Mrs. Vande Hey's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 10

• Level Up with Educational Math Games

  Funded Aug 14, 2024

  Thank you so much for your generous donations to help students level up with educational math games.

  I have only just begun using these games, but students are so excited to see new things that can help them learn and grow in math. Some of these games are familiar to us, but with different sums (Clumsy Thief in the Candy Shop). While some are new to us (domino cards) and can be used in a variety of ways. Students are excited to explore these options and cement the learning that we did during our small group instruction.

  Thank you again for supporting learning through games and helping our children enjoy math.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

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

• Making Math Fun

  Funded Nov 22, 2022

  Thank you so much for your generous donation. I was able to purchase 6 games (2 of each) for use between the three buildings that I am at. The kids have loved playing these games and don't even realize that they are learning. We have practiced partners of 10, partners of 5 and we have practiced building numbers in different ways. These games are creating different files in their brains and they are able to pull strategies for these basic math skills more easily than they were before. They ask to play the games and are disappointed when I tell them that it isn't quite time yet. They remain engaged and are excited to learn.

  Thank you again for your donation and for believing that learning can happen through play!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

• Math Tastic

  Funded Feb 26, 2021

  I cannot thank you enough for your donation. Even in the virtual world, these books have already helped my students access the math content in a different way. They have loved solving the riddles in the Greg Tang books and have become more interested in learning about fractions by listening to read alouds Full House and Fractions in Disguise. I am excited to start the next unit in our math curriculum about geometry so I can read more books to students and get them excited early on. I can already tell that these books have made an impact and have helped create persistent problem solvers! I'm so excited to continue to share my love of math and reading with my kids. Thank you again!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

  This classroom project was brought to life by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and 2 other donors.

• Writing Wizards

  Funded Oct 13, 2020

  Thank you so much for your fabulous donation. The books I received will be used as mentor texts. That means that they will be used to model certain types of skills needed in writing. Some of these skills may be hooks, or how to get a reader to want to continue to read a story. Another might be the use of onomatopoeia, or the use of sound words like POW, ZAP, ZOOM. And finally, one skill that maybe see when reading these books is the use of detail words. Most kids struggle to expand their writing and these authors are fabulous and including details that paints a picture, or creates a movie as you are reading.

  These kids are so lucky to have such generous people supporting them and their education, as am I. We thank you again for your generous donation and hope to create stories that will make you proud!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 11 other donors.

• Learning Through Play

  Funded Nov 6, 2019

  Thank you so much for your generous donation! My students are completely in love with these games. I can tell by the silence in my room when they were playing that the level of engagement was incredible and they didn´t even realize they were learning! How amazing is that?

  Learning is so important in the lives of our children, but learning through play offers a different level of enrichment. It also offers the social peice of learning which is often overlooked. These kids will learn math, social skills and problem solving without even realizing what they are doing.

  Again, thank you so much for your generous donations.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

• For the Love of Reading

  Funded Sep 23, 2019

  Thank you so much for your generous donations. My students are so excited about the read alouds and the variety of different books that we recieved. We have already read through a couple of the smaller books and are currently starting our first chapter book. These books will serve as conversation starters and help students learn and grow in their literacy education.

  They are also very excited to have the responsiblity of their own mailboxes to help keep them organized and get them ready for their weekly folders.

  Again, thank you so much for your generous donation.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 2 other donors.

• Flexible in First

  Funded Jan 10, 2019

  Thank you so much for donating to our classroom. We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful community full of support for education.

  There are many benefits to flexible seating, but the best part is the students just think that it is fun. They don't even realize that they are being helped by these options. Some of the benefits include allowing students to wiggle, which helps them remain focused for longer. Also, allowing students choices makes them more invested in their learning and allows them to learn more and in different ways.

  Thank you again for your generous donations, my students are so excited to have so many options in our classroom.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

• Reading Is Thinking!

  Funded Aug 22, 2018

  Thank you so much for donating to our classroom. My first grade students were so excited to see all of the great books that were purchased. They have been asking to read them every single day since we received them. I am so excited to see their faces light up and watch them be engaged in reading. All of the books that were purchased have been well loved already!

  Although most of the books that were purchased are graphic novels and may be too difficult for 1st grade students, they can still get a lot of useful information from pictures and this is a strategy that we teach in first grade. Again, thank you so much for your generosity and caring about education!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

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

• Making Math Maneuverable

  Funded Aug 4, 2017

  Thank you so much for donating to our classroom. As a special education teacher, I am always looking for new ways to help my students. Your donation has made learning math maneuverable for my students. They love using the number racks and the interlocking blocks to help them learn to make ten. This also takes the abstract number and creates a concrete representation for students to help develop a different pathway to their brain. Students have been so excited about these new items and are even more excited to use the dice for games and the fraction tiles when we get to that unit. Your donation has not only helped in my special education classroom, but has also impacted many other classrooms because of my other role as a math coach and interventionist. I have shared some of these tools with the teachers in my building and we are already seeing an impact in students number sense and their ability to see partners of ten. I am excited to see an impact already in the first few weeks of school and cannot wait to see what a huge impact these tools will have throughout the rest of the year. Thank you again for your donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey

  This classroom project was brought to life by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and 6 other donors.

• Attention: Read All About It

  Funded Jan 31, 2016

  In the past month, the students that I work with have become pretty independent in using these tools. They were very excited, as was I, when the box arrived with our goodies. I think the favorite tool for all of them is the noise canceling headphones. This really helps students remain focused when doing a variety of things including taking tests and reading. In the future, I'm going to start to allow students to become more independent with the listening station as well. This will allow me to give more focused instruction to individual students while still allowing other students to get what they need. This was an amazing gift to have donated to our classroom. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. We as teachers are so blessed by so many different things including the opportunity to work with children and help enhance their learning.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Vande Hey