Past projects 10
An Ultimate Lab: Science of Tie Dye
Funded Jan 9, 2024I hope this message finds you well. On behalf of my students, thank you for your generous donation. It would be an understatement to say that the tie-dye lab was popular with the students; they were elated! From the initial enthusiasm while looking up design options and planning their color scheme, to researching essential ingredients like "soda ash" and making this substance in the lab, students had a highly engaging and motivating learning experience from start to finish, and they are still enjoying the product of their hard work! The majority of the students had never tie-dyed before. Merging creativity with applied chemistry to create a functional product that they love wearing to school has been a boost to general morale and builds a sense of connectedness and school pride.
It can be challenging to get students engaged and focused in class, but not in this case! Students were looking up design ideas in their own time on their social media. We had shirt designs that I had never seen before that turned out beautifully. To see students so excited about a project that they were planning and prepping for it on their own time was wonderful–and possible because you made this opportunity happen for them.
Because the majority of my students come from households qualifying for free and reduced lunch, the level of sincere gratitude cannot be fully conveyed. They were astounded and touched by the generosity of someone they don't know but still cares about their educational experiences. It is these larger life lessons that I hope they carry with them. Thank you for being an inspiration to this wonderful group of teens.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by LOFT and one other donor.Science Lab Supplies & Visuals
Funded May 29, 2022Your lab supply donation has been going to great use! Students are VERY happy to have fresh, non-yellowing, clean aprons to use for labs (which have never been used for dissection) as we have already had some messy labs! As we got rolling with our chemistry unit, the traditional cornstarch putty lab is always a hit, as you will see in a few pictures. The aprons have great length, they wipe clean, and minimize accidental clothing stains and spill protection. While students were hesitant to even touch the aprons we used to borrow from a biology class next door, as they were noticeably old and stained up, they are happy to use their new aprons.
With so may students visual learners, learning the periodic table and trends of the table is SO much easier to teach with our enormous, detailed, sturdy, classroom periodic table. This has been an AMAZING teaching aide!! We can have our notes/projector running on one side of the board and the table in easy visual proximity for reinforcing the concepts. Please check out a student quizzing classmates on identifying elements by their group and period prior to an assessment. We use this table in our lessons and activities daily once we get into the more technical chemistry portion of our physical science coursework. It has been invaluable.
I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and willingness to help secure some of our more basic science lab materials. THANK YOU for lending a hand and contributing to the learning experience of students. You make a difference for students every day because of your willingness to give of your time and resources.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
Pride Flags
Funded Feb 6, 2022I am so happy to share that club students have been thrilled to find uses beyond my imagination with the club's Cricut machine. In addition to making a variety of decals and iron-ons, from clever vinyl sock designs to laptop decals, they were THRILLED to also create school-approved apparel they can wear any day of the week in place of their required plain school polo's! We would not have been able to afford club-wide gear without this amazing machine. One of the club Cricut-creation highlights was heat-pressing the school mascot onto 90 plain white t-shirts, and having a very big, messy tie-dye party. Students incorporated their pride flag colors for their tie-dye shirt masterpieces. It is wonderful seeing these shirts brighten up the school's hallways, as the students wear them all of the time now. The students are currently planning decals they can sell during the upcoming pride month in order to make money for the club to hold more events and activities they are planning for next year. They are such a fun, amazing group of kids. This donation has gone a long way already, with endless possibilities. The students are SO GRATEFUL and touched by your generosity in making all of this possible. It will continue to enhance the student's club and school experience, as they already have plans for the Cricut in the works for next year. As such a creative, artistic group of students, this was a perfect tool for them to get their hands on. They love it! THANK YOU SO MUCH.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
GSA Club Tie Dye Party
Funded Jan 26, 2022Thank you SO MUCH for your wonderful generosity in funding the GSA's Tie Dye Party. When the club was polled this past week about what they enjoyed most about this school year, the tie dye party was by far among the most memorable moments. Given the size of the club and so many students coming from low-income households, we would not have been able to pull off the cost of club apparel if not for your support.
