Past projects 33
Help Us Reach for the Sky with Brand New Supplies!
Funded Aug 14, 2019I would like to thank you for all of your donations. When my students saw all the new supplies, they were speechless!! They were so excited to have mini handouts made and laminated in bright colored paper. We have even started to develop a color coding system for our units of study. We will try to continue this for the remaining units this year where we use one color to make all the charts, bookmarks etc per unit of study.
Students have been more eager to use post its to retell, jot questions and grow ideas about the characters in their books since they have a variety of post its to do this work. Once they finish a book, they have learned how to transfer all of their post its into their notebooks. This helps them when they have to write a reading response or talk more about their books.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 5 other donors.Clean Up! Clean Up!
Funded Aug 14, 2019I would like to thank you again for all your donations. All of these supplies are ensuring our classroom is as clean as possible and have helped my students take ownership over the cleanliness of the room. We have a monitor at each table that is responsible for cleaning each table at the end of the day. Furthermore, students who have breakfast in the classroom, immediately get a wipe to clean their area after they eat. In addition if there is any garbage on the floor, kids know where the broom is located and how to use it and they go and clean up without having to be told anymore. All of these supplies will last us the entire school year. We are truly grateful!!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 6 other donors.Clean Up! Clean Up!
Funded Aug 31, 2018I would like to extend my gratitude for all the supplies we have received because of your donations. When they saw so many boxes arrive, they inquired and when I told them and showed them the contents in the box, they were so surprised to see so many supplies. Then I explained what Donors Choose is and how it helps educators and students. They were shocked to learned that complete strangers donated money so they could have supplies year round. They were so happy and smiling from ear to ear.
My students have become more independent and aware of the important of cleaning up and sanitizing our classroom. They have been using the wipes to clean every other day and the broom to clean up the room and in that way give a helping hand to our school custodians. They have even witnessed our class sweeping and wiping down the tables and sink and have expressed their gratitude.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
This classroom project was brought to life by News Corp and 7 other donors.Comfy Reading Spots Are a Must!
Funded Oct 17, 2018I want to take a moment to extend my gratitude on behalf of myself and my students. The bench is absolutely beautiful and a wonderful addition to our classroom. The series books will be used very soon when we begin our character study and mystery unit. The kids saw the huge box in the room and didn't know what it was. They actually assisted in opening the box and helped to decide where to set up the bench. We decided to place it in the library and we came up with a way to ensure everyone gets a chance to use the bench when reading. We developed a scheduled for quite time reading so that each table will get 10 minutes of quiet time reading on the bench.
I am confident that all of my 60 third graders will enjoy this beautiful bench this school year and so will my future third graders. We can't thank you enough!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place!
Funded Mar 27, 2018Thank you so much for donating to this project! I couldn't believe when I got the email that stated that my project was fully funded! When the boxes arrived, I couldn't wait for them to be brought up to my room and to begin to assemble all the materials. The furniture is so beautiful and compact! They add a pop of color and my students helped to make labels for the bins and organized them as well during their recess time. They were so excited as well. I donated two pieces of my older furniture to a teacher down the hall that needed furniture to make room for our new furniture. I'm currently using one as our writing and art materials center and the other piece is out of the box and on display but not being used yet because I plan to use it in September to hold notebooks, folders, pens, pencils and materials for each table in the classroom.
Again thank you immensely for your donation and dedication to teachers, students and education!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple.A Baggie is a House for BOOKS!
Funded Aug 8, 2017Thank you for donating to this project. This book baggies have been a big hit in our classroom! The kids are so responsible for their baggies ensuring they are organized and cleaned out over the weekend. They were so grateful when I explained how I got the baggies and how Donor's Choose works. They took extra care and pride when writing the thank you notes because they are so grateful to have the baggies. They ensure they hold the baggies by their spine just like books and neatly put them away in their seat sacks. I rarely see a baggie on the floor because they know we must be responsible and take care of the baggies so that we can have the intact for the entire school year. Thank you for your giving hearts and kindness!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
Our Eyes are on the Prize- We Need Supplies!
