Past projects 11
English Learners Need ESGI Subscription
Funded Jul 27, 2017Thank you so much for your contribution to our classroom!
This is my first year teacher teaching departmentalized reading and I have over thirty students. Most of them are lacking in basic foundational literacy skills. ESGI gives me an easy way to compile data for each student. I can collaborate with my team so that instead of swapping paper files that get messy or lost, it's simply a matter of logging in and starting the assessment. I can print off results and send the home to parents!
My students love the opportunity to show what they know and watch as the green pie charts showing mastery increase! It's great to have immediate feedback and the kids are invested in creating goals that will change their charts.
This program has been especially valuable to my language students. These are 4th graders who have only been in the United States for 1-2 school years. They require basic words. I can create an assessment with pictures of items like animals, school supplies, cartoon characters - you name it! and see whether they have the vocabulary. These students use the full range of ESGI's testing capabilities.
We have just started midyear benchmark testing and my heart is so full of joy! These students are showing above average growth which helps to close the achievement gap.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 9 other donors.iPad for Student with Autism
Funded Feb 7, 2016Thank you so much for your contribution! Having an iPad really made a difference for my student with autism. He used it for academic reasons, but also as part of his individualized reward system. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to finish out the year with him but got great reports from my coworkers. Even though I have left that school, the iPad remained with the student. I know from talking with his third grade teacher that he's been using it this year and that his overall school experience has really improved.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Paper, Paper, Paper!
Funded Nov 1, 2015Forgive the delayed response -- it has been a busy year! Last year, you helped donate paper for my second grade team and man, did we need it. We had a number of teacher absences for a wide-range of reasons and many copies were made at the last minute to make sure our substitute teachers had the appropriate work to keep our students learning even though the teacher was out! We were able to remain committed as a team to grade level assessments and homework as well as paperwork our school required us to print.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Rocketing Readers Need Just Right Books
Funded Dec 20, 2014The end of the year has rolled around for us and I have been blown away by my student's growth this year. We haven't finished all of our year end testing but so far, my class average is at grade level (compared to half a year below at the beginning of the year). I am so glad we got these resources early in the year because 8 of my 18 reading students needed them! My highest readers are actually ending the year at mid-to late 3rd grade reading. They have loved being able to select their own books and have proudly announced "I'm reading _________-- level books now". It's also served as a great tool to show them how they have grown over the course of the year. In addition to helping their reading, I have been blown away by their growth as writers. I feel very confident in sending them off to second grade!
Small note -- my phone was stolen recently with the pictures on it. In the midst of end of year preparation, I completely missed that they were gone - gone until I sat down to write. I promise I will try to get pictures to you before we leave for the summer!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 3 other donors.New Readers Need Non-Fiction
Funded Sep 26, 2014Thank you so much for donating to "New Readers Need Non-Fiction"! We were fully funded right before our Fall Break and the books were waiting for us on the return! Our writing skill for the week was writing letters and what a wonderful reason to practice thank you notes. We had a few extra students in the class that day and by the time they left my class, they were begging to come back to look at the books another day! Because we already had a system in place for storing the leveled books, the kiddos were so cute in trying to carefully place them into the leveled bins. The kids were actively checking their own reading and were able to express whether a book was too easy or too difficult and tell me what level book they were going to look for next. The pictures in these non-fiction books are amazing and highly engaging. I can't wait to see what we learn next!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Reading With Ease(l)
Funded Dec 9, 2013This was the most quickly funded donorschoose project I have ever posted -- thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom.
We have been using our easel EVERY DAY. We start the morning meeting looking at the message on the board, when oftentimes the children get to "steal the pen" and correct my mistakes. We use it again during phonics, when students read the words with the focus feature and have to circle the feature or build additional words with the feature.
As we sat down to write our thank you notes, I asked them to brainstorm some things that they like about having an easel. Overwhelmingly, the response was that they loved being able to reach the board! There's a magic moment when the kids get to take the pen and take control of that part of the lesson -- they love being able to play teacher and determine who's ready to take the pen for the next problem.
Once again, I am overwhelmed by the contributions that you, friends, family, and strangers, have made to my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Little Readers Need Leveled Books
Funded Aug 29, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom! It has been a busy few weeks as I settled into my new school, mid-year, with my scholars.
I wish I could send a video of the look on the kids faces when we finally opened the boxes that arrived! They get so excited whenever we get books! We did a lesson right away on how the books were organized and the importance of finding their "Just Right Books". Each child got a chance to look through each level and table teams were tasked with figuring out whether a book was fiction or non-fiction. We've been making good use of the books since Day 1!
The books have also been helpful in a way I could never imagine. Recently, we held parent teacher conferences. I have been lucky enough to have some wonderful parents that are interested in learning how they can help their child even more. At each conference, I had examples of the level their child could read independently, the expected level at this time in the school year, and the level that we aim for all children to read at by the end of the year. This was eye-opening for many parents and provided a concrete example of different ways that they can help their students reinforce their reading skills at home.
Other teachers in the building were impressed with the collection and stopped by to see. Not a lot of teachers at my new school have used Donorschoose.org before, but now I've heard a number of them say that they have ideas of projects they could post for their own classrooms!
When I posted this project months ago, I was hopeful it would get completed but not sure that it would. I am so touched by your donation to my classroom and the changes it is leading to in my students reading goals, their parents involvement in their growth, and inspiring changes in the classrooms of other teachers in my building.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Serious Readers Need Social Studies Texts!
Funded Dec 15, 2011Thank you so much for your donation to this project! We've been using the resources now for a few weeks and it's brought so much to our conversations. "Oh yeah, I read about that..." or "Don't you have a book that talks about that?" keep coming up in conversation. This is especially true about the books that have primary documents -- instead of just talking about these places and people, we can actually look at them in context. We had a long break between our Social Studies units due to breaks and unforeseeable events, so it's been incredibly exciting to see students gravitate towards relevant nonfiction.
Thank you for your contribution to my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Serious Readers Need...Math Literature!
Funded Mar 5, 2012It has been a crazy time for us! We just finished our state assessment and while we won't have numbers back for a while, I feel pretty good about our scores (fingers crossed). My kiddos felt so much more prepared for the math section this year and no small part of that has been using the math literature in class (and on their own) to make math more approachable and fun. We had such a great time with our unit on Sir Cumference that some of the students wanted to write their own version. I am constantly humbled when people who have never met my students contribute to making sure my scholars have what they need to succeed. Thank you so much. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
Serious Readers Need Science Texts!
Funded Jul 31, 2011I cannot begin to describe how excited the kids were to see the arrival of books! They came at the perfect time too, as we were approaching our science unit kick-off. The initial revealing of the books served as a hook and overview for the kids of what's coming up for the rest of the year in science. We get our midyear science scores back soon and the biggest change will have been the introduction of these books!
Many students asked who you were and were surprised to know that there are people out there who care about and are invested in their education beyond their own community. Even the English Language Learners grasped that concept and tried to show their thanks in their letters. Some of them ended up being shorter than I'd hoped because they wanted to get back to reading the books! I didn't think you'd mind and hopefully you'll get them soon.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your contribution to our classroom”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Woodburn
This classroom project was brought to life by Gap Inc. and 2 other donors.