Past projects 2
Novel Study, Novel Thinkers
Funded Apr 12, 2024I wanted to let you know how much your donation towards our classroom has been appreciated. Last year, my school began using our new ELA curriculum. While it is a quality curriculum, I found it to be overwhelming for myself and my students. I was struggling to find ways to bring the curriculum to life.
One piece I missed with this new curriculum was the exciting and bonding experience of reading a class novel together. I used to read "Because of Winn-Dixie" to my classes, but over years of use, my class set began to dwindle. After meeting with one of our curriculum team members, they informed me that there is a supplemental novel study unit available with our curriculum, using the book, "Hello, Universe". I personally had not read it, but saw that it was a Newberry Award winner, and knew it would be a perfect addition to our curriculum.
With your help, I am able to replace one of the curriculum units with a whole class novel study instead, using the book, "Hello, Universe". Also, I am able to have enough copies for every student rather than sharing. We can now build our classroom community and learning by all taking part in the same novel study. I spent the summer reading this novel myself and am so excited to begin using it in my classroom this year.
Thank you again for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Bina
Getting Interested in the Middle Ages
Funded Apr 22, 2024I wanted to let you know how much your donation towards our classroom has been appreciated. Last year, my school began using our new ELA curriculum. While it is a quality curriculum, I found it to be overwhelming for myself and my students. I was struggling to find ways to bring the curriculum to life. With your help, I was able to get a handful of Middle Ages themed books to hook my kids in.
These books have been a huge asset to this new curriculum. The Middle Ages themed unit was our longest unit of the year, seeming to go on forever, so I knew I needed something extra to keep up motivation. I showcased our new books and made a big deal of receiving them in the mail for students. Immediately, I had kids asking when the could borrow the books. Students loved sharing the weird and interesting facts they learned about the Middle Ages, like that the waste was so bad in the "toilets" that some people died simply from breathing in the fumes or, even worse, falling into the pit!
Besides enthusiasm and motivation, one area these books have improved is with making connections. In fourth grade, we want students to be able to make connections between their learning, their lives, and the world around them. So many students made connections between the books you purchased and the articles in our curriculum. One of the books in particular, "A Kid's Life During the Middle Ages", helped to build connections between their lives today and the lives of kids in the past. It was really interesting and exciting to see all of these deep connections being made!
Thank you again for your generosity. I am looking forward to showing these books to a new class this year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Bina
This classroom project was brought to life by Power for Good Foundation.