Funded Aug 30, 2017Thank you all once again for donating to this project. My students and I are so grateful and have been using all the amazing supplies. Our core values are Collaborative, Appreciative, Responsible, Empathetic and Steadfast and students have been so collaborative, appreciative, responsible about the supplies. It's very endearing! I explained to them how Donor's Choose works and they were in awe that strangers care so much about them and their education that they donated money so that we could have these great supplies.My students have been very responsible using the supplies by making sure the caps of the sharpie markers are fully closed, recycling sheet protectors, using only the number of post its they will need and ensuring they wash their hands when they return from the restroom. After our last reading unit, students designed posters to teach our school community about ways they can build their reading lives and they used the super fine sharpies to fancy up their posters and make their writing pop. They took extra pride in their posters because they were able to use these special markers that normally only the teachers get to use. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
It's a Brand New Year, Let's Cheer for School Supplies!
Funded Sep 21, 2016I would like to take this time to thank you all for taking the time to donate to my project. It has definitely made an impact in my classroom and how students are using the materials. My students didn't know about Donor's Choose and how it works so once I explained it to them, they were in awe to know that strangers would donate money so they could have the supplies they needed. I have seen them taking better care of supplies and reminding each other to close sharpies carefully so they don't dry out, to not waste post its, to use sheet protectors only when needed and to put them back neatly in our bins so they don't bend and we can use them for the year, to use one squirt of hand sanitizer instead of several squirts so we don't waste the sanitizer, to use wipes every Friday to clean the tables and keep our classroom free of germs. Actions like these will ensure that our supplies will last us until June and hopefully for the summer. I believe that knowing about this organization and how it works has made them more aware of the act of giving, being kind and how many people care about their education and their well being.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
Book Pouches to Save Mother Earth!
Funded Oct 9, 2016I would like to take this time to wholeheartedly thank you for donating to this project! The book baggies have been a huge success for my third graders! They were so excited when I showed them the baggies they would use this school year. They loved how big, roomy and sturdy the bags are and how they could fit all their books and even a reading log folder with plenty of space! Students have been helping each other keep their baggies organized and often remind each other to keep baggies clean and closed. Students ensure to hold the bags properly while walking in the hallway and place them neatly in our traveling carts so that the baggies last as long as possible. They are taking pride and ownership for their book pouches and we are grateful for your generosity and kindness.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 7 other donors.School Supplies for a Brand New Year!
Funded Aug 21, 2015I would like to once again express my gratitude for your donation to this project. The supplies have definitely helped to start our school year with lots of excitement and eagerness to learn. The students are using the book pouches to safely transport their books to and from school and from class to class. They are very proud and grateful for these beautiful and sturdy book pouches. We just finished a unit on building our reading lives and students used the construction paper to create How to Build a Reading Life Posters that teach our school community all the skills and strategies they learned. The posters are proudly displayed in the third grade corridor for all to appreciate. Students have begun using the post its to jot down ideas they are having about characters in their books, summarizing the chapters of the books they are reading, questions they have about the book or about the author and tricky words. In addition, the sheet protectors will serve as a year long resource because that's where mini charts are kept for student use in each table basket. These will change periodically depending on the unit of study. I also added sheet protectors to their class and homework folders to store word lists and other charts that can help them with homework at home.
Once the proposal was fully funded and the school year began I told my students that we would soon receive materials that were donated by people who want to support their education. They were shocked to know that people that don't know them were willing to donate money so that they could have book pouches, construction paper, sheet protectors and post its. They were really excited and often asked if the box had arrived. The day the first box arrived I waited until after lunch to open the box in front of them and see the excitement in their eyes. Immediately we handed out book pouches and some kids even commented about how the pouches smelled "new". It warmed my heart to see how eager they were to shop for books and take their book pouches home to share them with their family members. When they saw the sheet protectors, they didn't understand the purpose for them so I had to explain how useful they are and how we would use them in the class and how they could use them for homework. They now take extra care of the charts in their buckets and make sure that the sheet protectors are intact at all times. The post its were a huge hit too because of the bright colors and just the concept of post its is fascinating to students who may not have used them before. We made an agreement to use 2 a day during independent reading time and 2 for homework. We discussed the importance of using them correctly and not wasting them because they are expensive and a tool for us to learn. So far, most students have abided by our agreement.
Our next reading unit is a study on characters and series book clubs so we will use more post its in this unit as students will need to jot down ideas and theories about the characters they are reading about daily. I will create mini charts for this unit and place them in sheet protectors for students to use in class and take home. I haven't finalized ideas for a project for this upcoming unit but some ideas that I have is having them create pictures of the characters and label the pictures with character traits that include text evidence. They can also create wanted posters for characters that will give readers details about this character based on the text. The possibilities are endless.
Thank you all once again for making a difference in the lives of my third graders!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Maldonado