Past projects 4
Bilingual Books for our School
Funded Aug 20, 2023Thank you so much for supporting my classroom by helping us purchase these wonderful bilingual books! Our students absolutely love them, and the bilingual content allows students who have newly arrived in the country to really connect with the stories while also growing their English skills. Last week, we used the bilingual fairy tales to discuss the concept of "theme", a 3rd Grade learning standard. Prior to that, we explored the 3rd Grade learning standards of character, setting, and main idea using the stories in the First Little Readers. The students especially loved "Snow Tracks - Huellas en la nieve."
A heartfelt thank you from my students and I to you for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sami
Invasion of the Robot (Vacuum)!
Funded Apr 7, 2022Thank you so much for your generosity in donating to my project! The robot vacuum has arrived and the kids absolutely loved it. They've nicknamed it Oppy (for Opportunity, the Mars Rover) and get so excited when it's time to run Oppy and clean the room. A few times, Oppy has even escaped and found its way into other classrooms, giving all the kids an exciting surprise!
With the device, we can have the room vacuumed and mopped every day, keeping the room safe and clean during the pandemic. We always have shiny, clean floors no matter the day! My students and I are so grateful for your help in ensuring the health and hygiene of our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sami
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose community & an Anonymous Partner and 3 other donors.Reading Superstars
Funded Mar 15, 2021Thank you so much for your generous donations! We were able to purchase multiple sets of phonics-centered activities from Teachers Pay Teachers using the funds. These activities were a massive help in our day-to-day learning. During our daily small groups with English Language Learners, we used the activities to focus our lessons on reading skills. We explored sight words, sentence writing, and learning the alphabet.
When we are in-person, we teach sight words through various activities. Some of those activities include writing words and letters with malleable materials like shaving cream, sand, and rubber bands; using magnet letters to create sight words; rainbow writing the words with each letter a different color; and more. Since we're fully virtual, we were really struggling with how to practice our words virtually. The activities we purchased allowed students to do similar practice activities, like building words with picture blocks in Google Slides, matching words, and circling them all using virtual activities.
Because of these activities, our students were able to make gains in reading by the end of the year. Thank you so much for making it happen!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sami
Supplies for Stars
Funded Jan 31, 2021Thank you so much for helping us promote reading in our classroom! We used the supplies and books bought with the project to create goodie bags for the students that they picked up during a drive-thru event at school. They were all so excited to receive their gifts and kept talking about them all week! As we had to make sure each student received the materials, we didn't start the projects right away, so we had students showing us their books every day reminding us that we would need to use them at some point!
For grades K-2, we have been reading the bilingual version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff together. The students have especially enjoyed the Spanish translation of the story, helping us pronounce words correctly and teaching us what certain words mean as we read it to them. The project started just in time for us to receive a new student who speaks limited English, so the bilingual version of the book has helped us make her feel included. We're now using the book as a culmination for all the story elements we have learned throughout the year: beginning/middle/end, character, setting, problem, and solution. We've been using the supplies to work on drawing pictures, writing sentences, and making crafts.
Grades 3-5 have been reading the nonfiction book Fly Guy Presents: Garbage and Recycling. The students have been learning all about how garbage is collected and the importance of recycling. We have watched supplemental videos on recycling and use the book to connect to their real-life experiences with recycling and garbage collection in their neighborhoods. Next, students will work on a project where they use recycled materials in their houses to create their favorite cartoon character! They'll then visit the classrooms of younger grades to present and share their projects.
Using the materials and books we bought through this project, we have been able to have an enjoyable end-of-the-year experience with our students. They've been having fun and learning, and so have we! Thanks for making this possible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sami