Past projects 7
Cozy Carpet for Whole Group Lessons
Funded Aug 2, 2023I am thrilled to be able to have a comfortable rug for my students to be able to gather on during all of our whole group lessons. Thank you so much for generosity and helping to ensure my students have a cozy space that allows them to do their best learning!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Read It, Craft It
Funded Nov 29, 2022My students were so excited to see the multiple boxes of supplies get delivered to our classroom! We use the supplies multiple times a week.
For example, this past week we have been reading different versions of The Wizard of Oz and responding to the text through writing about the characters, describing the different settings in the story, etc. After responding to the text, we have created characters from the story. We did a directed drawing of the tin man and then after coloring we watercolored the background. We created the lion and scarecrow by cutting out pieces and putting them together. Thank you so much for helping me make learning fun by providing the materials to create weekly!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 2 other donors.Kindergarten Easel / Chart Stand
Funded Oct 26, 2022It has been so nice for our class to be able to use our new and majorly improved easel! This easel takes up minimal space and is easily rolled out of the way when not in use. We use our easel daily for building cvc words, creating anchor charts and referring to anchor charts created in the past. During phonics each morning, students come to the easel to dictated CVC words with magnetic letter cards. They are also called to co-create our anchor charts-where different students write on our anchor charts. One side of our easel is dedicated to phonics and the others-because it is easily turnable is for creating our anchor chart, class crafts, and developing math skills, etc.
When we received our easel, our wonderful custodian Mr. Conley put it together for me after school. When our class came in the next morning-they were SO EXCITED to see a new easel! "It's so pretty!" "How did we get that?" I explained that we had several people donate money to our class project through donorschoose because they wanted us to be able to have what we needed for our classroom.
We will continue to use this easel for the remainder of the year, but it will also be used for years to come with my future students. It was built to last and I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to provide my students with this easel!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 10 other donors.Books, Books, and MORE Books!
Funded Apr 21, 2021I cannot explain to you how exciting it was for my students to open box after box of books. They could not wait to read each and every one. We used the books for many different purposes over the school year. Some we just simply read for enjoyment, however each time a book is read, students get much more out of it than they know.
By reading, we are developing comprehension skills, vocabulary, fluency, and phonemic awareness skills just to name a few. In kindergarten, most of my students cannot read these books independently, because the reading level is much higher than they independent level, so for these particular books, I read each of them aloud to my students. However, one way to read a book is by reading the pictures and they could all do that. So they also read these books by reading the pictures.
All of my students enjoyed these books, but the students I was most excited to see enjoy them and develop a love of reading over the school year, were my students that were not really exposed to books or read to before entering kindergarten. To see them reach for those books to read, tell me which one they wanted to me to read next, or see them engrossed in the book and what was going to happen next while I was reading was truly incredible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by Tyson Foods and 5 other donors.Books! Books! Books!
Funded Mar 18, 2021I cannot explain to you how exciting it was for my students to open box after box of books. They could not wait to read each and every one. We used the books for many different purposes over the school year. Some we just simply read for enjoyment, however each time a book is read, students get much more out of it than they know.
By reading, we are developing comprehension skills, vocabulary, fluency, and phonemic awareness skills just to name a few. In kindergarten, most of my students cannot read these books independently, because the reading level is much higher than they independent level, so for these particular books, I read each of them aloud to my students. However, one way to read a book is by reading the pictures and they could all do that. So they also read these books by reading the pictures.
All of my students enjoyed these books, but the students I was most excited to see enjoy them and develop a love of reading over the school year, were my students that were not really exposed to books or read to before entering kindergarten. To see them reach for those books to read, tell me which one they wanted to me to read next, or see them engrossed in the book and what was going to happen next while I was reading was truly incredible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 11 other donors.Learning Loving Reading
Funded Aug 25, 2020We teach so many skills through read alouds. We use these books to do lots of comparisons between texts such as fiction and non-fiction, characters, settings, resolutions. An example would be the different versions of the the Gingerbread stories and how each story ended. However, the main focus of the books I purchased through donors choose is to build a love of reading in my students through the many wonderful books.
I read aloud daily to my students. The more books that I can read in a day the better. I want to expose them to as many books, authors, and types of texts as possible. Throughout the day my students gather on their floor (spread apart this year due to COVID) while I read aloud. Sometimes we are reading to practice a certain skill or for a lesson, but often times I am reading to them for enjoyment. However, even just reading for enjoyment lays the foundation for skills such as reading fluency, building vocabulary, and language skills.
All of my students enjoy these books. We have a bulletin board where we hang a picture of each book that we have read so that through the year we have a visual reminder of all of the books that we have read. It is so exciting to watch the number books that are added grow over the course of the year. Our read aloud time is one of my most favorite parts of our day. Watching their faces as the story unfolds is a true gift. Getting to hear them retell the stories or work through comparing them, telling their favorite part, giving their opinion on the book is evident that all of these things are working together to build a foundation to ensure that they become life long readers.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 18 other donors.Hands On Learning While Social Distancing
Funded Aug 3, 2020These materials have been such a gift to our students. Because of your generous donations, I was able to create morning baskets for each student. When students come in the morning they are able to pull their morning basket down that is full of different hands on materials for them to manipulate, create, and use their imagination with. With students arriving at different times, it gives our students something meaningful to do until our whole group instruction and day begins.
Each time I have added new materials to their baskets they have been so excited to use them. Because of the variety of materials provided, I am able to switch out the materials often so students are inspired to create new things, continue to be engaged, and are not easily bored.
We will continue to use these materials as students arrive in the morning as well as for early finishers. These materials will not only be able to be used this year, but for future students and years as well.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Stalcup
This classroom project was brought to life by Tyson Foods and 2 other donors.