Past projects 5
ELD: English Language Deficiency- Supplementing an Insufficient Curriculum
Funded Jul 29, 2024Thank you so much for funding my project! I'm so grateful for your support. This coming school year will be so much better for my students thanks to your donation because I'll be able to better serve their diverse needs with the resources from this project. Thank you once more for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gadbut
School Supplies for the New Year!
Funded Aug 2, 2023This past school year I had many students who came to class without school supplies. Some students came unprepared because their parents couldn't afford to get them for them. Some students came unprepared because they somehow managed to lose their supplies almost immediately. Some of my students who were new to the United States left their home in a hurry or unexpectedly and weren't able to show up to school with everything they needed. Thanks to your donation, I was able to supply every student with the same supplies as many times as they needed throughout the year.
The folders were the most frequently used supply as many 6th graders were unused to having multiple classes to organize for and sometimes needed replacements as they somehow lost entire folders throughout the year. The more creative supplies were especially appreciated by students during testing when coloring kept them busy and quiet as they waited for their peers to finish their tests. The highlighters helped students a great deal as we routinely practiced annotating their readings.
Students were clearly grateful to have all of the great resources your donation afforded us as they attempted to be respectful of the materials all year. They readily volunteered to pass supplies out and collect them at the end of the period. So not only did your donation allow students to equitably have access to all the materials they needed, but it also helped encourage them to be respectful and responsible students. Thank you so much for everything you did.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gadbut
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.Practicing English With Games
Funded Aug 16, 2023Thank you so much for your donation. Having the games to play in class this school year has enabled students to have a fun way to engage in practicing English. Students have worked to learn the rules of the various games, which really expanded their English skills.
English Language Development classes tend to get new students throughout the school year with varying degrees of knowledge of English. Some students have an understanding of phonics and are comfortable speaking in English right away and some have zero knowledge of English nor the ability to read or write in their own language. No matter where a student is at with their language acquisition, they all want to play a game. Having games has allowed everyone a comfortable way to engage with English in the classroom.
Thank you for making it possible for everyone to have a fun way to enrich their English skills!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gadbut
This classroom project was brought to life by The SONIC Foundation and 3 other donors.Books for Every Reader!
Funded Feb 24, 2023Thank you so much for your donation. Over the last few months of the previous school year and the first few months of this school year, the books that I was able to get thanks to your donations have been so important for my students learning English.
Unfortunately, most districts in California purchase age-appropriate curriculum for students learning English in middle schools and high schools. However, something that is age appropriate has much too high of a reading level and students learning English are rarely able to access it. This is especially hard on the many students that come into our school system with gaps in their education in their primary language. Having leveled reading books finally made it possible for my students to have reading materials that met them at their level and then challenged them to grow at a structured pace.
With the books that I was able to purchase thanks to your donations, I have been able to have effective weekly literature circles. During that time, students are split up into groups based on their current reading level and read a book as a group. They then have to draw pictures and write one sentence summaries about what's happening at different points in the story. I was also able to set up a program where some of the students from our honors classes work with our English language learners one-on-one as a reading buddy. Both of these practices have allowed our English language learners to feel confident and comfortable while they've been making gains of several grade levels in their reading progress.
Again, thank you so much for your donation as it made it possible for students to grow in a variety of ways.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gadbut
This classroom project was brought to life by A Northern California family and one other donor.The Battle for Books
Funded Nov 29, 2017Thank you so much for allowing my students the opportunity to read I Am Malala. Though we're not quite finished reading the book, so far students have been enjoying the book and I know that they're gaining a lot through the experience.
In my class, students are reading the book in literature circles. We started by practicing the tasks and reading the book as a whole class, but then moved on to students pacing themselves through the tasks of their literature circles. They read with their group members, they complete their tasks, and then they share those tasks in the form of discussion. The tasks are summarizing and vocabulary, making connections and identifying significant quotes, and discussion questions (which is performed by the discussion leader who leads students through the act of sharing their tasks and prompts them to respond to their open-ended questions). So far students have been coming up with very insightful discussion questions about the novel. For example, at one point in the novel Malala mentions that she used to play wedding as a child with her cousins and that they used to have the girl playing the bride cry as she was given away to the pretend groom and students got into a lengthy debate as to why they would have the girl cry; out of happiness, fear, hopelessness? Two students in particular keep returning to this debate, wanting answers as to why any of the girls Malala mentions simply accepted the strictness of their patriarchal society. Many other students are especially fascinated by how Malala survived being shot in the head and the have therefore become more interested in physiology. Overall, this novel has served to open up entirely new interests for students and allowed them to find their voice about social and political issues.
Again, thank you so much for the donation. Sharing this novel with the students has been a fantastic experience and I believe they've all been inspired by Malala's courage, as I know I have.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gadbut
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Donor and 2 other donors.