderly but often failed. Students' take home folders and work often spilled out of the cardboard "mailboxes" I held together with packing tape.
Your donation towards our organization station has changed the look and function of our classroom. The lovely, clean birch wood furniture is sturdy and bright. Our classroom looks less like a thrift store and more like a place to learn and grow. The furniture piece is the right height for students and holds all their folders and papers neatly.
As a veteran teacher I appreciate that this organization station will serve many future classes of students. I will not need to buy another one for the rest of my teaching career and will be able to pass it along one day to someone else. Thank you for providing this sustainable, lasting solution to classroom chaos!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 2 other donors.Literacy through the Arts
Funded Jul 27, 2022During the worst parts of the COVID pandemic I realized that my students, and I, needed to have joy as a regular part of our teaching and learning. Literacy through the Arts is one of the ways we have found that. Each week, as a part of our multidisciplinary units of study, we work on an art project or craft.
The donations you made to our art and craft projects have helped my second graders to further their learning in a new way. Your donations have given them the opportunity to play, experiment, explore, laugh and connect. Your donations have infused joy into their learning in a way that worksheets and textbooks do not.
Students squealed with delight when we tie dyed our uniform shirts, made superhero masks to celebrate our super reading powers, built our sight words with Play Doh and acted out our personal narratives with paper bag puppets. Students have especially loved decorating flower pots after reading "Seeds of Change." In the subsequent weeks they have planted and grown nasturtiums inside. They love caring for their plants and feel pride in being gardeners. Thank you for giving them this gift!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and one other donor.Art at Home
Funded Sep 27, 2020Mother's Day is tomorrow and my second grade students were able to create beautiful art projects for their mothers, thanks to you. My students at home and those in person had canvasses, brushes and paint to make adorable paintings of themselves.
They were delighted to receive real canvasses ("just like real artists!"), containers of paint and brushes dropped off to their homes. The students in both groups loved using these new, high quality materials. They all felt so proud to be able to make something so beautiful for their mothers.
I am so grateful for your support. It is important for students and teachers to pause during these hectic school days and connect with what is important. It is nourishing for us to be creative and make art together. I appreciate the ability to give them all the materials they need to not only read and write but to be happy kids.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
Super powered mathematicians
Funded Sep 3, 2020It has been 74 long days of remote learning for my second graders. These days at home could have been so much harder if not for the math materials they have in their hands thanks to your support!
At home students have math folders with plastic sleeves encasing their precious tools: ten frames, 100 and 200 charts, number lines and other math tools that allow them to problem solve and share their mathematical thinking with me and classmates. They have durable cards and manipulatives made on cardstock and organized in baggies to use for math games with buddies in breakout rooms. These everyday materials help them turn remote learning into hands on learning.
The gifts you have given us help my students to work along with me, using the same materials I have in my hands. They don't have to scramble to find materials that may be lying around at home. They don't have to struggle with online tools that are challenging to manipulate. They have just what they need to succeed!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
Mastering Mathematics Remotely
Funded Jul 30, 2020This school year could have been a disaster. My students could have been unprepared for this year of remote learning. They could have been stuck at home without the hands on materials they need to learn math.
Fortunately none of that came to pass. My students began the first day of remote learning prepared with all the materials they needed to learn math.
My students were thrilled when I delivered them a bagful of blocks and cubes...all the wonderful materials they had in their real classroom..right to their doors!
Recently, my students began a geometry unit. The triangle, rhombus and trapezoid blocks allowed them to compose and decompose shapes. My students were able to determine whether shapes were quadrilaterals by touching their sides instead of looking at images on a screen. They were able to determine if a shape had a right angle by holding it and measuring it with another shape. Your support made their hands on math learning possible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 4 other donors.iPads to Launch us to the Next Learning Level!
Funded May 5, 2020I look forward to returning to my classroom each fall...now more than ever! I am overjoyed by the thought of new iPads awaiting my students to help us get our academics up to speed!
Your generosity will help my students recapture lost learning time and launch to the next learning level!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 22 other donors.Growing Lifelong Readers
Funded Mar 6, 2020Your gift to my students has been a blessing to us. We received the shipment of leveled books a couple of weeks before we left school for the remainder of the year. The books you gave my students have sustained their reading in this time away from the cla. Although much of life is out of reach for my students now--books are not!
Paper books, I believe, offer students an experience that is unique from using reading websites or applications. While students are learning virtually many teachers and families still want to limit screen time. Your donation allows my students to continue to gain skills and share their reading with their families without needing a device or internet connection.
Not only are these books special because they are REAL books but also because they are at the independent reading level of my students. Many of the books families have at home are not just right for my beginning readers. It is essential for them to be able to practice solving tricky words and comprehending text at a level that is suited to their learning needs. I could not have provided them without this practice without you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hull
This classroom project was brought to life by A group of anonymous donors and one other donor.