Mrs. Fechino-Toepp's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 9

• Class Graphic Novel Set for English Learners

  Funded Aug 14, 2019

  Thank you for your generous donations for my students to have the graphic novel Incognegro! Reading can be difficult for students that are learning English, but I've found that graphic novels are a great way to help engage students. The drawings and visuals help students understand what is happening, even if they don't know all the vocabulary or language being used. I also believe the story that is being told in this graphic novel is very powerful for students and has many areas that they can connect with.

  In order to understand the context of this graphic novel, we did some background activities around the history of slavery and racism in the US before we began reading. Being recent immigrants, not all students were familiar with this part of American history. Students also discussed, researched and compared this part of American history with similar historical moments in their own countries. Many students have also experienced stereotyping and racism, which they will explore and use to make personal connections with the novel. When we finish reading the graphic novel, we will watch, discuss and compare it with the 2018 film BlacKkKlansman.

  Thank you again for your support!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.

• Classroom Set of Frankenstein for Spooky Stories Unit

  Funded Oct 18, 2018

  Thank you for your generosity in helping my students have the opportunity to read this graphic novel! The novels were very engaging for students, even for those that think reading in English is too hard for them. The themes in the novel provided us with many interesting discussions topics. I will continue to use these novels with future classes for this unit that falls during Halloween!

  Students are really enjoying the other books that we received. Some read the short stories and reflections from American Like Me during our daily sustained silent reading time.

  Finally, the headsets have been very useful. They are mostly used by students in my beginner English class. They use them to practice reading fluency by recording themselves after reading and listening to texts. They also use them for other websites, such as Duolingo.

  Thank you again for your donation and for supporting my students!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

• Starting New: Needing new Books & a Bookshelf

  Funded Aug 22, 2018

  Thank you for your generosity in helping build our library space! While maintaining a library never ends, this project has made a big impact! The lower-leveled books (mostly from the National Geographic series) are very engaging and level appropriate for students that are new to the English language and have low reading and writing skills in their home languages. I am also using these texts in my beginner English class as part of an independent reading station where students are interacting with the books and learning new vocabulary.

  The books and bookshelf have helped make sure that our daily Silent Sustained Reading time is always enjoyable for students because they can find something based on their reading ability and personal interest. The bookshelf facilitates this because it allows the books to be organized by level (I still need to add some labels, but I help students pick out books so they are becoming familiar with the organization.)

  Thank you again for your kindness and your desire to improve the lives of young people through education,”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 3 other donors.

• Replenishing Classroom Necessities

  Funded Jan 8, 2018

  Thank you for your generous donations to my classroom. While I often buy these items myself, I truly appreciate having help replenishing them this time. These everyday items, such as the Kleenex, hand wipes, and hand sanitizer are very useful to have in the classroom. They help students feel comfortable in the classroom space and eliminate the need for students to leave. Students know they already have all the basics they need in the room.

  The cups and stir sticks have been great for students, especially when it was colder outside. They used these cups for hot water to make teas and hot chocolates. We were without heat a few times this winter and having this cups really helped warm up and comfort students on those days. The granola bars were also great before school or in the last class of the day, when students often needed an energy boost with a snack.

  Finally, as a teacher, I am always running out of pencils. There are not many places near school where students can easily buy new pencils, so it is convenient for me to have them in my room.

  Thank you again.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

• Water Cooler to Keep Us Hydrated and Ready to Learn

  Funded Sep 21, 2017

  Thank you for your generous donations! It has been amazing to have this water cooler (and 5 gallon water jug) in my classroom! Students no longer need to leave the classroom for a quick drink of water, thus minimizing interruptions and distractions. The water cooler also has boiling water, which students use to make tea when their stomachs or heads hurt (which is common for students with PTSD). They also use hot water to make instant soups or oatmeal in the morning. Other students (that aren't in my classes) have even been coming to my room to get a quick cup of water between class periods.

  I believe that having fresh, cool water available to students is very important. Students have easy and cheap access to soda and other unhealthy drinks, but don't have as many incentives to drink water. Not only am I able to provide water now (thanks to your help!), but I can emphasize the importance of drinking it and replacing soda with water.

  Thank you again for your donations. We deeply appreciate your support in bringing clean water to our classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

• Snacks & Supplies to Start the Year Off Right

  Funded Aug 31, 2017

  Thank you for your generous donations! These supplies truly helped us have a good start to the school year!

  We have a large floor rug that is part of our reading corner. Because students often sit on the rug or use the bean bags on it, they use the vacuum every day to clean it. Students often eat lunch in my classroom as well and having the vacuum is a quick way to clean up before the afternoon classes start.

  The snacks were loved- and went quickly! Granola bars are helpful for students that don't make it to school early enough to get a free breakfast. We have early release days on Wednesday at 1:30, but there isn't a break for lunch. Snacks helped students make it through those afternoon classes if they didn't bring food to school that day.

  And finally, the binders helped students get organized with their materials. These are sturdy binders that will definitely last all year, and students will probably be able to reuse them next year, too. We divided each binder into 3 sections: warm up, classwork and vocabulary. Organization helps students be more successful in class and be able to track their work. It also helps give them a model for how to organize their materials in other classes.

