Mr. Patterson's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 5

• Keyboards for Kids

  Funded Jan 1, 2018

  Thank you so much for donating to our music program! I'm awed by your generosity. I have been struggling to figure out how to use the curriculum I've developed now that class sizes have gone up so much and I no longer had enough instruments for all of my kids. But now with your help we will be able to once again get all of the kids playing keyboards at the same time. Not to mention we will have high-quality durable headphones and splitters for individual and partner work. And the MIDI keyboard will allow us to use our mini music technology lab to its full potential, giving us a place to do group technology work or stations for kids needing an extra challenge to work on self-directed learning.

  For many of my students, their only opportunity to play instruments or participate in ensembles is at school and it's wonderful to be able to provide the kids with high-quality equipment. Especially with the huge budget deficit in our district, please know that your commitment to our students and our school makes an enormous difference.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Patterson

• Percussion Flavor for the Music Room

  Funded Feb 21, 2017

  Your generosity enabled our band to participate in this year's middle school band festival with all the equipment the music required for the first time ever. It has added the excitement of new sounds and musical colors, from the ominous splash of the gong to the whimsical tremolo of the flexatone. In addition to being used daily by the beginning and advanced bands, we also use the instruments in K-5; for example, the wind chimes are used by a different student each day to signal the start of class, and the kids are so excited when it is their turn. Thank you so much for your generous donation; our percussionists, band students, elementary students and myself are so grateful.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Patterson

• Make a Splash in the Band Room

  Funded Mar 30, 2017

  Wow, I am speechless at how quickly this project was funded. Crash cymbals were the last common percussion instrument that our band was missing, and now we can make our music sound the way it's supposed to. Our band, our percussion section, our school, and I are so grateful for your generosity and we look forward to putting this instrument (and the last two trumpet mutes that we needed) to good use. If you're in the area, we'd like to invite you to our concert on May 18 so we can share with you the way your gift has augmented our music program.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Patterson

  This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 5 other donors.

• Percussion for the People

  Funded Oct 14, 2016

  I can hardly believe the outpouring of support we had for our fundraising effort. You collectively donated not only the requested materials, but went above and beyond the requested amount, resulting in us being able to buy a full class set of hand drums, and having enough left over to buy a wind gong, a set of orchestral wind chimes, orchestral sleigh bells, a slapstick (it makes a "whip-crack" sound), and several sets of drumsticks, which will be used by the middle school band as well as the elementary students.

  In addition to the donations through Donorschoose, a huge thank you to the people that gave percussion instruments that they owned but were not using - we got a set of timbales, several large, beautiful djembes, some temple blocks, a gorgeous cajon, a set of bongos, and some shakers. We not only have enough drums to make an ensemble sound, but we have a wide range of tone colors and pitches in our drum inventory now. Students are always excited for their name to be called to select a drum, as there's always a new size, shape, and sound to try out.

  We keep the drums in the front of the classroom, and the students ask often which drums were donated and which we already had, and each time they are astounded that nearly all of them are new this year. It's as if they can't remember or even imagine what it was like before we got the new instruments, even though we've only had them for a short time.

  A huge thank you to Susan Green, Stephanie Yao, and everyone at the Oregonian, of course, for publicizing my funding campaign. Within 24 hours of the story going live, we were fully funded. Many thanks to the Arleta families who contributed, and to the folks with no particular ties to our school who gave just because kids everywhere deserve a quality music education. It's people like you who allow our schools to remain vibrant even in the face of tragic budget shortfalls. Thank you so, so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Patterson

• Mallet Madness for Music Making!

  Funded Mar 28, 2015

  Thank you so much for your generous donation. We use the glockenspiels as part of regular curriculum in grades K-5, and they are a big help in teaching elementary music. Kids can transfer the skills they learn on their glockenspiel to the xylophone, vibraphone, piano, and even the "boomwhackers", which are colored the same way. I use the colors of the bars of the glockenspiel to color code the notes of the music they read, so that beginning music readers have another way to identify notes and experience success.

  This was the first time in perhaps decades that students at this school had brand new instruments to play. The experience of being the first kids to play these instruments was special for these students, most of whom are used to second-hand equipment and supplies.

  Here are some of the things students have said about the glockenspiels:

  "Dear Friend, thank you for the glockenspiels! Now we have a lot so EVERYbody will have one." Arisleydi, 5th grade

  "Thank you for the glockenspiels. I really like them."

  Ava, Kindergarten

  "Thank you for the glockenspiels. You're a kind and wonderful person, thank you so much. PS, they work really well."

  Breana, 4th grade”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Patterson