Mrs. Eckelberry's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 7

• Restock So We Can Rock the Rest of the Year!

  Funded Jun 8, 2023

  Thank you so much for contributing to our classroom. Being a SpEd room of four teachers we have students from every grade-level in the school come through our room. These materials have allowed students to continue to access our modified curriculums and activities how they need. Whiteboard markers and cleaner are used daily and are necessities in this room. The headphones were received today and are already being used as many students aren't able to provide their own.

  Out of all of the provided materials, the Lego Emotions have been the biggest hit with the students (outside of the dry erase markers). We are able to use them with our social skills groups during our morning check-ins. Students love getting the create characters that match the different faces. They have also been used during escalated moments with students, allowing them to identify and communicate their emotion without having to use words.

  Thank you so much for your belief in our students and their learning!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 3 other donors.

• Hands-on While Learning Remotely

  Funded Sep 17, 2020

  I cannot thank you enough for what you did. You did not merely give money. No, you gave so much more. While your funds helped to purchase much needed materials for my students, what you really gave was beyond physical. You gave access, opportunity, and a fighting chance at being able to learn as students should. This pandemic has put many of us in positions with difficult choices. Our parents have truly face that this year. For many of my families, it was a very difficult choice between keeping their students home and trying to stay safe and sending them to school, especially when they know they have special needs and require specific instruction.

  The funds you provided helped me to bring that specialized instruction into their homes in a way I would not have been able to otherwise. While their time with me doesn't look exactly how it would in a school building, I am not able to truly teach them to the best of my ability while. doing so remotely. They can touch their content and manipulate it to help them learn. I was able to differentiate and provide students with the activities they needed even though they may be in a virtual session with others working on different skills.

  The students loved their materials and they are truly utilized every single day school day. Thank you for seeing this need. Thank you for joining our team.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose 20th Anniversary Fund and 12 other donors.

• Wiggle Waggle While Learning

  Funded Apr 4, 2017

  I cannot begin to tell you how much your donation impacted my students and our classroom. Because of your donation we were able to receive much needed seating options. When the items arrived it truly was a celebration. We all gathered around the carpet and opened the gifts together! Their eyes lit up seeing the bright colors and discussing the different ways we would use them in our room. They were eager to try each new piece.

  The next week, we began incorporating them into our room. Because they were housed in various places around the room and had to remain housed at different times during each day, every student had a chance to try each new seating element. During the other times of the day, students were allowed to switch out their traditional seat for an alternative one. This was instantly a hit. Students began trying out each seating element to see which worked best for them. They even began making preferences based on the content and activity.

  It was such an amazing teacher-moment when I saw my students moving from choosing a seat just because it was new and "fun" to choosing a seat that actually helped them continue to learn. An added bonus of these new seating options was the social gain my students had. These seats encouraged students to discuss more with each other. They began talking about which seats they liked and why, as well as asking each other to trade or use them later. This was a huge benefit to our class as it not only brought students together, but our social interactions and skills received huge gains.

  Even though it is the summer now, I know that your donations will benefit classes to come. I can already plan how to introduce these different elements to my upcoming class. I also know that they will be utilized by the after school program that uses my room on occasion. Thank you for investing in my room. You have helped to encourage students to learn their preferences and grow their social skills!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 17 other donors.

• Connecting Through Technology

  Funded Mar 17, 2016

  Dear Donors,

  First let me thank you for supporting my classroom and the many groups of students that will benefit from your support. Thanks to your investment in my classroom I was able to receive 3 iPod touch devices. Many of you may be familiar with them as they are very similar to iPhones and iPads. The main difference, is they are small and the perfect size for little hands. Working in a first grade classroom I was desperate to find tools that my students could utilize in multiple ways and that were appropriate for them. These iPod touches were the perfect fit.

  My main intent for the devices was to update our listening center. We had older cd players that often ran out of battery quickly and had buttons that were hard to push and maneuver. These iPods gave us the ability to load multiple cds of stories, held their charge much longer and were easier and faster to recharge, as well as were easier to work. My students had no problem learning to use them and were able to effectively use them on their first day. This has drastically helped my students listen to more stories and interact with the text. This has especially helped my students who struggle with reading. With our older cd players, when they stopped working, students were tasked trying to read through the stories. While we have 3 different levels of stories, this was still tasking for those struggling with reading. Now that we have reliable technology again, all of my students can participate in that center. All of my students can listen to a story on their level or even above. This has greatly helped their confidence and their comprehension.