There is not a day that goes by where I don't see the colorful tie dye creations being so proudly worn by our students. Because students must otherwise wear solid red or black polos, they love having school-approved alternative gear like these shirts that they can wear instead. This is a valuable means of expressing themselves and having a greater sense of belonging.
I was surprised that some students didn't have any other high school spirit wear until they made their shirts. The party itself was a BLAST, and well worth the huge mess (the kids are wonderful and of course cleaned up thoroughly afterwards). The excitement and pride these special shared moments continue, such as when the club hosted a 45-minute staff workshop to educate high school staff on supporting students in the LGBTQ+ community. They all had their club shirts and the splashes of color so proudly worn does have a big, positive impact for not only the students but the school staff. I am so proud of this group of students, they strive to make a difference and it means so much to them that people they don't even know--YOU--care enough to support them. They were so genuinely touched and even some were moved to tears when the material for the tie dye party arrived to the school and the club unpacked everything.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and one other donor.Winter Friendship Celebration
Funded Dec 28, 2021Thanks to your wonderful generosity, the Winter Friendship Celebration was a huge success. Due to COVID, we moved the Celebration a little later in the year, with the CEC club hosting students from the self-contained settings on Valentines Day for a day of games, activities, crafts, icebreakers, songs, dancing, snacks, and special gifts and favors to bring home. We made it a fun event, with students receiving formal invitations and asked to dress special for the day.
To adjust for COVID an maximize attendance, spread out in the school library for the celebration. Students were strategically partnered for all of the activities, getting to know and meaningfully interact with classmates. Since this celebration, students have shared that they continue to regularly check in and interact with one another when they see their partners in gym, the cafeteria, and in the hallways. Parents also sent in such fantastic feedback about how excited their children were to show their favors, gifts, and treat bags when they got home. The club is very eagerly planning an outdoor spring game field day as our next integrated event. I cannot begin to share all of the special ways the students connected. It was a much needed break from the routine, especially with the stressful winter COVID season. Thank you SO MUCH for your valuable support enabling this event to take place.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
Social Justice Club T-Shirts
Funded Aug 12, 2021I cannot thank you enough for your generosity. Club members were ecstatic to start off the school year with a blank template upon which to design their club shirts!! I will share a couple of designs they created which will soon be hot off the shirt printer. This is a marvel, as our club kicked off 90 members strong this year. Fundraising and outfitting students with club gear is no small undertaking, especially when we have a high number of students who face economic hardships at home. School gear like club shirts mean more to these students than I can convey. On behalf of the club, thank you so much for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and 3 other donors.Technology for Interactive Learning
Funded Sep 22, 2021I hope this message finds you well. Our school year is off to a much smoother start thanks to a much more efficient technology-hub setup in the classroom. This projector is amazing. It is even more versatile than I imagined. For instance, even though this projector is incredibly tiny, I'm talking 5"x5"x1", it has incredible resolution! My student with a visual impairment is now able to read the board display and we can move the projector back as needed to enlarge the display without losing brightness or resolution, unlike with our old projector!
This projector is stationed in the center of the classroom on a cart. Every day, each class period, our classes are live streamed/recorded through a laptop. Anything we project or write onto the board, whole-group lessons, notes, discussions, etc. is all in view and now readable on the laptop video camera streamed live on Google meets for students who may have to learn from home while ill or being quarantined. The old projector did not have the brightness/resolution to be readable on livestream. It is wonderful to have such a valuable piece of instructional equipment for our students, both in-person or virtual.
In addition, we have paired up this projector with an optional wireless mouse/keyboard for ease of use throughout the room, along with a new laptop that was also funded through Donors Choose, and are in the process of trying to secure new external speakers. This will enable the entire system to be fully portable for when we do larger activities with other classes and also with after school clubs (like movie afternoons!). There really is no limit to how we may use this setup over the course of the year. THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this all possible! It has been tremendously helpful already!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
Primary Class Computer
Funded Aug 12, 2021I hope this message finds you well. Our school year is off to a much smoother start thanks to a much more efficient technology-hub setup in the classroom! This laptop is amazing. It is even more versatile than I imagined. For instance, I have a student with visual impairments. When he presented a mini-lesson topic to the class, the size of the monitor and touch-screen features made the device readily usable for him!
