Ms. Anders' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 2

• Encourage Reading With Scholastic News

  Funded Aug 17, 2023

  Thank you so much for helping me to include Scholastic News as part of my classroom literacy resources. These magazines are helping my students to develop their literacy skills. We have been incorporating the magazines into our reading routine on a weekly basis, and some of the activities we have been working on:

  -Partner reads which help the students to build fluency.

  -Whole class reads where we discuss (practice language skills) and answer questions by highlighting evidence in the text.

  -Taking notes on and summarizing important information that we read.

  -Learning about different nonfiction text features, such as captions and maps, and learning how the text features support our understanding of the material.

  -Learning how to use context clues to help understand new vocabulary words.

  -We also are now into our opinion writing unit and will be able to use the student opinion article to help us practice our opinion writing.

  The students have been engaged and really look forward to Scholastic News day in our literacy block.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Anders

  This classroom project was brought to life by The SONIC Foundation and 4 other donors.

• Chromebooks to Teach Students 21st Century Technology Skills

  Funded Sep 12, 2019

  Thank you for providing the 5 additional chrome books for my classroom. These additional chrome books have had several positive impacts in my classroom.

  First, it has allowed me to provide better extension activities for the students that are finished with other class required projects. For example, some of my students have been working in small groups to create a google slides presentation about material that we have learned in class. They are learning how to work together to pull information into a presentation format. They are learning how to insert graphics, videos, and pictures to keep the audience engaged. They have also just started making presentations to the class about these extension projects. This gives them practice in public speaking, including how to make eye contact with the audience, what is an appropriate tone and speed of speech, and also how to paraphrase their slides so they aren't just reading directly (still a work in progress!)

  Another way these chrome books have helped me in the classroom is keeping my students engaged on meaningful work, while I am pulling small groups for intervention. Because I now have 1 chromebook for every 2 students, I have been able to create 2 groups in the classroom, and allow each group to have 15-20 minutes on the computer working on their blended learning (academic online programs that are diversified to their instructional level), while I pull my intervention groups and work with them. Before getting these extra computers, I had to do three rotations (1 chromebook for every 3 students), and by the time the computers were switched and students were logged in, they didn't have as much meaningful learning time as they do now. My intervention groups are helped by this because I am able to focus my attention on meeting their academic needs; the rest of the class benefits by being engaged in other interesting academic activities.

  One more way the chrome books have benefited my classroom is that I am able to engage the students in fun and meaningful online learning more spontaneously. Previously, I had to plan my computer time around either having the school's chromebook cart (which is 2 afternoons at the end of the week), or I had to coordinate with the other three 4th grade teachers to share computers. Now, because I have 15 computers in total that are always in my classroom, I can incorporate technology whenever I want. For example, the students were working really hard the other day, and as a reward, I was able to stream a fun and engaging math game related to factors and multiples. The students played with their partners and were very engaged in their learning. Without having the ability to share 1 computer for every 2 students, it would take significantly more coordination to reward the students in this way.

  Thank you again for your generous donation. Room 31 REALLY appreciates your support!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Anders

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 3 other donors.