Past projects 58
Discern the Meaning of Denominator!
Funded Jul 13, 2023Hello, generous donors who made our supplies possible! I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support in helping my class get access to hands-on fraction practice. Your contributions will make a significant impact on their learning journey, and we are thrilled to share the positive outcomes with you.
In our classroom, we firmly believe that using true-to-life concrete examples of fractions is the key to facilitating a deep conceptual understanding. We have found that by tapping into the portion sizes of favorite treats, every child can relate and engage in fraction learning with enthusiasm.
Imagine a child holding a delicious chocolate bar. They are well aware of the portion sizes and instinctively know which piece is the largest. It is in this simple act of choosing the largest piece that the foundation of fraction understanding is built. By relating fractions to real-life situations, we can bridge the gap between abstract concepts and practical application.
When students are actively involved in hands-on fraction practice, they can visualize and manipulate fractions with ease. Whether it is dividing a pizza into equal slices or sharing a cake among friends, these activities provide tangible experiences that solidify their comprehension. By engaging their senses and incorporating real-life scenarios, we empower our students to develop a deep and intuitive understanding of fractions.
Furthermore, hands-on fraction practice fosters collaboration and communication among our students. Working together to solve fraction problems and share their findings not only enhances their mathematical skills but also improves their social and cognitive development. It is truly a win-win situation!
Once again, we cannot thank you enough for your generosity. Your contributions will make a lasting impact on our students' education, and we are grateful for the opportunity to provide them with hands-on fraction practice. Together, we are nurturing a generation of confident and capable learners.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
Combat the Summer Slide
Funded May 23, 2023I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude and thanks for your incredible generosity. Your support will make a significant impact on our 3rd graders as they spend countless minutes working on memorizing multiplication facts. This is, without a doubt, the most important math standard that we teach, and your contributions will make it possible for our students to excel in this crucial area.
As you may know, memorizing multiplication facts can be a long and sometimes grueling process for our young learners. However, with your help, we have been able to provide them with a tactile option to aid in this journey. From engaging websites to interactive flashcards and mnemonic devices to this amazing popper, we are equipping our students with the tools they need to move multiplication facts into long-term memory.
Once again, I cannot express enough how truly grateful we are for your generosity. Your dedication to our students' education is truly commendable and has a profound impact on their learning journeys. Thank you for making a difference in their lives.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Foundation and 2 other donors.3rd Graders Must Read, Read, READ!
Funded Mar 30, 2023This set of books created a problem. I pulled them out, targeted a key student, read a chapter with him, and asked him if he wanted to continue reading on his own. I also told him it was a first in a series and that I had the next book. He came asking for the it in record time. Then, I was approached by two other students asking for the book that "Jack" read. Students observed a peer enjoying a book and wanting to read it for themselves. The problem was one of my dreams. Friends tell friends and now I have more demand for a story than I have copies to offer.
I am very grateful for a community that jumps in and provides just the right resources that my students need. It was a beautiful experience and I thank you for your part in making it happen.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 2 other donors.Easy Reader Round Up!
Funded Feb 18, 2023Third grade is a crucial grade for children. Phonics learning transitions to learning to read fluently. For the portion of the class still focusing on decoding, maintaining a willingness to read despite struggle is an important scaffold. It is all too easy to feel like a failure. Easy readers are one tool in scaffolding a delayed reader see progress towards reading on level.
Having easy readers in the class library provides immediate support for children. This set of books keeps my practicing students using what they do know, as we build more phonics skills. Thank you for providing a need.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
We Are Many...We Need More (Supplies)
Funded Nov 17, 2022Our class increased from 24 students to 27 student in just a few weeks. We love having more students to get to know, but it began to stress our supplies that were just enough for 24. Now we have more than enough for each student to be learning on their own, drawing out their own thinking, embellishing their work, and storing their personal items. Dry erase markers and white boards are especially helpful when we have enough for one each. We are more organized as a result and we can access supplies and return them more effectively.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 3 other donors.Comprehension Passage Practice Gift Card!
Funded Nov 29, 2022Each class comes with varied needs and different gaps. Being able to assess students and then immediately find the resources to teach them the next step is the great advantage to this project.
We used a great Close Reading passage about Cottontail Rabbits and were able to practice our reading strategies of finding unknowns, asking questions, identifying the main idea and supporting details, and finally using inferencing to understand as much as possible about these animals.
There are many more resources that support reading like vocabulary building lessons about prefixes, root words, and suffixes. Each of these resources contribute to the specific need to improve reading. It is powerful to have a student come across a word like "portable" that they struggled to decode, but their knowledge of root words helps a student understand the meaning that port means carry and able means can do.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares.3rd Graders Have Social-Emotional Needs!
Funded Sep 23, 2022The resources in this project will be a blessing for 3rd grade students in coming years. While teaching phonics and supporting accurate reading, at least half of my students are competent readers. The "book" display holders (or napkin stands) help me entice student's interest. The cover of a book is FAR more stimulating than the spine, so my students are choosing a wider variety of books that normally get passed over.
Our morning journalling is one of my favorite social emotional supports and one that I will repeat next year. By beginning the day thinking of kindness and documenting it, it serves to channel kid's energy in kind ways. We follow it up with a quote about the importance of education, kindness, or growth mindset and we review it all week long.
I am so grateful for these resources and for the DonorsChoose Community which supports us.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Utah State Board of Education and one other donor.A Prefix, Root, and Suffix Word Building Activity
Funded Sep 12, 2022After many weeks of phonics building activities, my third graders are manipulating morphemes and writing definitions! Our curriculum has identified affixes and roots with a color tile for tactile practice and this projects helps us get moving and learning simultaneously.
Green suffix hats correspond to green prefix tiles. We review up to five prefixes in a lesson (de-, ex-, in/im-, sub-, trans-). We have one or two roots (eg. vis/vise and tend/tense) and we do the same with suffixes ( -al, -ary, -ion, ive, ize). Every student in the room has one of three hat colors (green, yellow, or red) and a pre-assigned morpheme. Then students have time to build a word, create a definition, and say a sentence.
The collaborative aspect of this game engages the social learning center of the brain along with creating stronger synapse connections for the oral and written practice. Phonics and Morphemes are key skills to get our student reading fluently and comprehending on grade level!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 2 other donors.Wanted: Third Grade Class Library!
Funded May 5, 2022The switch to 3rd grade means that my class library is in demand daily (5th graders tend to read one chapter book and then move on). Many third graders are reading chapter books but over half the class are still working on the foundation skill of decoding words using picture books. Reading practice is just as necessary for them, but it requires a completely different set of reading materials as they move through picture books faster.
This project gave my students access to wonderful picture books and beginning level chapter books. We emphasis and support daily reading with a cache of student- selected books so when they finish a book, there is always one more, thus maintaining momentum as readers. Thank you so much for supporting students as they learn to read!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 6 other donors.Filling Pandemic Gaps
Funded Jan 20, 2022We have completed three of the four end of the year state exams. I have used this project to access countless lessons to fill gaps and extend student knowledge for the last quarter. I absolutely love my years in 5th grade and feel like I have gathered many excellent resources. Times have changed slightly and not all lesson plans or resources suit the needs of my current students.
Finding the resources to teach volume, decimal operations, and many more standards, has been very efficient due to this Teachers Pay Teachers project. In fact, teaching subtraction with regrouping is NOT a 5th grade standard by a long shot, and this year we overcame that significant hurdle. Now, students who struggled with long division no longer trip up over regrouping incorrectly, and feel successful at 5th grade work. Every student can learn. My job is finding the strategy that makes sense for each student.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dewey
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 2 other donors.