Ms. Hardman's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 55

• Books by Josh Funk to Support Our Upcoming Author Visit

  Funded Mar 25, 2025

  Thank you so much for purchasing these books to support of school's visit with author Josh Funk, your generosity is very much appreciated. I look forward to sharing these wonderful stories with my students, thanks for this fun learning experience. The two coding books will support Hour of Code lessons for years to come!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 6 other donors.

• Help With Learning Early STEAM Concepts

  Funded Dec 3, 2024

  Thank you so much for donating to purchase STEAM Airplane and Boat Kits for my students. Second grade students recently had the opportunity to build the Airplane Kits and they were a big hit! Students first decorated their wings with crayons and then we assembled them together - putting four elastics on the body of the plane was quite a challenge for several of them. After the planes were completed, students tested them in the hallway and we measured their flights. They then had a chance to reposition their wings and make other tweaks before testing them once again. What a great lesson in engineering as well as perseverance!

  Second grade students will assist me in doing this same lesson with kindergarten and first grade students in the next few weeks. We will build the STEAM Boat Kits when the weather is warmer and we can set up a kiddy pool to test them outside. Thank you so much for this wonderful STEAM learning opportunity for my students, it is very much appreciated.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.

• Animal, Ocean and Dinosaur Figures to Enrich Library Learning

  Funded Jan 10, 2025

  Thank you so much for donating to purchase animal, ocean and dinosaur figurines for my students - you should have heard the gasps of excitement when I previewed the items with them during library.

  My kindergarten classes recently participated in Dinosaur Club. We read a nonfiction book about dinosaurs, researched different types using the PebbleGo database, did a dinosaur craft and then they had time for free play with the dinosaur figurines. I loved seeing how much they enjoyed them - they would look in the library's dinosaur books to see if they could find a match. I heard a lot of dinosaur sounds too! They can't wait to use them again.

  I will be doing STEAM Club with first and second grade students in April, ad we will use the animal and ocean figurines to support our learning through library books, PebbleGo and STEAM kits. I will do something similiar for kindergarten as well. Thank you for this highly entertaining learning experience!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 15 other donors.

• Chickadee Award Books to Support Our Library Studies

  Funded Nov 6, 2024

  Thank you so much for donating to purchase an extra set of Chickadee Award books, this has been so helpful in adding to our Chickadee Award display case and it will be wonderful to have an extra set of the books when students start checking them out in April after voting for the award is finished.

  The Chickadee Award is a Maine picture book award. Every year hundreds of new picture books are published and a committee of Maine teachers and librarians reads them all and then selects the ten best. Kindergarten through fourth grade students hear or independently read all ten books and then vote for the one they think it is best. The goal of this award is to have children appreciate what makes an excellent picture book.

  At the Dike Newell School we read these books in library, and often have other school staff as guest readers. We arrange two display cases with the books as well as items that reflect what they were about. Thank you so much for making it possible for me to have copies to read in class as well as copies to display - the kids love examining the cases and it gets them super excited about the books and voting. Your kindness is most appreciated.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

• Drawing Books for Aspiring Artists

  Funded Oct 4, 2024

  Thank you so much for purchasing these wonderful drawing books for our school library - the kids are loving them, and they are constantly being checked out! I recently offered a drawing club for first grade students, and took the books out of circulation for a couple of weeks to use them for club activities. Students were stopping me in the hall to ask when the drawing books would be available again. They also stop me to show me their latest drawings.

  It has been really neat seeing students so excited about books and an activity that doesn't involve a screen. They share their drawings with each other and have been very kind and encouraging. Drawing from these books has been a great lesson in perseverance, following a sequence and practice brings improvement, your generosity in supplying this fun learning opportunity is most appreciated.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Foundation and 6 other donors.

• End of the Year Requested Books and Spanish Learning Supplies

  Funded Jun 20, 2024

  Thank you so much for supplying the Dike Newell School Library with these wonderful new books! My students are so excited to have Spanish learning materials, and have been using the flash cards at choice time. The books on learning Spanish are constantly checked out, and have also sparked students interest in learning other languages.

  The Taylor Swift biographies caused much excitement and actually have a waiting list! Students were so happy to have more of the "How to Find" series books too, the witch one has been especially popular with Halloween coming. Your generosity in supplying my students with these high interest materials is much appreciated.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 12 other donors.

• Titanic Books for Elementary Historians

  Funded Aug 28, 2024

  Titanic Club has gotten my students excited about history, reading and learning! Students are constantly checking out the books and sharing facts about the ship with their classmates and teachers. It amazes me how much information they have retained from their reading.

  Our first club met with six second grade students. We read several of the books and watched a brief documentary online. They then chatted among themselves and examined some of the photographs. I loved seeing how excited they were and what about the Titanic interested them. They really enjoyed the "How to Draw the Titanic" book too and still will draw pictures of it. Once their classmates heard their enthusiastic comments, they wanted to come too - so now I am in the process of scheduling Titanic Clubs for all grades levels and classes. Your donations really made learning fun, thank you so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

• Globes, Maps and Flag Books to Enhance Our World Studies

  Funded May 7, 2024

  We have had a great time exploring the world with the wonderful globes and maps you donated, thank you so much for a fun, interactive learning experience! I have especially appreciated having enough handheld maps so that each student can have their own.

  We recently read various Trickster tale stories by Gerald McDermott, we then looked up the different locations on the maps. Once students found the locations on the handheld maps, they tried finding them on the globe.

  These are the locations we looked up:

  Africa (Zomo)(Anansi the Spider)

  Amazon (Jabuti)

  American Southwest (Coyote)

  Hawaii (Pig Boy)

  India (Monkey)

  Pacific Northwest (Raven)

  They are especially fascinated by the globes and constantly stop to examine them. The flag books have been a big hit too, they constantly circulate! Thank you for donating, these materials will be used in many lessons for many years to come!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 6 other donors.

• LEGOs to Support Creative Thinking

  Funded May 6, 2024

  The Legos have been a tremendous hit with students, and we have found do many ways to use them to enrich library activities. While doing Fairy Tale STEAM, I had students use the Legos to build houses for "The Three Little Pigs" characters as well as a well for the frog in "The Frog Prince." We also used them to make mazes for our Bee-Bot robots to go through when learning coding skills and attempted to make carts to attach to the Bee-Bots. This is still a work in progress, but we are getting closer! They are also a great reward activity when students have earned free library time for good behavior. The Lego books are in constant circulation too!

  Thank you so much for your generosity, my students and I greatly support your helping us get these fun learning materials!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hardman

  This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 4 other donors.