Past projects 5
Diverse and Inclusive Books for an Engaging 4th Grade
Funded Nov 30, 2022Thank you so much for your generous contributions that allowed me to expand my classroom library. I work hard to instill a love of reading in my students, and with these new books I can keep the kids excited about finding a new book. It's also important that all students see children like them and families like theirs represented in the books in our classroom, and these new titles helped me continue to keep our classroom inclusive for everyone. The wiggle seats and yoga balls allow for flexible seating, both during reading time and if a student needs a different space during lessons. My students and I are so thankful for these donations that help us keep learning fun and help everyone succeed!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Handy
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 8 other donors.Classroom Basics for a Great Year!
Funded Dec 1, 2021Thank you so much for contributing to making our classroom more successful, fun, and conducive to all learning styles! Having an organized way to store and charge Chromebooks means we can use them more often and integrate more technology into lessons. New books for our library (and bulletin boards) help keep my students engaged and excited about reading. All of the classroom supplies (like crayons, dry erase markers, a working pencil sharpener, etc.) that you helped us purchase make each day so much more successful for all of us. The different picture books provide an important start of many social emotional lessons and conversations. I am so grateful for how you all have helped our classroom grow!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Handy
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 4 other donors.Integrating Science and Social-Emotional Skills into Literacy
Funded Sep 17, 2021This year our third grade team is without an ELA curriculum, which has given us freedom in our teaching but also left us without materials. Being able to buy class sets of the same book for our entire grade allowed us to create a unit used by three classes that aligned to our reading and writing standards while also being high interest. Dinosaurs Before Dark was a great book to start our year with, and we were excited for our students to become interested in the Magic Treehouse series.
We are so thankful for the donations that allowed us to teach reading skills such as comparing and contrasting, character traits, using non-fiction references, finding evidence in text, and comprehension strategies. We wrapped up our unit having our students write about hatching their own baby dinosaurs and the character traits they would have.
Possibly the best part of our unit was when the students were able to dig out (and keep!) their own real fossil! We are so grateful that we were able to provide this opportunity for them. They had a great time digging them out, and we planned the end of our book unit to be at the same time as we began studying fossils and animals through time in science. Combining our reading and writing unit with learning history and science encouraged our students to stay curious and to stay engaged throughout our day. Thank you all again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Handy
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 13 other donors.Google App Assignments for Remote Learning
Funded Dec 7, 2020We would not have been able to help our students grow and learn during the time we were fully remote last year without the help you provided. These gift cards allowed us to buy resources that were easy for students to follow and navigate while we teaching and learning at home. Many of our materials were not available online and required constant pick ups for parents (and often ended with lost papers when the lesson came about), so being able to provide the same materials in a digital format was crucial.
Even after we transitioned back to the classroom, we had several students remain online. These digital resources made it easy to provide the same lessons and materials to both groups of students, those virtual and in school. It would have taken countless hours for us to transfer our materials and lessons to Google Slides and other digital apps.
The resources provided are also wonderful because we can still continue to use them for future years to come. Although we hope to never return to fully remote learning, we can use these with Chromebooks and in Technology centers to reiterate lessons. We are so grateful for all of the generosity that made this happen!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Handy
Math Manipulatives for Hands-On Remote Learning!
Funded Nov 5, 2020We cannot begin to thank you enough for providing us with the ability to send home tools and manipulatives to help deepen our students' understanding of math concepts. Having to adjust to a fully remote schooling environment has been incredibly hard on all of the children. It is extremely difficult to create an online learning community that is accessible to our young learners. Being able to send home part of the classroom, which we could never have afforded without your help, has been such a vital tool to engage and motivate our students.
The excitement and sheer joy of the students opening their supplies and finding bags of unifix cubes, area tiles, fraction tiles, rulers, clocks, and more made the success of this project clear. Third grade math introduces multiplication and division, and then dives further using those concepts to apply to area, fractions, and more. Even without missing months of school or being in a remote setting, these are difficult concepts for students to grasp. Having manipulatives and tools in their hands is something we depend on when we are in the building for learning. Many young students rely on these physical tools to develop their comprehension in mathematical ideas. Being able to send these home ensured that we could provide the building blocks for our third graders to not only grasp new concepts, but enjoy learning them. With so much lost this school year, giving them supplies to make learning fun feels equally important to the curriculum.
Being out of our school building since last March has changed so much in our third graders lives. We sincerely appreciate that you allowed us to continue teaching to the best of our ability in these strange and unprecedented times. Allowing each student to have their own special set of math tools has increased engagement and given them a sense of ownership in their math work. The progress our students are making feels directly related to these manipulatives we sent home with your generous donations. The unifix cubes and tiles have been particularly popular with the kids, even outside of math class!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Handy