Past projects 4
I Got Skills, They're Multiplyn'
Funded Aug 7, 2019We are making great use of your gift. We begin early in the year exploring multiplication so one of the very first activities was to read the book of multiplication poems with insects. The children loved the book (and it went great with our science unit observing lady bugs and butterflies.) We revisited this book several times because the gorgeous illustrations helped students to start to understand the concept of equal groups of things and the connection between addition and multiplication. Next, we began to model multiplication through organized arrays. They loved stamping their own arrays with the nature stampers (which again, tied in to our science unit). I was able to model various arrays and then model the distributive property easily using my new magnetic grid poster. I am able to build models with magnetic counters as well as use white board markers. (I am the envy of many colleagues who have taken note of this great tool.) At this point in the year, kids are working hard to get all of these facts memorized. EVERY child was given a pack of flashcards provided through this project to use at home, and here in class they have time every day to practice facts with partners using the multiplication center games. Memorizing multiplication facts is a big task for third graders, but your generous gifts are helping them to understand and memorize more easily while also having some fun. And I greatly appreciate the support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weldon
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 6 other donors.Multicultural Mirrors-Seeing Ourselves in the Books We Read
Funded Jun 3, 2018I teach in a low-socio-economic, urban district. Each year, I have many students in my classroom with IEPs. I also have many students who are ELL (English Language Learners). We used to have newcomers (non English-speaking...when students FIRST arrive) classes in one of our schools, but a few years ago, we changed to sending all students to their neighborhood schools which means that I receive children of all levels of English proficiency (from non-speaking up through proficient). We have a wonderfully diverse community including many immigrant families so I have children every year from various African countries, south American countries, Vietnam, Egypt, and Laos. Sometimes, children arrive in the middle of the year from a new country and have to transition to a new culture, new climate, and new language. Because of our cultural and cognitive diversity, I created this project so that I would have wonderful picture books in my room that hooked in to various topics we study throughout the year that also featured a multitude of diverse characters. I want my students to be able to "see" themselves and their families and current and past communities in our books.
The multi-cultural mirroring happened immediately. These books arrived at the end of last year so I made a point of reading several of them to my class before school was out. My students from Kenya lit right up when we read some of the books set in their home country. I shared with them a story about a family with a little brother with cognitive differences, and several of my students responded kindly and compassionately to the characters in that story, and many had people in their lives they wished to tell me about who reminded them of Charlie in the book. I read the story of Temple Grandin, who is a woman with autism. This particular book was read with our unit on Growth Mindset. One of my little guys who happens to be on the autism spectrum (and often spends reading time paying little attention) perked up immediately. After the book when I asked kids to respond he told me that he liked this book because even if your brain has autism, you can still be smart. THIS is exactly what this project is about. My children need to see themselves in the books I share. And they need to see themselves in positive light. I have a little girl this year who came recently from another country due to natural disaster in her home. She is beginning to learn English and though she was quiet for a long time, she's speaking and engaging with me more and more. I marvel at these little people who have left their homes and pets and belongings behind and are immersed into a completely new place; how scary this must be. So I try to share books with characters that she can relate to, so that she sees the positive outcomes of the kids in the books. Our reading topic recently was about immigration, so I took the opportunity to include a couple of our new books. One was about a little girl's second day in a new school where she didn't speak the language. It chronicled her experience of confusion and fear and finally comfort as children began to include her. She even learned her fist English word, apple. (Coincidentally, one of my Vietnamese students told me several years ago that his first day at Johnny Appleseed School, the only English word he knew was apple.) As I have more and more English Language Learners in my class each year, it is vital that I read story characters with whom they identify. We've also already read a couple of books that deal with characters with hard to pronounce names. Names are important! Every person wants to hear their own name pronounced correctly, but many of my students endure constant mispronunciations and sometimes teasing. These books such as "My Name is Sangoel," and "The Name Jar," lead us to have class discussions about our precious names. Some of my students have a chance to share their frustration and express the importance to them of their names. And others gain empathy and perspective toward their peers. We all explored our own names and were able to share about the origins, meanings, and other special things about our own names.