  The iPods have also had other benefits in our classroom. We have a classroom blog. In the past I have been responsible for its content. Thanks to the iPods, students have been able to take ownership of the content and take a major role in updating and sharing information with our audience. The iPod touches have allowed multiple students to take pictures and videos at the same time. They have also allowed me to better teach digital citizenship as it more directly connects with the students while they are publishing to the web. By the end of last year, my students were taking pictures and videos, adding watermarks, sending their products to me, and typing information to accompany their images. All of this was possible thanks to your contributions.

  This project has allowed my students to better connect with technology, learn valuable tech skills, and connect our classroom with those around the world. Thank you so much for investing in our education and believing in my students. Your support will affect students for years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 7 other donors.

• You Play To Win. We Play To Learn!

  Funded Jul 14, 2015

  Let me start by saying thank you! Thanks to you my students have had the opportunities to not only extend their learning of our core subjects, but more importantly, they have learned to work together. The materials that your donations provided have pushed them to complete tasks together. These activities have led to discussions on appropriate ways to request materials or correct a classmate when they aren't following the game's rules exactly. Thanks to your donations students have also experienced success together. There is nothing quite like hearing a group cheer together as they solve a puzzle or reach a game's end. They have begun encouraging each other during other school activities and subjects as well. Your donations' impacts have extended and touched every aspect of our room.

  While the students enjoy all of the games there is one that has definitely risen to the top as a favorite. This is the Osmo Gaming System, specifically the Tangrams component. This game challenges students visually but it is tiered in such a way it also pushes students to want to do better. The game provides three different levels of activities. All students began on the "easy" level. Now, they are challenging each other and encouraging their partners to try the hard level. When they are able to construct a picture working together they cheer! This one activity engages them, forces them to work together, reaches them on their level and also appropriately challenges them.

  Overall, your donations have helped my students sharpen their math skills, work on their visual processing skills, as well as their cooperation and communication skills. These items have brought my students together beyond the instance of their use. I cannot thank you enough for providing my students, and future students, with these opportunities. Thanks to you I will be able to enrich and extend the learning for many classes to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 13 other donors.

• Center Sensation

  Funded Aug 24, 2014

  I cannot thank you enough for your donations. With all of your help our classroom was able to get some much needed materials. Your donations made it possible for us to receive new headphones for two of our centers, new books, and math games!

  I waited to tell the students about the donations until our project became fully funded and the materials had arrived. Students became overwhelmingly curious as more and more boxes were delivered to our room. Finally the time came to unveil our new goodies and they did not disappoint. Students were excited, intrigued, and wanted to get their hands on the goods. At this point in the year we have finally distributed all of the materials to their appropriate centers and students have had a chance to get some hands-on experience with the new materials.

  The headphones were the first materials they got to use as we had two centers they use daily that were in desperate need of quality headphones. The donated headphones made it possible for every student, whether or not their family could provide headphones from the supply list, to utilize these centers. Now all students are able to listen to the leveled reading material as well as get on our laptops and work on subjects such as spelling, reading, math, and science. The books were the next materials distributed. My class this year is wild about non-fiction so they fell in love with the new material immediately. There has been constant movement of the books from one student's book box to another student's. The math games were the last materials to be distributed as we needed to fully cover the material they cover. Now that we have, students get to rotate through math centers playing the different math addition games as well as exploring place-value.

  By donating you provided my students with better opportunities for learning. You've provided opportunities for all students that became independent on what their families our our school could provide. With your help they are getting the chance to learn more about the world through text, expand their math knowledge through games, and experience technology with the headphones. All of my students are benefiting from these materials. They are used every day and in multiple ways. Thank you for taking a hand in educating my current students and students to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry

  This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 8 other donors.

• Give Us the Power to Learn

  Funded Dec 10, 2010

  This is just a small token of my appreciation for your contributions. Your donations funded our listening center project. With your help we were able to get new headphones as well as get rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. The students use these materials at our listening center daily. I cannot tell you how much their center experience has already improved.

  Before your donations they often struggled with ill-fitting headphones and CD players that would quit in the midst of their story. This made it difficult for them to fully understand the stories and get the most out of that center. Since we have received our new materials they have not had to worry about those problems. The students greatly enjoy being able to listen to the different stories. If a CD player ever runs out of batteries in the middle of a story we simply switch them out for some new ones and throw the empty ones on the charger! Without contributions from donors like you all our center would still be lacking. Thank you for helping our class and classes to come!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Eckelberry