Past projects 4
INK-credible Work!
Funded Jan 8, 2024The support from this community is unparalleled. I'm truly amazed at the generosity and goodwill from all of our contributors and donors. My students will be so excited to see themselves in printed pictures and to create a display that showcases them and their hard work. Additionally, having the day to day printed worksheets for scaffolding and prompting will make the biggest difference in their vocational training activities. My students love being part of the larger community at their worksite, and they love seeing their own progress and work captured in front of them. Knowing that you care and believe in my students just as much as we, and just as much as they do, do is the biggest blessing. Thank you again, for everything!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Goodheart
Communication Sensation
Funded Nov 27, 2023You've done it again! I can't thank you enough for the impact that you have had on my students and their potential for success. It's because of you that we are now able to practice our communication skills with hands-on learning experiences and manipulatives. It's because of you that we are able to better prepare for our vocational and community-based experiences. It's also because of you that we are able to foster a growth within my students' self-confidence and pride.
When my students are confident in their work and in what they have to say, they radiate self-assurance and knowledge. They use their "loud and proud voice" to answer and ask questions and to feed off of each other's ideas and corrections; they come together to engage with each other, manipulate their materials, communicate, and advocate. Doing so allows them to be autonomous in their learning as their activities become student-driven and student-centered. Even within the first time of using our new supplies, I was amazed at how quickly my students rose to the occasion to complete their differentiated cooperative learning tasks. Not only were they all fully engaged and communicating, but they were enjoying doing so! This is, by far, one of the greatest gifts I, as a teacher, could ever receive. I truly enjoy seeing my students' learning come to life, seeing that spark ignite within them, and watching it carry over into other aspects of their day and their lives. It's what we as educators strive to do- to make an impact in the lives our students and their families. Although you yourselves may not be educators, because of your donations and your support, you're now also on this journey of impacting students right along with us! They say it takes a village, and we sincerely thank and appreciate you for being part of ours!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Goodheart
Optimal Organization for Shared Spaces!
Funded Nov 4, 2023Your support for myself, my staff, and most importantly, my students is unlike any other, and their cheers and applause when I told them out project was funded was also unlike any other! They were so excited to unbox and start using their new materials!
Thanks to you, we have been able to accomplish our goal of making our shared space not only a professional and dually-purposed classroom/conference room, but also a home for our class. Despite sharing it with other groups and for various purposes, my students now truly feel that this is THEIR space. We are not only gracious to our worksite facility for allowing us to transform their conference room into a professional classroom, but also to YOU- the donors- for giving us the supplies to be able to create this home as well.
As a vocational and transitional based ENL and special education class, we talk a lot about being "professional." We talk about how it starts with personal hygiene, appearance, and being prepared for work. We discuss how it includes being organized and maintaining a professional space to create the most productive work environment for all. We learn about the soft job skills needed to be professional in any job and the hard skills needed for specific job areas, and we confer about how interpersonal and social skills affect professionalism. However, it's all just talk until we put it into action- and that's exactly what you have helped us to do. Your materials have allowed my staff and I to model all these aspects of professionalism for my students and also have them engage in hands-on activities that practice professionalism as they work. ID cards won't get lost with our new professional ID holders. While we're on the go, our travel hand sanitizers will remind us to practice proper hand hygiene, and for when the weather's bad- we'll be prepared to travel between buildings with our umbrellas. Our work uniforms are now neatly folded and packaged in our individual bags at the start and end of our day. Our job direction cue cards and checklists are now organized neatly in folders, labeled, easily accessible, and manageable while we're out logging deliveries within the hospital. We now have lockable storage within our room, as students are learning how to securely share spaces, and our professional looking bulletin boards allow us to post visuals and resources more succinctly for students to reference and review during tabletop activities and lessons. All of these materials and more really help to cement students' learning and make it more meaningful for them.
We end our school day in this classroom most days, but each and every day, we begin our day in this classroom. It's our home-base for the medical campus we work in, for our class community, and now it's also our foundation for success each and every day. When we begin each day with routines that help us to maintain organization and professionalism, my students learn what is expected of them across various areas. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing my students far exceed even the highest expectations we have for them. So again, thank you for also seeing this potential within my students and for supporting us as you so generously have. We couldn't have done it without you! Thank you again, from W04!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Goodheart
Giving Back is a BEAD-iful Thing!
Funded Dec 15, 2021On behalf of our BEAD-iful Perler Bead Shop, we would like to say, THANK YOU! Thank you for all of your generous donations and your support. It means the world to our students to have people who recognize all of their abilities and potential, regardless of their language and cognitive challenges. My students' eyes were wide with wonder when they learned that donors from all of the country wanted to help us and contribute!
Students were so excited to unpack all of their beads, design books, sorting supplies, craft supplies, ironing supplies, and money box. Because of your donations, our students have been well on their way to sharpening their vocational, communication, and English language skills as they engage in their entrepreneurial pop-up shop. Our perler bead locker is now bountiful with easily accessible and labeled supplies which, when coupled with our task-analyses and routines, allows students to take initiative and ownership over their projects. Students look forward to their vocational periods and not only know their own jobs, but they also help manage each other's jobs too! They eagerly gather their own materials and engage with each other to research different designs, and then work cooperatively to prepare, sort, and create their perler bead projects.
The students have gotten just as much empowerment from making their own designs as they have from selling them. Business is booming and students are proud of their work. They love seeing their peers and staff flaunt their perler bead earrings, pins, magnets, and keychains around school. The projects have been such a hit that our shop is even being asked for special request items and designs!
Our success stems from you and your contributions. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to give my student this unique hands-on learning opportunity. It is with much gratitude and appreciation that we extend our thanks to you for your continued support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Goodheart
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 13 other donors.