Mr. Little's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 14

• Makey Makey Engineering

  Funded May 24, 2024

  What a fabulous feeling when we get word of a project being funded. It's all thanks to your generosity and commitment to kids. Thank you for the bottom of our hearts. We will use the Makey Makey kits to learn more about circuitry. Can't wait for all the fun. Thank you again.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by Young Sheldon on CBS and 7 other donors.

• Important Intervention Resources

  Funded Dec 28, 2022

  Thank you for the generous support you have provided. Thanks to your support I was able to add a special touch to small group intervention. My students really loved the number line with the frogs. It helped them to conceptualize skip counting and solidify counting skills. The write/wipe boards and erasers helped them to use a more engaging learning resource to practice answering math questions and facts. These materials engage my intervention students and inspire them to participate.

  When they see the materials, they immediately asked if they can use them and help with setting up.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

• Science Lab Explorations

  Funded Dec 3, 2022

  Thank you so much for your amazing support and commitment to education. It takes special people to commit and support our public schools. This project allowed me to add fun exploration materials to our Science Lab which has been out of action for the last few years, and is just now making a come back. Prior we had an assistant set up and guide students through recorded science lessons, but now we trying to have teachers bring their students in and engage in science lessons. With these materials, students are able to engage in fun activities to explore properties and forces with magnets. They are involved in inquiry to discover the properties by engaging with various types of magnets thanks to you, and now we have plenty. also, they got to make kaleidoscopes and explore colors.

  It's always fun to see big surprised eyes and hear excited squeals when they see the new materials brought in and opened, and then they scream, "Can we play now?"

  Thanks to your gift, I was inspired to pursue a grant to apply for more STEM and Science materials to stock our lab and classrooms with more fun materials.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 11 other donors.

• Stock Our New Maker's Space and Stem Lab

  Funded Nov 30, 2022

  True STEM experiences require having numerous materials and novel design experiences. Thanks to the generous donations of our donors, my students are so excited to try out new building and creativity resources. Students got to learn how to begin to code using the Bee Bot and programming it to move along different paths on the community maps and even through mazes they built with the new Legos.

  My students were so thrilled and excited to see the new boxes. They asked if they could help to open them. It was like another Christmas for them. Then opening the individual LEGO boxes was great fun because inside each box there were bundles of Legos packaged inside that required more opening and spilling of course. When they heard that the materials were donated, they exclaimed, "Wow, that's really kind of people to help!"

  Because I've been able to accumulate more resources and materials thanks to this project and another project, I have committed to continue hosting a weekly Robotics and STEM club, where4th and 5th graders attend to practice building and controlling robots, and now I'm able to set up centers for them to design structures and challenges with Legos and such.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 7 other donors.

• Engineering Is Fun!

  Funded Oct 26, 2022

  I teach a robotics club after school for enrichment. Many students are frustrated with the robot build steps and its difficult to engage more than just a few kids to build at a time due to limited materials. They were reaching a bored moment with coding being difficult, and waiting for a functional robot to be built. The minute these materials arrived, students were thrilled and excited. I allowed free exploration and they built amazing towers and structures with the Keva planks. They were so surprised to have just free exploration. I just sat there and listened and watched as they interacted with each other and saw what each other was attempting. I heard things like, "THis is the best day. Can we stay longer? This should be called fun club instead of robotics"

  Once students had a few sessions to explore and have fun with the planks and marble runs, and legos, and after noticing a boy setting up the planks domino style (like in a Rube Goldberg), I challenged him and his friends to combine many materials and set up a chain reaction, rube goldberg. Since other kids were coding a class Dash Robot, I challenged them to pretend they had to deliver some "food" to our robot across the room.

  They got really into it of course, and achieved a successful trial run. I'm thinking of continuing with the group after school but as a STEM club now for the first time, and will be using the materials to engage teh students in STEM Challenges. Thank you so much for allowing for my students to have these awesome novel experiences.

  Then the Marble runs were a huge hit as I wanted them to start thinking about chain reactions and balanced and unbalanced forces. After a couple of exploration sessions I challenged them to use multiple materials to build a chain reaction structure that would deliver "food" to our classroom dash robot across the room.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 6 other donors.

• Fun and Fitness with Yoga

  Funded Oct 6, 2016

  My students love doing yoga. They used to do yoga regularly in kinder and in 2nd grade so it was quite easy for me to engage them in physical activity using yoga. My goal is to establish a monthly family yoga day where parents can come into the gym and join us, but in the meantime, we are able to use the mats at least once every few weeks to complement our physical education routine. Students know a lot of the poses already, so they are teaching me some techniques as well.

