Past projects 15
Hi-Ho! Hi-Ho! It's Off to the INTERNET We Go!
Funded Mar 27, 2018I can't tell you how much this project has impacted the lives of my students, but I'll try. So many of my students don't have access to technology in their classroom. We have one computer room in the entire building and getting my students there and on task from my classroom is a huge waste of instructional class time. With your help I have finally been able to get almost everyone of my students a laptop that I can keep in my room. I can distribute these computers to my students and they can get right to work. It's wonderful!
These computers have started a conversation about my classroom with administration and moving towards having more digital portfolios verses ones where they are all hand written.
I really think these computers will help them begin to understand the power and need of technology in their lives outside of their phones.
Again, thank you so much for fighting the good fight.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Saunders
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple and 8 other donors.No BONES About it; My Students Love Comics!
Funded Jan 29, 2018This year has been super crazy. I still can't believe how fast it is going by, but it's also pretty remarkable that I feel that spending just ten months with these amazing group of students is going to have such a lasting effect. So many of my students love the current trend of superheroes being so popular. I can tell you that we have had plenty of discussions about The Flash and which superhero team is better and why, Justice League or The Avengers? Your donations have allowed for us to expand these wonderful conversations to characters that don't wear capes, like Thorn and Bone from Jeff Smith's wonderful Bone series and while Dork Diaries and Diary of a Wimpy Kid aren't technically comic books, they are doing a great job of bridging the gap between graphic novels and novels, which is helping to get some of my struggling readers to read more. They are always checked out of my classroom library! Thank you so much for helping out and fighting the good fight by supporting my classroom and the wonderful students that enter it everyday.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Saunders
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 3 other donors.Getting Chromebook Computers in the Classroom
Funded Jan 19, 2017The direct impact these computers have had on my students is amazing. We recently worked on a project which allowed students to work in groups to do a presentation. So many of my students had never worked with Power Point or Google slides that I was amazed and ended up working with them in their teams to make sure that everyone was able to complete the task.
I use to take some of my students down to the computer lab which would take ten minutes out of my class, ten minutes out of time to learn. Now they show up to my room, get a computer and start working on some of the programs that the school uses to assess their learning needs. Tomorrow I will take my students into the computer lab and give some of them laptops to work on a program that assists with their reading and writing skills. It blows my mind every time I go into the lab that I am giving students a laptop, which you helped provide, for them to work on as a computer that does not work is staring them in the face.
Some students come to me during their lunch to either work on their writing project or to work on their reading homework. Each of my students is required to read an hour and a half with a reading program called MyOn. So many of my students do not have access to books and this program helps them read on their phones, but some of them can't even afford to use the data it requires so they come during lunch to read on these computers. Others come during lunch to work on a program, QwertyTown.com, that helps students learn how to type. After seeing all of my students hunt and peck to type their work, a good friend recommended the program and its been a hit. Think about that for a minute, your donation is helping a student learn how to type. How cool is that?
These computers have saved me in so many ways. The other day I had to sub and we just took out the computers and got on MyOn and read because I did not have any materials to sub that class. It was such a life saver.
Thank you again for everything.
Your donations have made such a difference in my class and in the life of these and future students.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Saunders
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 17 other donors.Seeing in Color
Funded Dec 28, 2016It is amazing what a little bit of color can do to a classroom. I recently assigned projects based on specific time periods of a text that my students were reading. During their presentations I was able to print up some of their slides and I was able to do it in color so that everyone, other students, teachers and parents can see their work proudly displayed. Later on I tested my students on their presentations of these time periods and gave them a chance to take notes from the slides around their ELA classroom. I feel like some of my students were better able to process and remember the information because they were able to remember the pictures that were associated with the slides. Later on I printed up a ton of prefixes and suffixes and their meanings. I did this because I have so many English Language Learners in my classes and the data that I have on so many of them suggested this would help them decoding the meaning of some words. I printed them in color and hung them against the backdrop of my blackboard, which, speaking of color, is green. The cutouts actually "pop" a lot more than if they were printed in black and white. My room is so much more pleasing to come into now that there is COLOR on my bulletin boards and walls. It makes my room feel more like a classroom and more importantly a place where these students feel safe and feel like they can learn in.
Thank you so much for your generous donation.
Your contribution is helping pave the way for our future in such a direct and awesome way.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Saunders
Printing The future
Funded Nov 28, 2016This printer has revolutionized my life and that of my students, which sounds kind of improbable, how can a printer do so much? Well, I can now sit in my office and print. Which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really is. I am now spending more time in my office and my classroom developing worksheets and working on lessons that develop student learning rather than running around like a chicken with his head cut off looking for a printer. I'm printing up images and vocabulary words to post on the bulletin boards in my classroom rather than writing it out with my horrible handwriting, and my handwriting is truly horrible.
Seriously, this printer has given me one of the most valuable commodities, more time. More time to work on how to help my students. More time to develop lesson plans and worksheets that are engaging and geared toward the specific learning needs of my students.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Saunders