Past projects 3
Chromebooks for K!
Funded May 9, 2018Thank you so much for your generous donations, which helped to fund 4 Chromebooks for my classroom! They arrived in June, but I waited until the 2018-2019 school year to introduce them to my students. We are all in agreement that they are an amazing addition to our classroom.
I am slowly introducing the students to the Chromebooks and all they have to offer. So far, the students have learned how to play our school-wide math program called STMath and have learned how to play games on websites such as starfall.com and abcya.com. As the year progresses, the students will be introduced to other applications and websites to further their learning and development.
Some of the students favorite things about the Chromebooks is that they are portable, light, and they don't require a traditional mouse. They can all enjoy sitting at a table together, or they are able to go work by themselves. This encourages the children figure out where they learn best, and develop the skills to be able to apply that independently. This flexibility would never able to happen with desktop computers.
I cannot wait to continue the use of the Chromebooks in my classroom during this school year and many more to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Thomas
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 3 other donors.Flexible Seating=Success in Kindergarten
Funded Mar 14, 2018Thank you so much for your extremely generous donation. My students and I absolutely love our new addition to the classroom. The students love how easy they are to manipulate; they are extremely lightweight and fit perfectly under the tables when not in use. My students who need to be "on the move" are able to get their wiggles out constantly with the wiggle stools.
Not only do we use our new stools at the tables, we also use them on the rug. Some students have a hard time staying in their rug spot. I have started letting these students sit on one of the small stools on the rug to give them a more concrete place and way to sit. The students who need this extra support to be successful on the rug are benefiting immensely.
Next year, I am excited to lower one classroom table and utilize a couple small stools at that table. I would also like to expand my flexible seating by allowing students to sit on the floor, on a yoga mat, etc. if that is where they can work most successfully. Because of you, I was able to start my journey into flexible seating for my classroom and I can't wait to see where my classroom will go from here!
Your donation and generosity means more than you could ever imagine! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Thomas
Teaching and Learning Chart
Funded Oct 16, 2016The teaching and learning chart has made a huge impact on my teaching and my students' learning. It is used almost non-stop throughout the day and has already proven to be an amazing tool. The teaching and learning chart is used for various things throughout the day and year.
One way we use the teaching and learning chart is to display our unit vocabulary. This is so important for my ELL population. I have seen a growth in my students' vocabulary and their confidence using these new words as a result of being able to see them all day. We also use the chart for anchor charts and creating things together. We make anchor charts for letters, poems, reading strategies, and much more. A third use for the teaching and learning chart is more of a management tool. I hang our pocket chart with the daily choices for center time. When the students choose where they want to learn and play, they put their name in the chart. Our last main use for the teaching and learning chart is for storage. We use the bottom of the chart to store our whiteboards so they are easily accessible when we are learning on the rug. It is also used to store the students' "book bags". These are gallon Ziploc bags where students keep their independent reading books and other tools they use during independent reading.
My students love the teaching and learning chart and all of its uses. They love when they walk in and see new vocabulary words displayed! It is something they can use throughout the day to refer back to when working independently. I cannot wait to continue using the chart for the rest of the year and make more discoveries for great uses.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Thomas