Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 11

• Blazing Books

  Funded Oct 4, 2024

  Unfortunately, reading for fun in my classroom doesn't happen as often as I would like because there just isn't enough time in the day. However, all of my kids have books that they are reading at their desk and relish the opportunity to pick up where they left off. Even if they only have a few minutes in between activities, many of them race to get to their books!

  This book order helped me get sci-fi books for my science lovers, a few for graphic novels for my reluctant readers, and helped me complete/add to series that I already had. So far, all of my students have finished at least 3-150 paged books this year!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Foundation and 6 other donors.

• Writing to Every Subject

  Funded May 28, 2024

  This year our 5th grade team tried to really incorporate writing into every subject. With this Donors choose project we bought enough notebooks for each student to have a notebook in reading, writing, and math. Studies show that students who write more will be better readers. By writing in every class, our students are practicing their handwriting, academic vocabulary, and learning to express their thoughts through the written language.

  We were also able to get math books that showed how some of the math we do can be used in real life. These books have been a wonderful way to introduce new topics and help our struggling mathematicians.

  Thank you so much for your donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

• Loads and Loads of Supplies

  Funded Aug 2, 2023

  Thank you so much for the generous donations! All 100+ students in 5th grade have benefited from them.

  Our students use the whiteboards and markers every day during our math class. We get them up and moving, going to different parts of the class and sharing their work with different groups of kids. being able to have a whiteboard with a pocket allows them to have reference sheets at their fingertips without losing them. We have also been able to make bright and strong bookmarks with reminders of the 6 traits of writing, reciprocal teaching questions, and book trackers with the brightly colored card stock paper.

  One of my favorite things that we bought was Velcro dots for the floor. I can move them around my room and set them as markers for groups and pairs. I have my kids spend a lot of time on the floor in small groups, so they help me tell the kids where to sit so they give each other space.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.

• Mountains of Books

  Funded Mar 30, 2023

  Thank you so much for your donations! They have made such a difference in our classroom. In our class, I try to make reading for fun enjoyable, unfortunately, we had some kids who thought this time was really boring and had a hard time being engaged into a book. With our order, we got several book sets (Such as Escape From a Video Game, Timmy Failure, and Spy School) these books have been a game changer during our reading time. My reluctant readers are gobbling them up and are asking me for more time to read. The novel, "Red Stars" was a suggestion from a boy in my class and now I have several boys who have read it and are reading more of my historical fiction novels. I sincerely appreciate your donations to our classroom!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 4 other donors.

• Supplies, Supplies, Supplies!

  Funded May 19, 2022

  I received my supplies last school year, at the very end of the year. I planned on using those materials for this upcoming year. My students so far, have LOVED having bean bags as a form of optional seating. They are able to use them when they are finished working and are ready for silent reading. There are several students who have adapted to using them as they do classwork as well.

  With our many artistic students, they are excited to use the oil pastels that were bought as well as the water color paints. I enjoy teaching my students to express themselves with art. Having the correct supplies makes it that much more fun!

  Thank you So much for your donations, they truly help make this classroom run smoother and motivate classroom learning.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

• Back to School Gear

  Funded Aug 10, 2022

  Our 5th grade team where able to open our project supplies before students got into the building. We had so much fun busting into the supplies for the year.

  Our students are able to use their white board pocked folders in math to work out practice problems. They also have graph paper and multiplication charts inside of the white board folder as tools to help with their multiplication, division, place value concepts and volume. They have LOVED having brand new folders to use.

  We all gave the fun pencils out to our students on the "Meet the Teacher" night as a way for them to look around the class and find supplies. This helped them feel comfortable and excited to start the new year.

  We have some very crafty students this year who are thrilled to try out the water colors and pencils.

  Thank you so much for the donations.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

  This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 2 other donors.

• Top Shelf Book List

  Funded Mar 18, 2022

  Thank you so much for helping make this project possible! Part of this project bought 15 new copies of, "Sign of the Beaver." This is a fantastic book that shows the relationship of a young settler and a native boy grow over a season together. It shows the cultural differences between the two boys and how their misconceptions of each others culture change as they get to know each other. I start this book at the beginning of the school year when we are learning about early settlers in the Americas because it gives the students a more relatable view point of that time. I use this novel and others to coincide with our other ELA curriculum. We practice the same skills in the novels as we do in the Journey's textbook each week. This often helps students apply those skills with a novel and allows us to compare how different characters solve problems. After reading this novel for the last few years, my current copies were getting worn. This project helped replace some of the books that were really bad.

