Past projects 23
Reeds and Strings and Drums, Oh My!
Funded Mar 31, 2025In these challenging times in public education, it gives me great hope that you all believe in what I am doing! I am overwhelmed that my friends are so generous with your donarions to this project. I provide reeds and replacement strings to my students so that this expense does not impede their ability to be in band or strings. Thanks again!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 10 other donors.Music and Technology Go Hand in Hand
Funded Nov 14, 2024I cannot wait to begin making music with my students using these MIDI keyboards! I am beyond grateful for all of your financial support for this project. It means the world to me that you are so willing to support the music education of my students. Thanks for your donations!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by Young Sheldon and 5 other donors.Basics Make Music Class Fun!
Funded Aug 2, 2023I am so grateful to have an updated laminator to use at school that also allows me to laminate larger posters as well as regular size paper. While we have a laminator at school, it is not always functioning, may not have laminating film and takes a minimum of 15 minutes to warm up before you can use it. The laminating sheets allow me to preserve teaching materials to use for multiple years in my music classroom and do it quickly. The posters are so helpful in teaching basic musical concepts to all of my students in grade kindergarten to fifth grade.
I am always in need of binders for my instrumental students to help them organize music that I give them throughout the year and it was nice to have some new ones to use this school year. I use the mechanical pencils as rewards to my older students for being helpful during and after my classes, as there is a considerable amount of chair and music stand rearranging throughout my school day. Thanks so much for your kindness and generosity towards my students and my program.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.Reading (Music) Is FUN-damental!
Funded Mar 30, 2023During the past three years I have done a considerable amount of revamping of my teaching methods and style, especially with regards to teaching beginning band. In the past, my beginning band students would struggle when they got to the point in our method book where they had to read the music for themselves. Because many of my students also struggle with reading in general (English/Langauge Arts related), I realized this may be causing them to struggle with reading music as well.
At first I contemplated writing my own band method to use with my students with the note names written inside of the note heads. But then I found this amazing series of books called "The Beginning Band Fun Book" and decided to add them to a Donors Choose project on a whim. I was so grateful (and surprised) when it was fully funded at the end of last year.
We started this school year using these method books and I have seen tremendous progress already! I am also so happy to have a stock of clarinet reeds and some new additions to my classroom library as well. I really enjoy reading music-related books to my K-2 general music classes weekly.
Thanks again for your kindness and generosity in supporting my students.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 7 other donors.Music T-Shirts Make Us Proud!
Funded Oct 24, 2022Since the pandemic has slowed, my participation levels in band, strings and choir at my elementary school have increased significantly, which is a wonderful problem to have! I started making music t-shirts for all of these students to wear for performances a few years ago (with help from another Donors Choose project) and the students really have a sense of pride when they wear them.
I was panicked last fall because I did not have enough t-shirts for all of my students to wear for the concert. I have a stockpile of vinyl to make the iron-ons with my Cricut, but not enough actual shirts.
Your donation ensured that ALL of my 4th and 5th grade band, string and choir students had a music t-shirt to wear for our concerts this year. Thank you so much for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
Reeds and Strings and Cases, Oh My!
Funded Sep 20, 2022Because I teach in a school that is in a large urban district, many of our families do not have the financial means to fully support their child's instrumental music education, so many of these extra expenses fall on the school and my meager budget doesn't cover everything.
Having extra reeds for my clarinet students has meant that I could use my school budget for repairs and other things my students need to be successful. It also means that I do not have to ask families to pay for the added expense of reeds. As a clarinet player myself, I definitely understand how challenging it can be to afford reeds.
I was also in desperate need of new trombone cases, as I had two instruments that were donated to me but had cases that were very old and falling apart. I can't begin to tell you how happy it has made my trombone players to carry their new cases through the school and to home and back every week for band.
Your donations helped to make all of this possible and I am forever grateful.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.Creating Kindergarten Drummers!
Funded Mar 1, 2022It has been wonderful these past few months having a complete class set of small floor tom drums for my kindergarten, first and second grade students to use. They love learning new rhythms and being able to demonstrate these new skills using the drums. We have been working on eight notes, quarter notes and quarter rests so far in my K-2 classes with the drums. I am looking forward to using these when do a little concert for their families in the spring as well. Thanks so much for giving my students these wonderful musical opportunities.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by Valhalla Foundation and 3 other donors.Creating Music With MIDI Keyboards
Funded May 3, 2022My 5th grade general music students are having so much fun learning to use these MIDI keyboards. We use a digital audio workstation called Soundtrap to create music and now they can use the keyboards to enhance this creative process. They have learned how to record themselves playing simple tunes on the keyboard and how to edit the sounds using Soundtrap. We have then added other sounds and drumbeats all with the settings on the keyboards. They are so easy to use because they simply plug into their Chromebooks and are powered with the USB cable. I can't wait to see what other amazing things we can do with these new keyboards!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 2 other donors.Music Shirts For All!
Funded Nov 7, 2021The last live concert that my students had performed was in December, 2019 and they were beyond thrilled to find out that we would be able to perform live again this year for their parents. I made these same t-shirts for my students in 2019 using funds from another Donors Choose project and my students loved them so much. The look of pride when they all were dressed in these matching shirts was worth it again this year!
Thanks for making this magical moment even more special for me and my students. It has been very challenging to keep them motivated to play instruments and sing during this pandemic when we were limited to online classes for so long, so I knew these shirts would definitely help.
I am humbled by the generosity of my family and friends for funding this project. It was a true labor of love to create these shirts for my students!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
Making Beautiful Sounds!
Funded Aug 19, 2021The addition of these rhythm sticks, triangles and recorders have allowed me to have enough classroom instruments for all of my kindergarten-3rd grade music students. I was able to give all 2nd and 3rd graders their own set of rhythm sticks to keep in their individual music bags for our weekly music class use and I have enough triangles now for 2 class sets so that I can sanitize before the next class uses them. My K-1 students love to use their triangles while exploring how to keep a steady beat!
The recorders that were purchased through this project were so helpful. In previous years, I have sanitized and reused recorders from year to year but I can no longer do that due to Covid-19 protocols so I needed to pass out brand new recorders for all of my 3rd graders to play in music class this past fall. We were able to get started with recorder (using masks) in October and my students were thrilled!
The last two years have been very challenging as a music educator, but your generosity in funding this project has really helped to brighten my mood!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Richards
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 8 other donors.