Past projects 11
Collaborate and Connect: Tools to Allow for Working Cooperatively
Funded Oct 24, 2018Your kindness and generosity is greatly appreciated. The students in my classroom were so excited to receive packages from you, and they have taken proud ownership of the materials purchased! The students regularly make positive choices while using the seating options, and they have thoroughly enjoyed presenting to their classmates.
The students eagerly choose seating options that will provide the most success either individually or with their classmates. They have learned to be fair by allowing others to take turns with the seating options, and students have become very understanding over the last several months as they have identified peers with particular needs and began allowing those children first choice for the various seating options.
The Belkin iPad Stage and the microphone have allowed students to take ownership of their learning while they present their work to the class. The microphone allows those students who have not learned to use a "presentation level" voice to still present in front of the class. They also get very excited to share the karaoke microphone during their classroom community meetings. While working with their Chromebooks, the students are able to refrain from distracting their classmates by using the earbuds.
Your generosity has allowed these children to take ownership of their learning and to practice collaboration among their peers. They have made significant gains over these last few months, and we have you to thank for providing these materials to our classroom! Thank you so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and one other donor.Active Bodies, Active Minds! Hokki Stools for the Classroom
Funded Nov 1, 2017I want to offer my sincere gratitude for your generous donation to help my active students with their least accommodated academic need - movement! The students were so excited when the boxes arrived. Many of them were even willing to carry the boxes to the classroom and couldn't wait for them to be opened! These Hokki stools have provided a new sense of autonomy for the students because they are allowed to choose their seating based on their needs. Sometimes, the stools are around our group table while the students sit together to complete group projects or small-group instruction. Other times, the students opt to bring the stools to their desks so they can complete their independent assignments. When no one is using the stools during work, some students choose to sit and read in various spaces in the classroom. With these stools in the classroom now, some of my more active students are able to focus and stay on task because the Hokki stools allow an outlet for the need for movement without stopping their ability to complete academic tasks. The students and I are so glad to have these resources. I think my favorite comment from a student was "Ms. Dawley, how can I get one of these for my house?"
Thank you again for your contribution to our classroom. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
Geocaching Field Experience
Funded Mar 29, 2017Thank you so much for your generosity! My students and I appreciate you more than you could know. We began school three weeks ago, and our first unit in Social Studies is regarding maps, globes, and atlases. We are learning about latitude and longitude and how we can find locations using coordinates. The GPS devices you have helped bring into our classroom have already created so much excitement in the students! We spent some time already this year learning about some of the features of the units, and we will use the GPS devices to go geocaching as we start to master using coordinates to find locations. The students and I are so excited to be able to include activities like geocaching and mapping our own locations into our Social Studies unit. We are so grateful for you and your willingness to give to the students. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 3 other donors.Hands-On Learning with a 21st Century Twist
Funded Oct 10, 2016The students have truly enjoyed being able to use this technology to practice so many things. They have used the Osmo systems to practice spelling lists and have friendly competitions amongst themselves with Osmo Words. They have been thinking outside the box using Osmo Coding, and they have applied knowledge of fact fluency using Osmo Numbers. As the teacher, my personal favorite is Osmo Newton, which requires students to think about cause and effect, physics, mathematical concepts, and so much more as they create systems to solve puzzles. Some of the students have even enjoyed Osmo Masterpiece as they transfer their own photos they have taken into artwork they have drawn!
Thank you so much for providing these resources for my students. As we continue to live and work in a technology-rich world, it is important for children to have experiences like this. I am glad to be able to see them truly enjoy learning with these Osmo systems and iPads. I look forward to seeing the students practice cooperative learning strategies as well as higher order thinking skills.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
Out with the Fixed.. In with the Growth! (Mindset Matters)
Funded Aug 21, 2016My students have been learning so much this year about the difference between fixed mindset and growth mindset. These texts are perfect for reinforcing the ideas within the lessons. Students are seeing the characters in the books persevere through obstacles, overcome life challenges, and work through difficult situations. The students are identifying with these characters as they make text-to-self connections. I think my favorite response has been when students disagree with the characters' experiences at the start of some of the texts. For example, in "Who Says Women Cant' Be Doctors?" many of the students were appalled at the idea that females were not encouraged to do such things. Seeing these students argue for growth mindset in the characters has been a true win for our class!
In our classroom, we read together, I read to the students, and students read independently every day. It pleases me to see students choose to read these books during their independent reading time. They have also spent time reflecting on these texts and sharing their reflections with their classmates. Listening to the students describe how the characters demonstrated (or could have demonstrated) a growth mindset has shown me that they truly do understand the concept of growth mindset and how having a growth mindset will help them succeed in school and in life.
The students are always taking these books off the shelves. They hide them away in their desks. They reread them over and over again. I am extremely thankful for your generous donation to our classroom. The students are so happy to have these texts to share with each other and with students in other classes. Many of the students even shared a few titles with their families during conference nights! These books have been a wonderful addition to our classroom, and I cannot thank you enough!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
What Do They Know? How Much Will They Grow?
Funded Mar 9, 2016This project will provide so much useful information regarding my students' reading abilities. I look forward to beginning the school year next year with the Benchmark Assessment Kit so I can get a full picture of my students' independent and instructional reading levels.