  Students are always so curious to know what's in the huge boxes. I let selected students help open the boxes, and they knew right away what was in the boxes. They announced excitedly, "yoga mats!" The class of course immediately began asking, " Can we do yoga right now?"

  This class is particularly squirmy and active, so adding mind breaks which involve physical activity has really been helpful. Your contributions this year has really provided our class and school with plenty of equipment to engage the students on fun activities.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

• Fitbits Motivate Kids to Get Fit

  Funded Sep 23, 2016

  This project has truly inspired my students to engage in more physical activity. Through this project, I have been able to develop a rotation system so 3 students per week are wearing the Fit bits all day even at home. They must communicate with their parents to download data and personally chart their results in calories burned, steps, healthy snacks, etc. At the end of their time, they turn in the chart to me. Next time they have a turn to use the Fitbit, they will review their chart and set goals to increase results. I witness and overhear students discussing ways to increase steps and calories burned(even adding constant motion while seated at their desks.)

  The students have been so excited, to the extent of impatient, demanding a turn. The project has truly strengthened the home school connection by engaging the parents in the learning process and requiring responsibility.

  3 students who rarely follow through or do any work, have expressed great enthusiasm for the project. They are motivated to demonstrate responsibility so they earn their turn and/or did follow through by completing the challenge.

  Thank you for your generosity and commitment to our children.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by Target and one other donor.

• Let's Play Outdoors

  Funded Aug 19, 2016

  Thank you so much for your generosity. This year physical education class is so much easier to plan and coordinate because of the supplies you purchased for our classroom. We have plenty of bouncy balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, parachutes, and bean bags to involve many more children and vary the activities.

  You can imagine the joyous smiles and looks of surprise when I unpacked the multitude of equipment. Students are always asking if they can use the equipment during recess and lunch, and they are proud to allow other students from other classes to play with them.

  My students' athletic abilities and physical development are benefiting. The easier access and increased frequency of physical education has helped them lead healthy active lives. I see most of my class developing proper coordination and manipulation of diverse equipment. They enjoy playing and developing skills.

  Thank you again for the commitment you have to the children of our district.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

  This classroom project was brought to life by Target and one other donor.

• TIME 4 Kids to Develop Financial Literacy

  Funded May 30, 2016

  My students are able to have consistent access to current events and frequent financial literacy lessons thanks to your generous donations to allow us to be subscribed to Time For Kids this academic year. Weekly, students are thrilled to receive a new magazine in their mailboxes. I assist them with reading for understanding, learning about text features, fluency, and understanding the concepts and issues. We are able to have rich discussions on current events because everyone has their own copy. The financial literacy supplements make learning about financial literacy very engaging and pertinent to my students. I require they take home the magazine one night a week to share with their parents and they keep their magazines.

  There is nothing like the excitement kids have when they see a new addition to the classroom. There is added excitement when I introduce them to their new mail slots on the chart rack where they each have a mail pocket for picking up their weekly magazine. The cover pictures are always so intriguing.

  My students are emerging readers. They love fiction stories, but rarely have access to quality news magazines. My experience last year showed me that they can make tremendous gains in their reading by having a consistent routine of reading both fiction and appropriately leveled nonfiction. The frequent issues on financial literacy will help them become aware of the importance of budgeting, understanding taxes, and profits and expenses. We will create personal businesses and write business plans to culminate the year.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little

• Appreciate Active Learning

  Funded Mar 9, 2016

  This project has supplied my classroom with a variety of interesting new additions. You could not imagine the overwhelming excitement and curiosity the children have towards the wobbly chairs, of all things. They all ask for a chance to use the stool. My library books have more accessibility now that you have added new book bins and a storage unit. This has allowed students to find books more easily since I'm now able to group series of books together. The parents and students are so thrilled because the students can now hang their backpacks outside the classroom without the risk of having ants attack them.

  I think the most jaw dropping I've ever witnessed was when I told them they could have time to explore the new Lego's. I'm exploring new math lesson ideas online to review fractions and area and perimeter through use of Lego's. My lesson repertoire has multiplied exponentially now that students have Lego's to use as math tools. Students enjoy the challenge of counting, sorting, and exchanging pieces to solve mathematical problems.

  I'm excited that students will be able to conceptualize the concepts of perimeter and area so much better now when I help to deepen their understanding by assigning them the task to build a dream home or zoo or school yard using Lego's as a tool. It will move understanding from counting squares and units to actually designing and touching and seeing.

  My classroom environment has been upgraded tremendously thanks to your generosity. Thank you for touching so many lives.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Little