  I try to have a set 10-15 minutes each day for kids to just read for enjoyment. We have a challenge each year for kids to finish reading 40 books of 150 pages. This year, many of my avid readers read well over that goal. Part of this is because I have such an extensive library in my class. I have also read many of the books myself and I am able to make suggestions based on what kids like. Students who loved a book can put it on our suggested shelf and I will read a chapter or two of it to the class to help motivate students to read new books.

  I had kids fighting over who could read the books first when they came in! My Riordan fans gobbled up the Apollo books as well as the new book. My kids who love Wings of Fire enjoyed the rest of the series as well as the other dragon books that we purchased. Many of my reluctant readers have found something to enjoy- Dairy of a Wimpy kid, Last Kids on Earth, Who Was, Weird but True and so many more. Most kids have a book they are actively reading out on their desk at all times and a second book they can't wait to get started on too.

  We are so grateful for all of the donations this year. Thank you again!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

• WOOT! WOOT! 40 Book Challenge Here We Come!

  Funded Oct 4, 2019

  I want to take the time to say thank you for donating money for my classroom. Your donation not only put books in my classroom, but you helped fill a classroom with fantasy, excitement and adventure! Our school goal is to reach 40 books by the end of the year. Many of my students have already reached that goal. I have one student who is already over 50 books this year. This would not be possible without the help of your donation. The books that your donation helped purchase were books that my students said they were either interested in reading OR books that other students suggested to their peers. Using this system of recommendation has helped me choose books that my students were motivated to read, especially because their friends suggested it. I have kids who have finished books in our library get up and talk about the book to get all kids interested in reading them. I have never had such excitement about reading time as I do this year.

  My students live out of their cubbies and can only have required materials on their desk. They are always asking me if they can have their reading book on their desk because they can't wait for any down time to pick up their book and read. Each day we have silent reading time, where kids can either read or work on finishing assignments. Many students choose to read at this time because they can move around the room, get a flashlight and get comfy to read. I often need to tell students to put their books about during the lesson time.

  My students have said that the books were/are fun to read and everyone likes them. "The Girl in the Locked Room" was "scary but super exciting." One student said that, "Keeper of the Lost Cities" was "Fun and hard to put down." Other students said that "Dogman" was really silly and they enjoyed being able to draw the characters at the end of the book.

  My students aren't putting these books down. Thank you for your donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary

  This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron Fuel Your School.

• Prospect STEAM Club

  Funded Oct 23, 2019

  Thank you so much for your generous donations. This year in our after-school STEAM program, myself and the other teacher I work with, wanted to give our student more "mature" supplies to work with hoping to get more sophisticated products from our kids. For our project, students were to choose either a fairytale or fable and create a set for that play. We wanted them to think about how they could set up the set without having to be literal. In a play, many times, the set only has props to give the appearance or illusion of a house or a room without having the whole house on stage. We wanted them to think how they can show their story without actually building a house or a tower or whatever the scene gave them.

  When we told our students about the project and showed them the supplies they had to work with, they we beyond excited. They thought the supplies helped them get creative. Typically, in my classroom, giving a project like this would be more chaos then actual building. I would have to babysit and repeatedly remind students how to use the supplies in the classroom. These kids were nothing but business. From the planning to the executing, they were serious about how they were going to accomplish the task and did an amazing job collaborating with each other and brainstorming about how they can use the different supplies. When we first planned the project, we had hoped that high school students who build sets competitively would be able to come and help our students. At last minute, that was cancelled. The other teacher and I had to help use some of the materials for safety reasons. Overall, however, the students project turned out great!

  In our next cycle of STEAM, we will be working with animals and how they adapt to their environment. We will have an owl trunk to explore and several guest speakers. After exploring, our students will be able to create a "new" species with different adaptations. They will then learn how to write a poem about owls. After that cycle, we will work with electricity and sound.

  Thank you again for your donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lewis- Prospect Elementary