Ms. Benefiel's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 6

• Fold, Glue, Write! Bookmaking for (pre)teens

  Funded Dec 8, 2024

  Thank you for your generosity! I love bringing creative arts projects to the classroom so that students can show their learning in new ways. The bookmaking project has been a great success with our newcomer students and now special education teachers are planning to use bookmaking to help their students practice new literacy skills. Students are currently practicing writing about themselves and will soon create personal mini-books where they will creatively share about their lives.

  It's because of generous donors like you that we are able to bring exciting artistic opportunities into our students' lives.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Campbell Foundation.

• Manga for Middle Schoolers, Part 2!

  Funded Oct 3, 2024

  Thank you for supporting our school library! It's been fun watching students discover the updated Manga section and hear them exclaim when they find their favorite titles. I also appreciate having multiple copies of some of the more popular series, as they are always asking for the next book as soon as they're done with the one they're reading.

  I know there will probably be a part 3 to this project because students are so eager to read Manga. Thank you for making it possible for me to provide these titles to students!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Foundation and 5 other donors.

• Back to School Books!

  Funded Aug 28, 2024

  I've had so much fun sharing the new books with students. As mentioned in the project, we've had an influx of Spanish-speaking newcomer students, and they've been eager to get home language books. They've been requesting more titles and some aren't available from our local vendor.

  It was wonderful to receive these books in mail and quickly get them in the hands of such amazing kids. I appreciate that you and others are willing to provide this literacy opportunity to students who are new to the country. Now my students know that they can make requests at a library, so they are more empowered as learners.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 2 other donors.

• Manga for Middle Schoolers

  Funded Apr 24, 2024

  I cannot overstate the success of this project, it has truly impacted so many students. Since adding all of the manga to our library collection, I've found a measurable increase in student traffic to the library. Students are excited and often surprised to find their favorite manga on the shelves!

  Excitingly, some of the students who have been enjoying these books the most are our Newcomer students. These are young people who have been in the country for under 2 years and are learning English for the first time. We provide many books in their home language, but it's great to see them practicing English by reading manga. What a wonderful way to promote literacy.

  I'm already planning my next Donor's Choose manga project. The newly formed anime club has drafted a list and I'll be using it to order new titles. Thank you for generously getting our kids the books they want and deserve.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel

• Spanish Language Middle Grade Books

  Funded Oct 12, 2023

  The books you helped purchase were a big hit last year! I'm excited to continue growing our Spanish language collection so that students have the opportunity to read in their home language.

  Last year I piloted a project to allow teachers to check out carts or baskets of books to use in their advisory classes. The Spanish language books were particularly popular with students and teachers alike. I intend to expand the program this year to encourage student to read in their down time.

  Thank you for your support!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Peterson Family and 3 other donors.

• Puppet Palooza: Enhancing Literacy Through Puppetry

  Funded Aug 20, 2023

  The beautiful puppets that your donation helped purchase are an exciting addition to our school library. Recently, a class for autistic students was able to use the puppets to practice demonstrating different emotional states. In their weekly Shakespeare group, these students work on expressing shock, frustration, joy, etc. so we were able to translate that to the puppets. They were hilarious and on-point! One of the students also pretended that the bat puppet was part of the book he was reading and was able to describe to me how the bat would come and save the day. For a student who rarely speaks, this was incredible to witness.

  One of the exciting next steps for this project will come a few weeks into the new year. A structured literacy class of dyslexic students is planning on writing scripts using words with the vowel-consonant pattern they're studying. Students will then act out their scripts using the puppets and we hope to film them in the green screen film studio I've set up in the library. I'm eager to see how we can continue to support students in their literacy growth using these materials.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Benefiel