Past projects 4
Headphones for Kindergarten
Funded Mar 30, 2023Thank you so much for helping my students get high-quality headphones to use! We use the headphones daily. Students use an app called "Imagine Learning" at least once a week - this app gives instructions in their native language, and helps them acquire language and literacy skills in English. While we try to limit screen time to an hour per week in school, this asynchronous learning program is a wonderful way for students to get instruction tailored to their exact level, and students have fun playing games that help them learn.
We also use the headphones during NWEA MAP testing, which they do 3 times a year, for both ELA and Math. In the past, we have been limited by only having a few high-quality headphones, and students complained about not being able to hear well, only one side of the headphones working, or poor sound quality. When they took the test last month, everyone was able to hear the instructions and questions using the high quality headphones. I hope that these headphones will help my students show what they know on these tests, and contribute to their growth this school year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Palmieri
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 3 other donors.Essential School Supplies for a Safe Kindergarten Classroom During COVID-19!
Funded Sep 20, 2020Thank you so much for providing my kindergarten students with art supplies and other essentials this year! While the pandemic has thrown a wrench in our plans to be back in person so far, we were able to deliver the art supplies directly to student houses! My co-teacher, paraprofessional, and I got to drop off the supplies and wave to our students through windows and doors and masks. As we all know, this pandemic has disproportionally impacted low-income communities and people of color - my school is in the city of Lawrence, which has had the highest positivity rate for COVID in Massachusetts during the pandemic, due to these factors. It was wonderful to be able to provide students with some joy and a way to express themselves during these difficult times. Thank you!
The vaccines give us hope of being back in school soon. When we are back, I will be using the bins, zipper bags, mask extenders, and playdough, so that students can remain distanced and materials do not have to be shared. In the meantime, students have access to quality art supplies at home that they otherwise would not have been able to afford. I am also THRILLED that my students now have colored pencils and crayons that include a variety of skin tones. While my school did provide some crayons, they only included the basic red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and black. We read a lot of books about culture and race, and I am so happy that my students now can create art that reflects the diversity of themselves, their families, and their community.
I wish you could have seen the excitement on my students' faces when they saw their teachers (from a distance), and got to explore their new art supplies. However, I did record some of their reactions on Zoom: "What's this number on the box? A 5 and a 0. 50? That's a BIG number! I can't believe there's 50 colored pencils in here!" "There's 2 reds. No, this one's not red, it's different. What's this color called?" "There are so many shades of brown, just like that book we read! I like this golden brown!" "I found my skin color! And this is my dad's skin color. I'm going to use them both in my drawing for Writer's Workshop." "I'm going to draw a rainbow with all the colors." "I've never seen this color before!" "This color reminds me of the sprinkles on my birthday cake." "This crayon and this colored pencil are the same color. I'm going to mix them." "I think I found my new favorite color."
Thank you so much from my group of rambunctious, silly, kind, intelligent, imaginative and creative kindergarteners.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Palmieri
Social-Emotional Books for a Kindergarten Classroom
Funded Mar 2, 2020Thank you so much for your donation of Social-Emotional books for my kindergarten classroom! My students were able to enjoy them for a few weeks before the COVID-19 school closure, but the books will be enjoyed by future students for many years to come. After these trying times, it will be especially important to focus on students' emotions, help them self-regulate and understand their feelings, and make safe and caring choices.
One of my favorite books that we got to read as a class was "What Would Darla Do?" In this book, the students were faced with choices and had to decide what the main character, Darla, should do. We read the book several times, and each time made different choices, and it led to different outcomes and endings. This helped my young students realize the impact their actions have - not only the intentional outcomes but also the unintended consequences. After many rereadings, they started to see the perspectives of other characters in the story, and the importance of making thoughtful and kind choices.
As a school district, we are moving toward "Restorative Justice" practices. These books on choices, kindness, and emotions will help my young students become responsible citizens of the classroom, school, and community, and help them have a positive impact on our world.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Palmieri
This classroom project was brought to life by A group of anonymous donors and one other donor.Mo Willems Author Study Materials for Kindergarten Classroom Library
Funded Jan 31, 2020Seeing the joy the Mo Willems books brought to my kindergarten students was one of my happiest memories of this school year. The classroom library corner became the most-visited area of the room. Students could be heard laughing, acting out parts of the stories, and challenging themselves to read books that were above their reading level. Many students started adding Mo Willems characters into their own stories at Writers Workshop. The plots of the stories and captivating characters became interwoven into the themes and daily talk of our classroom, and everyone felt included.
In kindergarten, most children learn to read simple, patterned, decodable texts (for example, "I see the car" on one page with a picture of a car, "I see the boat" on the next page with a picture of a boat). While this is an important step to learning how to read, not all students are eager to venture into the classroom library and try out reading. Mo Willems writes books that are simple, yet funny and highly motivating for young children to read. I noticed some students who avoided the library corner from September to January started to venture in once the new books were there. All my students loved hearing the books read aloud - at the end of every day, if there were a few minutes to spare, students would always request that I read aloud "just one more" Mo Willems book.
The Mo Willems books contain stories of friendship, fairness, and kindness. Because of your donation, my students got to witness and participate in these values in real life as well. They were so excited when we got the packages and kept taking out book after book, puppet after puppet from the box. They were amazed that someone in the world knew they loved Mo Willems, and just to be kind, bought all these things for our classroom.
After everything was out of the boxes, the children asked me, "Did the other kindergarten classrooms get these books, too?" I told them that they were a special gift for our classroom. My students insisted that we share with the other kindergarten classrooms. We wrote a special message in 5 of the books, and hand-delivered them to the 5 other kindergarten classrooms in our school. At each classroom, my students told the other students about the kindness of strangers that brought the books to our school. This started a chain reaction of Random Acts of Kindness. I hope this message of kindness and love for reading continues long past kindergarten for my students. Thank you for your help.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Palmieri