This kit provided great insight into what my students this year learned. I look forward to seeing their progress next year since I will be able to administer the assessment at the start of the year as well as at the end. This year, I was only able to assess students' abilities at the end of the school year with no pre-assessment to measure growth. However, the information provided was so beneficial! It allowed me to document the current abilities of the students as they move forward to Second Grade.
I plan to use this kit in the future and bring the information to our grade-level data meetings and planning meetings. I will help other teachers learn to use this kit if they show interest in having that additional data for their students. I am extremely grateful for all of your help funding this amazing assessment tool!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 23 other donors.Interactive Learning in Math and Science
Funded Oct 13, 2015Thank you for your generosity with funding this project! My students are loving the resources that allow them to keep their math games and science activities organized!
With the binders and zipper pouches, the students are able to keep their math games and all of the components in one place. They can easily take the games out to play alone or with a friend. We have also been able to keep math tools, such as ten frames and counters, in the binder to use interactively during our lessons. The Scholastic News and Time for Kids magazines have been a big hit with the students as they look forward to learning more about each concept on a monthly basis. The content is not only up-to-date, but it is relevant to the students. The high-interest topics motivate the students to read and learn, and they get excited to see the next package of magazines arrive.
With your gracious donations, you have allowed my students to have experiences that would not have otherwise been given to them. They are excited to learn about meaningful content and enjoy the materials that you have helped to provide. Your donation is appreciated by both me and the students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
Learning in a Conscious Classroom
Funded Aug 10, 2015Thank you so much for your generosity when it came to helping me teach my students self-regulatory skills for behavior management. We received the materials for this project just in time to begin our study at the start of the school year. The students began this year struggling with skills related to managing emotions due to the relationships that they had with each other last school year. This year, we have been working with our Feeling Buddies to identify feelings. We have used strategies addressed by the I Calm chart, and the students are able to use the Safe Place that we've set up in our classroom to take a break and calm down. Students have learned that we can't make wise, problem-solving decisions when we are experiencing strong feelings of sadness, anger, or worry. Today, students are able to successfully use the safe place as a calming station where they can decide the best way to solve their problems without being hurtful to others.
When the materials arrived at our school, the students were excited to listen to the songs on the Feeling Buddies CD and learn about the Feeling Buddies. They quickly began to use the Feeling Buddies as tools for managing emotions. Even today, after using the materials for two months, the students are still happy to have the materials available to help with calming and making wise decisions to solve problems in class.
We will continue to use these materials throughout the school year. Our Safe Place is a great addition to our classroom, and the students have learned to use it appropriately. As the students learn more strategies to manage their emotions, I anticipate the number of physical behavior outbursts and peer-to-peer arguments to be reduced drastically. Thank you again for your support with the purchase of these materials!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
In This Age of Technology
Funded Oct 21, 2014Thank you so much for your generosity in providing the funding for my students to have iPads in the classroom. The students were very excited when I told them about the resource, and they were even more excited when we received the packages! When we received the iPads, some of the students were interested in sharing the applications that they use on their personal tablets at home. Some of those apps are great for our purposes in class.
The students have been using the iPads in a variety of ways. One of their favorite apps to use is the Lexia Core 5 app. It supplements an online component, and the students use it to boost their literacy skills. The students also love that they can project what they are doing onto our SMARTboard using the Reflector application. Sometimes, it's fun to catch them off-guard when I, from the other side of the room, use Splashtop to control my laptop that is hooked up to the projector! The students display their use of interactive manipulatives using both Reflector and Splashtop. They also have many apps download to practice number sense, addition and subtraction, and many other math skills. One app that I find most useful for writing instruction is the voice record and other apps like it. Students can tell and record their stories, and they can play the recording to remember what they intended to write. Another great thing that you have helped provide to my students is the OtterBox Defender Series cases. They have more than held up to my expectations, as first graders can be quite uncoordinated at times.
These iPads have given me the ability to provide students in my class with technology that we have available in our 21st-century world. We are much closer to the 21st-century classroom that many teachers long to have. You have provided my students with a great resource that we have used for everything from guided mathematics activities to independent research using the Internet to find information on Alaskan animals. My students have learned to be better classroom community members, as they practice group activities and sharing. They have learned responsibility, as they must remember to charge the iPads when needed. In addition to everything my students have been learning, I have learned to allow my students greater flexibility in how they access information.
Thank you, again, for providing this resource to my students. I look forward to the benefits that will continue to come from the use of the iPads in the classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley
Notebooks, Notebooks Everywhere!
Funded Jun 3, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to our interactive notebooks! The first graders love using them to record their thinking, and I love that the students are able to keep track of their work and notes from class.
The students have been using the notebooks to record their thinking in all content areas from Math to Social Studies. Using these notebooks has provided an opportunity to include instruction regarding the parts of a book (Table of Contents) as well as how to use a book (front cover, turning pages one at a time, working from left to right). It is amazing to see the growth that these First Graders have made since having the opportunity to use these notebooks in class! Included in the photos are examples of some of the work that we have been doing in the various content areas. It is quite impressive! The students are so proud!
I am also thankful for the opportunity to keep the data in one place to share with the students' parents. The parents have appreciated the feedback and the evidence provided by keeping samples from daily work in one convenient place.
Thank you again for helping to provide this resource to my students! You are truly amazing!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dawley