Past projects 27
Learning Spanish Through Manipulatives
Funded Nov 10, 2021I want to start by Thanking you for your kind donations to my classroom. My students have been enjoying the new resources given to them. They always enjoy using some type of manipulatives while learning. The Spanish word blocks have been of great help in keeping everyone actively engaged and they enjoy being able to create sentences in a fun way. Students have used the blocks on their own and as a group activity to improve their sentence writing skills. Once again, thank you for helping my students, they truly appreciate it.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made.Beautiful Classroom
Funded Nov 10, 2021Thank you for taking your time to donate to my classroom, having a beautiful and welcoming classroom environment is very important for me. Your donations have helped me set up and decorate my classroom in a way I could not imagine. With the help of my students we will continue making it everyone's space. Students enjoyed the process very much and they are thankful for your actions. The classroom environment has helped everyone feel happy and welcomed and it also has brought the classroom to life.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made.Welcoming Learning Environment
Funded Sep 17, 2021Thank you for taking your time to donate to my classroom, having a welcoming classroom environment is extremely important for me. Your donations have helped me set up and decorate my classroom in a way I could not imagine. With the help of my students we were able to make it everyone's space. Students enjoyed the process very much and they are thankful for your actions. The classroom environment has helped everyone feel happy and welcomed, the color has brought the classroom to life and the participation of the students has improved.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by Clorox and one other donor.An Apple a Day Helps Students and Their Success!
Funded May 20, 2021I want to start by thanking you for your kind donation to my classroom. The iPad you generously help donate has tremendously made a difference in my classroom. The pandemic has reshaped the way we teach and technology is used more than ever. The iPad has helped me check for students' understanding, it specifically helps me provide support for the quiet students who are shy to ask for help or clarification. I am able to walk around the classroom to give instant feedback to students while the rest of the class continues working on the assignment; it has also helped me determine what needs to be retaught without days passing by. Once again, thank you so much for helping my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by News Corp and 7 other donors.Little White Boards
Funded Apr 13, 2021I want to start by Thanking you for your kind donations to my classroom. My students have been enjoying the new resources given to them. They always enjoy using some type of manipulatives while learning. The little white boards have been of great help in keeping everyone actively engaged and they enjoy being able to write on them. Students have used the boards to play Jeopardy games to review the content learned in the chapter and after every use they ask when they are going to use them again. Once again, thank you for helping my students, they truly appreciate it.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
Short Stories in Spanish
Funded Jul 20, 2021I want to start by thanking you for your kind donations. I teach Spanish for non-native speakers at a title 1 high school. In order to keep my students engaged I have to use different materials. Reading books other than the textbook are great resources because students like to read other stories that can still help them improve their vocabulary and their reading stills. My students personally enjoy using other resources for silence and group reading; these books are great. Students have both volumes of these books thanks to your donations for the second volume. Once again, thank you for providing additional materials for my students to enhance their learning.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective.Help My Students Improve Their Spanish Through 10 Short Stories
Funded Mar 16, 2021I want to start by thanking you for your kind donations. I teach Spanish for non-native speakers at a title 1 high school. In order to keep my students engaged I have to use different materials. Reading books other than the textbook are great resources because students like to read other stories that can still help them improve their vocabulary and their reading stills. My students personally enjoy using other resources for silence and group reading; these books are great. The stories are interesting and simple to read and they have the translations from English to Spanish as well. Once again, thank you for providing additional materials for my students to enhance their learning.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 4 other donors.A Pencil Can Make A Difference!
Funded Jul 20, 2021I want to start by thanking you for your kind donations to my classroom. The pandemic has taken us all out of our comfort zones and made us use the technology that we thought we did not need for our daily tasks. As a teacher I had to find the best and most reliable resources for my students, that also meant that I had to spend more time in front of the screen. The keyboard and pen have made my job easier and I am able to provide feedback to my students in real life. I am also able to continue using the pen and keyboard as I currently teach in my classroom since we still continue using technology. My students and I would like to thank you once again for providing us with more resources that are continuing to help us all.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective.Making Learning in the Pandemic Less Stressful with an Apple
Funded Jul 20, 2021When the pandemic started and we (teachers) were told that we were going to start teaching from home, I had to find different ways to still teach my students. I left campus with a laptop whose camera was not working, and it was slow as a turtle. As soon as I could go back to campus to see someone about my laptop, I went to exchange it for a different one which ended up being worse than the first one. I was still able to do my job but doing anything from lesson planning to opening documents to share with my students took three times as much time as it should have. Even though we are back in the classroom, the use of technology in the classroom is something that came here to stay. Teachers can no longer have a classroom set of textbooks so that means that we rely more on technology to grade and assign students' work. Thanks to your kind donations, I am able to complete my duties and to provide feedback to my students on their assignments in a timely manner. Your kind donations are having a positive impact on my students and we want to thank you for that.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and 7 other donors.Two Screens, One Purpose!
Funded Mar 5, 2021This Pandemic has changed everyone and everything in different ways, from the places we go to the things we do. Everyone learned to adapt to a new lifestyle. I know that saying this is very redundant but everything happened so quickly that from one day to another our entire lives changed. All of us had to find new ways of doing our job, if it had not been for technology, teaching would have been affected even more. When the pandemic started and we (teachers) were told that we were going to start teaching from home, I had to find different ways to still teach my students. I left campus with a laptop whose camera was not working, and it was slow as a turtle. As soon as I could go back to campus to see someone I went to exchange it for a different one which ended up being worse than the first one.
I was still able to do my job but I had to minimize my windows so I could have two windows open on one screen. One window was for me to share with my students via zoom and on the other window which was on the other half of my laptop screen was for me to see my students' faces. Since I had to divide my screen in two. That affected the size of the material I was sharing with my students (they saw everything half size smaller). I was also able to see some of my students but not all of them because my window of participants was really small. A laptop alone was not very helpful since I had to open many windows.
A colleague brought up the conversation of an additional screen which at first, did not make sense to me as I was not very familiar with working with more than one screen. I did what my colleague suggested and signed up to get a screen. I never heard from anyone so I figured I had to look somewhere else. As part of some trainings I did last year during the pandemic, I came across Donors Choose. Thanks to your kind donations I was able to get a screen donated within a few weeks after I wrote the grant. The screen made such a huge difference in my classes and the delivery of instruction. I was able to share a full screen with my students and I was also able to see all of them during class time on my second screen. The participation of students improved a lot and I was able to track who was engaged and who was not. Seeing them all in class during zoom made class time feel more "normal" since I was able to see everyone. I was also able to track their participation on the second screen and I was able to respond to their questions quicker since I was able to see when they had a question right away. The second screen made the listening activities better for my students because I was able to see everyone respond at once because I could see all of my students. My students and I are very thankful for your contributions to their education.”
With gratitude,
Ms. N. Velarde