All of the books that you helped fund feature diverse characters of different family structures, different cultures, languages and religions, and different cognitive and physical abilities. But the books are not merely about diversity; they feature a variety of themes that fit into all areas of my curriculum. So as the year progresses and the books are read, we will discuss the themes, and at the same time I'll also know that these books are mirroring my children and their diverse cultures and families. This is one of the ways that I try to keep my classroom welcoming and supportive for all learners.
I wish that you could know some of my students and could have seen/felt how they've reacted to some of the stories. I couldn't have been more delighted to see that the books you've helped to provide truly are mirroring them...and they happily KNOW it too!
Thank you for your generosity and your support of my precious people.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weldon
Building Capable and Confident Readers with Chapter Books
Funded Oct 19, 2017Since you chose to help fund this project, I assume that you are probably a reader yourself! In addition to teaching little kids HOW to read, I am challenged by trying to simultaneously teach them to LOVE to read as well so that they will continue to read and learn their whole lives. The basals we use in school are colorful and packed with great stories, but kids often don't really "feel" like a reader until they have a CHAPTER BOOK in their hands and they read it THEMSELVES. Your gift is helping them to build confidence as readers. They SEE themselves as readers now. Additionally, I purposely chose humorous books with animal characters (Fantastic Mr Fox) and a silly baseball story (Skinny Bones). I chose these books with my reluctant readers in mind because I knew it would hook them. Success! Between the thrill of being gifted a big box of new books JUST for them and the content of the stories combined with reading support, even my reluctant readers dug into the box of slippery new books and started reading immediately. They've all read the books once now and we will soon be revisiting the stories again as we continue to work on our written response skills.
I wish you could have been here when the box of new books arrived. These are children who (some of them) don't own many books themselves. They were excited that someone funded new books just for them to read! And for me personally, your gift along with their excitement gave me a boost of positive energy too. These books have been a wonderful addition to our reading program and I am so appreciative of your support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weldon
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 3 other donors.Busy Bodies Need Flexible Seating Options to Optimize Learning!
Funded Nov 1, 2017I want to start by THANKING you for your generosity. I appreciate your support in getting TWO sets of chapter books for my classroom. I wish you could SEE the reaction of the students when I told them that kind people donated money to buy us books and then I presented the box. We opened it together and they DOVE into the box. As a family of readers yourself, you probably know the joy of bright, clean, fresh books. These children were so excited! So excited, in fact, that some asked to begin reading right away. I have many reluctant readers, and this was the best part of your generous gift...the gift of excitement about reading. The content, combined with the sheer thrill of NEW books purchased JUST for them, created a frenzy of reading. Currently, we are using the texts to practice our response to reading skills. Throughout this fall, we learned how to determine point of view, theme, and how to summarize. Students are reading these books and answering questions with a focus on using text evidence to support their answers. This is a pretty tough skill for an eight year old, and we are progressing from answering such questions orally in groups to using our writing skills to communicate clearly and with detail. Some are working independently or in partners and meeting with me for feedback, and others are meeting in small groups with me to work through the responses together. Your generous donation is helping with this greatly because my students show much more motivation with our new books than with short pieces from our anthology. And as I'd hoped, reading and FINISHING a whole chapter book (with support) has given some of my most reluctant readers self-confidence. A few had never read a chapter book themselves before. later in the fall, I did a second Donor's Choose project to replace the beat up classroom carpet and to buy some new stools (because I don't have enough chairs). I wish you could be in my classroom to see these kids utilizing both gifts together. Having a nice, soft roomy carpet as well as plenty of stools around our reading table as greatly expanded the seating choices. Now, small groups, partnerships, and even individuals can sometimes move away from their desks and find their space to read. Recently, I had the students write some thank you notes. And I want you to know that these kids are very gracious. They are genuinely surprised and touched that people were so kind to our classroom. I am too. It is often frustrating to not have the tools you would like to meet the daily challenges of teaching third graders, but your generosity has brought wonderful resources to my fingertips!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weldon