  I deeply appreciate your gifts that helped improve my students' experiences at school.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

  This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 3 other donors.

• Yoga Mats to Overcome Trauma

  Funded Nov 17, 2016

  We love using the yoga mats! Students appreciate having the mats and being able to relax during the day. Using the mats has helped us create a routine in our advisory period and has allowed students space to calm and reset themselves for the day.

  Even though the students wanted me to create the project for the yoga mats, they were initially a bit shy to begin using them. It was challenging for some to stay focused and not to play on the floor. But after collaborating with other teachers and sharing the mats with another class during advisory period, we have been able to do work around what mindfulness is and why it is beneficial. I am also taking a class on using mindfulness with youth and am very grateful to have the mats to use with my students! We usually do exercises that involve movement and stretching, along with brief moments of being still and resting.

  Thank you for your donations and know that they are helping improve the lives of many young people.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

• Computers for Newcomers

  Funded Sep 1, 2016

  Having these Chromebooks in our classroom has increased student engagement and allowed me to provide materials and content at different levels for each student. My newcomer students use these Chromebooks everyday, whether for class warm ups, reading, accessing websites I provide them through Google Classroom or using programs to learn English. We use the website called Kahoot to do the warm up at the beginning of the class or review vocabulary or new concepts we have discussed. This website allows me to create questions with pictures or/and videos and then when a student logs-in to the site, answer choices appear on their phone or computer. We play it together as a class game and we see all the answers anonymously. But not all students have phones or access to the Internet, so having these Chromebooks ensures that everyone can still actively participate.

  Since most of my students have limited experience with (and access to) technology, I also use the Chromebooks to help familiarize them with the Internet, products through Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Forms) and English programs such as Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. In addition, we've started using Google Read & Write, which is a free Google Chrome extension that has many functions to help with reading, translating, writing and taking note of new words. Students are also using the website Newsela.com to read and analyze the news and with the combination of Google Read & Write, they can easily translate any new word or have the text be read to them. On this website, all students can read the same texts, but at different lexile levels depending on their needs. For many students that do not believe they can read in English, they can move at their own pace and use these supports to read in ways that are more efficient than me trying to help the entire class read and understand at the same time. I also have a student with dyslexia and having this technology that can read her the text is an amazing support.

  We truly appreciate your donations and want you to know that you have helped make learning fun and more accessible to many young people.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.

• Starting a New 6th Grade Classroom!

  Funded Dec 3, 2015

  Thank you for your donations of bean bag chairs and Post-It Self-Adhesive Easel Paper for my classroom. I currently teach 9th grade Ethnic Studies to newcomer students that are English Language Learners. The donations you have provided for my classroom have helped my students to collaborate better with their peers and to build their oral and written English abilities.

  I have used the Post-It self-stick easel pad for two different purposes with my students. First, I use them to start many of our advisory classes. The statement at the top of the paper says "Today I feel..." Students then write their name on a small sticky-note and place it in one of the boxes that uses weather symbols to represent how they feel (sunny, partly cloudy, rainy, or stormy). My students love this because they get to quickly let everyone know how they feel and also see how their classmates feel. As adolescents, emotions and feelings are usually very important to students and this is one way we focus on their social-emotional growth. We use this as a check-in to begin our advisory circle and students can share about how they are feeling and what is going on in their lives. My advisory group consists of only Spanish-speakers, and while I don't require them to use English in advisory period, many get excited with this activity and use as much English as they can. They have been in the US for only about 5 months, but they feel confident in expressing feelings and reviewing it daily in a fun way helps strengthen their skills.

  I also used the self-stick easel pads to do an activity called Graffiti Walk. In ethnic studies, we have been exploring stereotypes, specifically related to sex and gender. This was eye-opening for many of my students who didn't understand that statements like "women are good cooks" or "men are stronger than women" are stereotypes and can't be applied to everyone. After learning phrases to agree and disagree and express opinions, each team of students moved around the classroom to a Post-It paper. On each paper, there was a different common stereotype related to gender. The team had to discuss their opinions about the statement and then write a response to it. Then they moved to a different paper and repeated the process, while also writing a comment or response to the previous group's opinion.

  In addition, the bean bags are a nice touch to my small classroom library. I provide Spanish-language, bilingual and early-reader, comics and graphic novels in English to encourage my students to read. Although they are in 9th grade, many have only completed up to 6th grade or lower in their home countries. Reading is challenging for them, especially in English. But with a comfortable space and books that excite them, many students have begun to read in my classroom during lunch period and have requested to take books home.

  For my next project, I am going to ask for a donation of Chromebooks so that each team of 4 students can use one to work on their immigration story video project. In ethnic studies, all stories and voices are important and need to be heard. Most of my students are undocumented immigrants that have fled extreme violence and poverty in their countries. They also struggle with school and fitting in and simply being an adolescent. This project will not only help my students reflect on their lives and value their personal stories, but will also help them to learn computer and video skills (about half have never used a computer), to collaborate with their peers, and to further develop their oral and written English abilities.

  Thank you again for the learning opportunities you have helped provide for my students. We truly appreciate your donations.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Fechino-Toepp