Past projects 12
Coding Cubes
Funded Oct 8, 2022My students were so excited when the materials came. We had to wait for them to charge and be ready for use. They were really excited about putting the cubes together and making things that moved and even lit up.
They were able to try different types and learn what cubes needed to be used to make the Cubelet go the way they wanted. They used trial and error, and some used the building guides to help figure it out.
They even used the Legos that could be added to the Cubelet to make it more like a robot-like item. The students had a blast using the new materials. Until these new battery Cublets arrived our old ones were not working, and it made all of them unusable until the replacement arrived.
Thank you again for supporting student learning!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
Growing in a Greenhouse!
Funded Oct 8, 2022We are using the shelves to place plants on. The shelves are in the greenhouse and ready to go for new plants, when it gets warm enough. We will plant new plants in about a month or so. During this time, we will learn about the plant life cycle.
We will also measure the plant growth and plot that information on a line plot graph. We then will compare the growth between the plants and discuss what we see.
The end result will be that the plants will be given as gifts for Mother's Day. These will be gifts planted and tended to by the students. The students will also be learning science and math standards as we go through this project. The students are so excited for this to start and use the materials that were donated to our school.
This will be a project that is done year after year. It will also be available to our garden program that we have with the students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
A Greenhouse to Help Us Grow
Funded Jun 18, 2022We were so excited to get our greenhouse. It was put up in our butterfly garden and is ready for our plants. We are growing plants in it for math. We will watch them grow and take care of them. We will also keep track of how much they grow, on a line plot graph. We will learn the life cycle of a plant and see how our plant's life cycle goes. We will then compare the different plants and see which one grew the most. Around 200 students are getting to use the greenhouse right now. We hope to have other grade levels join in with plants of their own.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 2 other donors.A Reading Life!
Funded Apr 16, 2021These books have helped give my students a variety of books to help them become better readers. These books give them many more books to choose from and helps keep them engaged in reading to learn more. Using books on the students' level is more beneficial than everyone reading the same book. Letting students have their own book choice is also beneficial to the students. They will become lifelong readers when given a choice to pick their own books on their level.
We have reading workshop in my classroom. I teach a short reading lesson to the class and then the students go back to practice that lesson in the books they have picked to read. The students are more engaged during reading time and will read longer because they choose their own books. The more they read the better reader they will become.
They have enjoyed reading the biographies and the Green Light Reader books I received with this project. They have really loved reading these books and sharing them with their classmates.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
It's No Mystery, Books Are Great!
Funded Aug 13, 2019Thank you so much for your donation. My students have been so excited to read these books and compare their mysteries with each other. We read books everyday in my classroom during reading workshop. My students read different books and then talk with their classmates about the books. They share how the characters act in the books, the problems the characters face, and many other parts of the story. My students love to read books that have the same characters and that have mystery in them. We compare the books and talk about how the character is the same or how they are different. The rich discussion that goes on during these book talks is wonderful and very educational for the students. My students enjoy reading Cam Jansen books, Encyclopedia Brown books, and Nate the Great books. These books allow the students to explore the characters Nate, Cam Jansen, and Encyclopedia Brown. They love talking about the adventures and mysteries that these characters solve in the story.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Get Your Hands on Math!
Funded Apr 19, 2019My students have used these color tiles to make and work with arrays to understand multiplication. They have used the color tiles to measure in non-standard units. They have used the Unifix cubes to understand place value and add. They have used the pattern blocks to decompose shapes into other shapes and to make smaller shapes into larger shapes. My students were so excited to get the materials and use them. They were all able to use the materials and not worry about not having enough to complete their task at hand. The next step is to start the upcoming school year with all these materials to help with math instruction and understanding. The possibility with these materials are endless and my students and I are so grateful to have them in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
Series Experts
Funded May 31, 2018These Arthur books we have received will help us understand development of a character throughout more than one book. It will also help us learn about how an author writes a story using the same character. It will help us see how a character can change throughout different books in a series.
In my classroom reading is a choice based, after I teach students how to choose just right books. Most students will find a character or a series and love the book and want as many of those books they can get to read about their favorite character or author.
My students are so excited about reading these Arthur books! They are so engaged while reading them and can't wait to discuss with their classmates what they have read in their Arthur books! Thank you so much for your donation of these books my classroom, they are such a great addition to our classroom library.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
Reading Experts
Funded Mar 27, 2018These books that you have provided give my students a chance to read new books at their just right level and become life long readers. They are fiction and nonfiction books which broadens each child's reading ability. They can learn so much from a book, like about characters, setting, facts, and how books are written. In my classroom we have reading workshop and my students can read at least 7 books a day or more. They are always needing new books that are just right for them to read. This instruction is individualized and allows students to make tremendous reading growth. My students that are reading these books are so excited because they have new books to read and aren't rereading the same ones over and over.
I am so thankful for your donation to my classroom and your support of education.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple."Chrometastic" Learning!
Funded Feb 13, 2017Thank you so much for the purchase of chrome books for my classroom. Having these chrome books in my room has allowed me to have access to technology for struggling students, so they can work on individualized instruction to help them grow in their education. They can use programs like Reading Eggs and Moby Max to help them get the extra skills they need to help them grow in reading and math.
My students were excited from day one to have access to these computers for taking AR tests on books they have read and do research for their nonfiction writing.
These computers also give me the ability to allow brain breaks for students, which helps decrease discipline problems in my classroom. Thank you so much for the purchase of this technology for my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and one other donor.A Reading Life: Books, Books, Books!
Funded Nov 29, 2016My class and I want to thank you so much for helping to get our project funded. The students were so excited to see all the new books, there were lots of comments like "Cool", "I can't wait", " I love new books", and so many more! The students practically ran to get a hold of a new book! In my classroom, we have reading workshop. It starts out with a mini lesson that all students can use in a book they are reading. Then, they go to apply the lesson in their reading that day. Each child has at least 10 books and sometimes 15 books in their book basket, they read these books in 1 week and then book shop for new books each week. The volumes of books we go through is astounding. My students have grown so much this year as readers due to all the books they have to read. The students love Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, the super hero books, and all the books we received. These books will help us understand about series books and how they are similar. They will also help continue with our fiction units too. These books are being used and loved already.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Braaten