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Ms. Lavigna's Classroom

  • Excel Academy
  • Washington, DC
  • More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

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show projects from all time

Past projects 8

  • And the Plot Thickens

    Funded Feb 3, 2011

    Thank you so much for your generous donations! I was so thrilled to receive all the books and I opened the package with my students.

    We've read many of the books already and they've been especially helpful as we discuss character development, plots, settings and work on our retelling skills. My students especially enjoyed "Children Make Terrible Pets," and we're currently reading "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" as we prepare to visit our local zoo.

    Your generosity is not only enriching my classroom but has allowed my students to work on critical literacy skills centering around print concepts and reading comprehension. As the end of the year is in sight, it's so important for my classroom to focus on these critical thinking skills and these books are an incredible aide in doing that.

    Thank you again.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

  • Counting With Books!

    Funded Dec 5, 2010

    Thanks so much for funding this project!

    I received the books last week and immediately pulled them out during math meeting. My students loved Bunny Money, and it tied in so well with our lesson on money and its value. I love using books that cross different contents, and all of these do a great job of teaching at least two different math skills, as well as so many concepts of print and literature.

    In my classroom we are pushing math concepts more and more, especially because it's an all-girls school and I want to focus on math for these girls. Having these math books is an excellent way to engage them and bring in more abstract concepts before a lesson begins.

    Please know I appreciate each book so much, and my girls were so, so excited to see them come in. My classroom is more equipped because of this donation!”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

    This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 6 other donors.
  • 4-year-old Math Stars

    Funded Dec 8, 2010

    Thank you so much for your generous donations! Our math boxes arrived and I pulled out the manipulatives immediately to use.

    My girls love the math kits and have been practicing counting out little flowers to put in the "garden," or counting and placing ladybugs on a "leaf." These little kits encourage counting and one-to-one correspondence skills, and they're incredibly engaging for my students to practice these skills.

    As the year reaches the mid-point, my classroom is pumping up the math instruction and these kits and manipulatives have already served as a great tool to motivate my students to look at numbers, count and practice one-to-one correspondence.

    Thanks again for donating and helping encourage fun math instruction in my classroom!”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

  • Using Art to Learn

    Funded Sep 17, 2010

    Thank you so much for your generous donations to my classroom! I received the art materials a few weeks ago and have already incorporated many of them into our everyday activities and independent small groups where my students can individually explore with them.

    I chose to create this project because I believe in the importance of art and want to incorporate it more into as much of our curriculum as possible. My students are interested in art and have an art center every week, but I'd like to incorporate it more than that. So far, they've used items from the assorted art kit to create collages of a globe for our social studies unit. They are also loving using the Wikki Stix to create different shapes and mold them into many different letters.

    I'm really excited to incorporate all the art supplies I received into as many lessons as possible. Thank you so much for donating to my classroom and bringing art into the lives of my students!”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

  • Library Lounging

    Funded Sep 6, 2010

    Thank you so much for your generous donations! My students were thrilled when I brought the couch into the classroom and they have been increasingly choosing the library center to go and read with their classmates. Looking at the library now it's hard to even remember what we had before the couch and pillow arrived.

    In the library center, my students are practicing concept of print skills such as reading left to right and creating their own dialogue. Having this wonderful furniture in the library has really helped encourage them to go there and practice pre-reading. Because we are trying to build a culture that loves books and encourages reading, it was really important to create a space that is comfortable and welcoming.

    Thank you again for your generous donation to my classroom!”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear

    Funded May 22, 2010

    Thank you so much for your generous donations! My students were thrilled to see our Eric Carle collection arrive.

    I've put some of the stories in our library center and am saving others for whole-group read-alouds later in the year. The Eric Carle books are so visually stunning and my girls are enthralled with just looking through them. We've already used The Very Hungry Caterpillar in class in a lesson about the days of the week, and I can't wait to dig into Mr. Seahorse when our animal unit begins.

    Not only are these books fun and appealing, they are full of rich vocabulary and science and math concepts. Because of you, my girls are able to use these books to increase their science and math knowledge as well as their pre-reading emergent literacy skills. They love to sit in the library with our new books to practice turning the pages and creating their own dialogue.

    Again, thank you so much for taking the time to support my girls. Your donations are being used every day to enhance their learning. ”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

    This classroom project was brought to life by Barnes & Noble and 7 other donors.
  • Award-Winning Readers!

    Funded Jun 18, 2010

    Thank you so much for your generous donations for my students!

    We received our books and have already introduced them to the classroom. My students are loving Freight Train, Olivia and The Talking Eggs. Every book that you've sent this year will be read in whole-group read aloud and then placed in the library for students to explore. We have a word quilt up in our library that will incorporate vocabulary words from each story and increase their word usage.

    My students are working on their emergent pre-reading skills and right now using our new books to learn concepts of print, such as reading left to right, learning how to handle a book and learning book parts such as spine, front cover and back cover. They are also loving to simply browse the books, discuss the pictures and characters and create their own dialogue.

    Again, my students are so very excited to have these beautiful, big new books in the classroom. I am even more excited that the books we have in our library are full of rich vocabulary, beautiful photos and introduce high-level concepts.

    Your donations are not only helping my students develop their love of literature, they're helping them learn.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

  • "Why Don't They Look Like Us?"

    Funded May 20, 2010

    Thank you so much for your donation of books by African-American authors to my classroom. I'd love to share with you how impactful this gift has already been in my classroom.

    My students have been reading all year with books that aren't always relevant to them, and introducing the works of Ezra Jack Keats, Faith Ringgold and others has already started to inspire them. My girls loved reading about Cassie flying above New York City in Tar Beach and they loved seeing the group of kids run from the train in Donald Crew's Shortcut. They've made many comparisons between the characters and themselves, and it's heartwarming to see them discussing and observing characters who look like them and share parts of their culture. Their favorite book so far is the Ezra Keat's Treasury, which is filled with ten of his stories. They love putting the big hardcover book in their lap and flipping through its many pages.

    As we finish out our year together, all of these stories have added such rich literature to our last few weeks, and it's been great to see how inspired and engaged my students have quickly become. I cannot thank you enough for your generous gifts, and I know many, many students will enjoy these stories in years to come. Thank you again for reaching out to the vibrant minds of my students.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Lavigna

    This classroom project was brought to life by Barnes & Noble and 4 other donors.
My students are four-year-old girls living in the most under-served area of Washington, D.C. Our all-girls school is 98% African-American and over 90% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. My girls are bright, curious, sweet and full of excitement for learning. At home, they may not have access to any books, much less award-winning stories. When they are read to, or when they look at books themselves, they are enthralled and love to ask more. Because they don't have access to travel or extracurricular resources, books are a way to give them experiences about other cultures, languages and people. Providing a rich library for them will inspire their imaginations and give them access to worlds they may never see.

About my class

My students are four-year-old girls living in the most under-served area of Washington, D.C. Our all-girls school is 98% African-American and over 90% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch. My girls are bright, curious, sweet and full of excitement for learning. At home, they may not have access to any books, much less award-winning stories. When they are read to, or when they look at books themselves, they are enthralled and love to ask more. Because they don't have access to travel or extracurricular resources, books are a way to give them experiences about other cultures, languages and people. Providing a rich library for them will inspire their imaginations and give them access to worlds they may never see.

About my class

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