Past projects 9
Wobble Into Pre-K.
Funded Feb 5, 2024My students were incredibly intrigued and exciting when our materials arrived. I did not tell them about the materials, I just left the stools out at the writing and fine motor table, and the boards at the puzzles and games center, for them to explore.
They were very excited to try out the stools. They still love going over to the writing and fine motor table to use them, daily. I had to teach them how to use the boards. They enjoy trying to balance with a friend on the board!
These items have helped our kids with more core muscle stability which helps them become great writers (for stamina and posture). All of our students have mastered correct pencil grip, which is very exciting! We have just begun our adventure into adding writing into our pictures, and with these tools added into our play areas, it creates not only a sense or free choice but also gives me a tool for intervention, to help students create that foundation to becoming amazing writers.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
Stimulating Our Senses
Funded Sep 6, 2023The students in my class have really enjoyed using the sensory items in our classroom. The sensory table usually changes themes with what we are currently learning about, which keeps the students engaged in using it frequently. Things we have used in the table so far this year:
- brown beans, leaves, and toilet paper rolls for Trees
- oats, pie tins, tan felt strips, and red, green, and yellow pompoms for September
- black beans, spider rings, skeleton hands, and Halloween cups for October
- corn, feathers, and Styrofoam balls for November
- scissors, ribbon, wrapping paper, and bows for December
- pipe cleaners, buttons, and clothespins for Clothing
The kids enjoy mostly taking their hands and burying them under the different sensory materials, which is one of the reasons we have it!
Thank you to everyone who has helped our students increase my students fine motor skills and fulfill their sensory needs.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 3 other donors.Creative Young Minds
Funded Aug 3, 2023Thank you so much for donating to our classroom! We have loved using our new resources. The light table has been a huge hit with the little ones. It explores science and math all into a fun sensory and new artistic way. The paint brushes for the easel have brought many giggles because the students think they look silly. But then, they have used them for describing their paintings while using them as things for like "grass" and "clouds".
Our next big unit is moving into pumpkins and spiders for Halloween time. The light table will feature real jack-o-lanterns and halloween themed acrylic scatter. Our easel will feature pictures of spiders and pumpkins for painting reference and spider kegs are great to paint with texture brushes!
Thank you all again for your continued support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.Making Gains With Educational Games!
Funded Feb 5, 2022My students have really enjoyed using all of these materials.
We had been using the writing center almost daily in a small group. It helped the children really see everything that goes into writing a complete thought. Combining this with their knowledge of our sight words this year has really grown them into very thoughtful writers. We were also using the board games in small groups to work on the phonological awareness skills that we use to pair with phonemic awareness. THey rhyming game was the kids' favorite!
For the other materials, we had been using them during our literacy center rotations on Fridays. We used them to help cement our CVC and sound manipulation knowledge. This was fun for them because the kids got to be independent/work with a partner while having fun but working on a literacy skill.
Thank you all again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 3 other donors.Dramatic Play Make-Over
Funded Sep 24, 2021Thank you all again so much for your generosity! When the materials first arrived they were beyond excited to have a new play area in the classroom. It has been so popular since it was funded that I have to make a list and double-check that everyone is getting a turn to play. When it is their turn, every child is eager to say "Yes!" to play in that area.
My students have been using the dramatic play items for home play. They love taking care of baby dolls. They carry them around and take them on picnics and put them down for naps too! ALL the kids love taking care of someone else.
The students have also been using the bookshelf every day. I display my monthly books up in the front of the room on it. When students finish early, I allow them to go pick out books from that shelf and read quietly on the carpet. The kids usually pick the books that I have read to them and try to read them like me which is super cute!
The next step for us is to use the dramatic play area for our December theme of holiday baking and gingerbread(:”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
Helping Kindergarteners Read
Funded Feb 28, 2021Thank you so much for your donations!
These resources in particular have been very helpful and will continue to be helpful for my students for the first few months of school. Because of the pandemic, many of these children did not have the opportunity to attend preschool. We are working a lot on name writing, name recognition, letter recognition, and sight words (laces). We have also been working on learning the letter sounds with first sound fluency (ABC rockets).
I do however still have a few students who are ready to be reading books. So the leveled readers have been great to start sending books home for kids to use weekly to read based on their level.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
Learning to Read With Kindergarten!
Funded Mar 1, 2021Thank you so much for your donations!
These resources in particular have been very helpful and will continue to be helpful for my students for the first few months of school. Because of the pandemic, many of these children did not have the opportunity to attend preschool. We are working a lot on letter recognition (snap alligators), phonemic awareness (syllable count), and name writing (stamps).
I do however still have a few students who are ready to be reading books. So the leveled readers have been great to start sending books home for kids to use weekly to read based on their level.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
Covid-Safe Learning Centers!
Funded Mar 16, 2021Thank you so much for your donations!
When we started back in April we had only 14 students in the classroom and we were only able to have one center per child at a time. These resources helped me be able to give each child something suitable for their learning individual learning goals.
Now that we are back to full class sizes of 24 and shared materials, we still have been putting the resources to good use. All the resources are either laminated or plastic so it makes it easy to clean. We have been using the hot dots as a way of exciting the students about being independently able to self-check their knowledge. I made a lot of ELA and Math centers from TPT. The students use them during small group rotations for social interaction mixed with structured and standards-based play.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
Materials Needed for Virtual Learning!
Funded Aug 11, 2020Thank you so much for donating to my classroom! It means the world to me, and it has helped my students so much in these first few weeks already.
Last week we worked with using the scissors for the first time. This was extremely hard to teach virtually - but at least all of my students HAD scissors to practice with. They loved getting to use them to work on their Chicka Chicka Name Craft at home.
Today was a special day, we got to use the journals and the crayons for the first time. I swear, my kids today were the most focused and engaged than I've seen them since the first day of school! They LOVED using their journals so much. They were hanging on my every word (and all I did was teach how to write 3 types of lines haha!) Imagine how they are going to feel as we start writing letters and words together. :-) At the end of our journal we got to draw a picture of ourselves and you can see one of my friends got to use the crayons with their skin color to help them feel included and empowered.
Thank you all again so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Berry
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.