Past projects 3
Building Our Way to Engineering Success!
Funded Aug 10, 2022Your donations allowed my class to receive tools that are fun, engaging, and allow for problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. These are skills that many of my students have been working on since the first day of school. We did an "unboxing" of the packages for the students to see all of the new materials and they were beaming with excitement! They applauded with every box, clapped when they heard all of the things they were going to get to do, and spent two weeks working on rules and expectations to make sure they knew how to use these tools.
We have used the gear set, Machines in Motion, magna tiles, maze sets, and other tools on a weekly basis as our STEM and Fun Friday activities. Students work together to build roller coasters, houses, animal shelters, and sometimes, they are just creative and work with a partner on anything they want! The use of positive communication, compliments, and words like "please," thank you" and "celebratory moments has increased drastically because they all want to use everything! They are learning more about sharing, patience, and being ok with things not turning out as they hoped, but making the best of it.
We are going to continue to use these activities on our STEM and Fun Friday days, trying new scenarios each week. These first graders have come along way this year, and your donations have increased their desire to do more! Thank you for helping instill creativity, compassion, communication, and FUN in this class!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ulisse-Keep
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 4 other donors.Becoming Reader Ready
Funded May 6, 2020What a year this has been! I am so excited to be incorporating Lakeshore Learning tools with my students this year! I was moved from Kindergarten to First Grade this year, keeping half of my original class. With the year ending in such a quick way due to the pandemic, my now-First-Graders did not get the full experience in Kindergarten, which has made the Lakeshore Learning Materials an even greater tool for this school year.
We talk about acts of kindness quite often throughout our school, and have our students talk about and/or write about ways they can show kindness and help others, in their own way. When I explained the kindness that others showed by donating towards this project, the students were so excited! They loved seeing all of the learning tools we now have and, when we are able to be in class together, are looking forward to seeing them in person.
Although challenging, I have found ways to incorporate the learning centers in a virtual way to allow my students to use the activities, even if it cannot be hands-on. Many of my students are still in the early stages of becoming readers and have shown much growth in areas including alphabet knowledge, beginning and ending sounds, middle sounds, and sound switching, due in part to these activities and the fun we've been able to make teaching and learning these skills.
I cannot wait to see the students progress in their reading skills! My goal is to help each of them continue to gain confidence and mastery in their current reading level and skills, as we move on and introduce the next. Students currently working to master beginning sound knowledge will move on to ending sounds, then move on to middle sounds. Students will then continue along their learning plan until they are fluent in the skills needed to become independent readers.
Thank you so very much for helping create a fun environment for my kids! We've been able to make the best of our unanticipated virtual learning by having such amazing learning tools available to us. Please know that your impact will last a lifetime for these kids, as well as for me.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ulisse-Keep
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 6 other donors.Learning with Lakeshore!
Funded Aug 16, 2019I cannot begin to describe how grateful we are for these new learning tools in our classroom, and they came at the perfect time!!! Our students are learning about fiction stories, including identifying characters, settings, parts of a story (beginning, middle, end), as well as retelling a story with details. They have fallen in love with the Pete the Cat and The Rainbow Fish activities and have really grasped the reading concepts of this unit through the hands-on activities. Students are now able to use these activities in their independent stations and are soaring with them!
They have also enjoyed using the Story Wands in our whole group setting. Some of the questions on the story wands include "who was your favorite character?", "how does the story end?", or "where does the story take place?" Students are fully engaged in our read-alouds! After the story is read, a student picks a wand, is asked the question on the wand, and then answers that question. These wands have helped create a fun conversation during our lessons, and students are constantly asking to use them!
We are making an impact on student growth through activities that are fun and engaging, and we are so, so thankful to all of you for making this happen!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ulisse-Keep