This laptop is stationed in the center of the classroom on a cart. Every day, each class period, our classes are live streamed/recorded through this laptop. Anything we project or write onto the board, whole-group lessons, notes, discussions, etc. is all in view with this computer's video camera via our live Google meets for students who may have to learn from home while ill or being quarantined. It is seamless and such a relief to not battle old devices that may be very slow, freeze or crash.
In addition, we have paired up this laptop with an optional wireless mouse/keyboard for ease of use throughout the room along with a new projector that was also funded through Donors Choose, and are in the process of trying to secure new external speakers. This will enable the system to be fully portable for when we do larger activities with other classes and with after school clubs (like movie afternoons!). There really is no limit to how we may use this setup over the course of the year. THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this all possible! It has been tremendously helpful already!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and 2 other donors.Everyone Loves Scholastic Readers!
Funded Aug 12, 2021My self-contained science students with diverse learning needs have been glued to our interactive discussions and expansion activities surrounding our first "Amazing Animals" scholastic reader! There is so much to do with the topics that a single reader can span weeks. For instance, we watched more in-depth videos on National Geographic Kids about hermit crabs. We were astounded to learn that when hermit crabs come across an empty shell, they line up in front of it from biggest to smallest, and in an orderly fashion, and exchange shells down the row if the new shell fits the crab in front! This called for us all to make adorable hermit crab crafts, talk about the parts of a hermit crab, and line up in order of largest to smallest to model how they would exchange shells.
The content in scholastic readers is so relatable. Students who are new to our class really came "out of their shells" as we explored some of the featured animals. It has been amazing to see how much they retained when we answered questions after each section. In fact, I saw new levels of potential and understanding that I hadn't seen before in some of my students who tend to disengage or grow bored with more standard academic-related tasks. I have no doubt that when we finally finish an entire scholastic readers and these magazines go home with the students, they will look through them again and again, pointing out some of their favorite animal facts to family at home.
What is incredible about this gift made possible through your generosity, is that we have more Scholastic readers yet to come as the year progresses! I cannot wait to plan the early spring seed-planting and expansion lessons, crafts, and activities to go along with the "Plants" reader. It truly is wonderful to have high-interest, stimulating science-related content that excites the class! On behalf of my students, I cannot thank you enough!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and 2 other donors.Unified Field Day
Funded Aug 1, 2021My self-contained science students with diverse learning needs were eager to host a field day with another guest classroom. We wanted to first break the ice between the two classes. So in the beginning of the school year, we have a paper airplane lab to learn about the scientific method. Students in my self-contained science class first worked collaboratively when throwing their paper planes with a college-prep science class next door that was also doing the same lab. The students always enjoy this lab and it was a perfect initial icebreaker. The following day, the rain held off and turned out to be a cloudy but perfect day for our joint classroom field day!
When we brought the groups outside, students made groups of 2-3 between the two classes and we played a couple of icebreakers like "Similarity and Difference" where each group had to identify something they share in common and something that distinguishes them from one another. When we finally got to where the groups got to work together to get their kites in the air, I was so surprised to learn that most students from BOTH classes had never flown kites before! It is such a wonderful team-building experience to watch the kids spreading out across the field and strategize how to release the kites and get them soaring. One group even decided to let the kite have its full length of string, and it was like a speck in the sky. They all loved it. None of the students were ready to head inside when it was time. I have not seen so many shared smiles and laughter since prior to COVID. It was a very special time.
I found out afterwards that a couple of the students in the college prep physical science now daily tap-elbows as a hello when they arrive to lunch the same period. They even learned a couple of signs to use with one of the nonverbal students to say "How are you?" This has exceeded my expectations at this point in the school year! We are already planning our next group activity, which is building windmills from recycled materials. The college-level science teacher has also shared that he cannot get over how the dynamics and climate within his room is far beyond that of his other periods, where students show more inclination and pro-social interaction compared to his other class periods that did not get to experience field day. Naturally, there is a tremendous benefit to all students who get to appreciate one another at more meaningful levels.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Robbins
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and one other donor.