Mrs. Hitchins' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 19

• Let's Talk! Encouraging Language with English Learners

  Funded Feb 12, 2025

  Thank you so much for your incredibly generous donations to our project. My students will be so excited to have new materials and activities to help them grow with their English language development! Not only will our new materials give my students a chance to work on their speaking skills, but it also allows them to move and work cooperatively with one another. We appreciate your generosity so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 5 other donors.

• Language Development Activities for Dual Language Learners

  Funded Nov 17, 2022

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Language Development for Dual Language Learners. The students have thoroughly enjoyed getting to use these new materials and sharing them with one another. Although the kids think they are "playing", the games are helping them work on so many listening and speaking skills.

  The rhythm sticks are super popular with the students and they love to use them during our small group lessons to practice working on our body parts. They love to use them to listen to a direction, such as "tap the sticks on your shoulders," and then following through with that direction. Students request to use these often!

  Finally, this project is helping students to develop beginning academic concepts such as categorizing, increasing our vocabulary concepts, and working on similarities and differences. These materials also help us work on listening and following directions as well! There are so many skills we can work on and incorporate by having these new materials. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

• Interactive Literacy for Language Development

  Funded Jun 24, 2020

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Interactive Literacy for Language Development. As you are aware, the materials arrived during a very unique time in our schools as we have spent most of the year working remotely with students.

  Although the materials were originally intended for hands-on use with students, I've had to adapt how we are using these materials this school year. Hopefully the students next year will be able to use them even more than we are able to now!

  I am so incredibly grateful for the new materials and immediately tried to figure out ways for my students to still be able to use them, even if they are learning in an remote environment. As you will be able to see in some of the slideshow pictures, I have taken photos of some of the materials/games/activities, and have uploaded the images into slide presentations that I can use with students virtually. The games are helping us work on vocabulary, and expanding our speaking skills. My students are able to use and practice their English as they verbally respond to questions and images that are shown on our computers.

  This project is helping students to develop oral language skills, and also beginning academic concepts such as categorizing, sequencing, and working on beginning letter sounds. There are so many skills we can work on and incorporate by having these new materials. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

• Silly Science for English Language Learners

  Funded Dec 26, 2019

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Silly Science for English Language Learners. In early childhood I am always trying to find fun and engaging ways to help students learn language and improve their listening and speaking skills in English. I try to incorporate this through hands-on activities that are embedded in the different content areas. This project is allowing me to give my students so much exposure and experiences with learning English through science!

  One of the things I love most about these materials, is that it not only helps work on following directions, and talking about what we are learning/what is happening, but it also helps facilitate social skills such as sharing and taking turns too!

  I hope that I am growing my students interest and love of science through this project and the materials you have provided for us. My students are always looking to see if I have the magnetic cars or the water table set out for them each week. This project and these materials, have been a huge motivator for them.

  We are also using the materials in different ways to allow the students more opportunities to use/work with them. For example, one day my students decided to fill the mix and measure set with marbles when there wasn't any water set out to use. I love that these materials can be used again and again with students to keep them excited and engaged...and talking!!

  I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and one other donor.

• Unique and Diverse Students and Families

  Funded Sep 16, 2019

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Unique and Diverse Students and Families. I truly cannot express how excited my students are to use these materials and see themselves and their families represented in the games and photos. Every time I think my students are done playing with and using the photo matching game or the magnetic people/families, someone asks to use them again! These are going to be well loved materials by the end of the year! HA!

  One of the things I love most about these materials is that it is giving us an opportunity to talk about our families and the similarities and differences in our homes. Students love to find pictures of people that represent their family and culture. I am getting so much language out of my students because of these materials, and it helps me to get a better glimpse into their families and home lives.

  This project is helping students to develop oral language skills and vocabulary, as well as beginning conversation skills such as telling about past events and having a back and forth conversation with their peers. We are working on asking questions and making comparisons between our families! These materials also help us work on listening and following directions as well! There are so many skills we can work on and incorporate by having these new materials. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 4 other donors.

• Engaged Little English Language Learners

  Funded Aug 26, 2019

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Engaged Little English Language Learners. It is only through the support of your generous donations that we are able to obtain new materials that support our students learning in fun and engaging ways. The materials that we were able to purchase give my students hands-on activities to practice their English language speaking and listening skills.

  One of the things I love most about these materials is that it is giving us an opportunity to work not only on vocabulary, but it is encouraging sharing and taking turns as well! This a social skill that we are still working on and developing, and my students are able to use and practice their English as they verbally ask for and request items from their peers.

  This project is helping students to develop oral language skills, but also beginning academic concepts such as sequencing and categorizing. These materials help us work on listening and following directions as well! There are so many skills we can work on and incorporate by having these new materials. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 7 other donors.

• Dual Language Learners Literacy

  Funded May 2, 2019

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our project Dual Language Learners Literacy. As I unpacked the boxes of new materials, the students wanted to immediately open every new item as I took it out of the box! The activity boxes, family manipulatives, and sorting fruit have been the most sought after items we received. These materials are being requested often by students to use during our small group time!

  One of the things I love most about these materials is that it is giving us an opportunity to

  work not only on vocabulary, but it is encouraging sharing and taking turns as well! Not only is this a social skill that we are still working on and developing, but my students are able to use and practice their English as they verbally ask for and request items from their peers.

  This project is helping students to develop oral language skills, but also beginning academic concepts such as sorting, categorizing, and counting out object. But these materials also help us work on listening and following directions as well! There are so many skills we can work on and incorporate by having these new materials. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 11 other donors.

• Interactive Literacy for Young Learners

  Funded Apr 8, 2018

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our Interactive Literacy project. In early childhood we are always trying to find fun and engaging ways to help students learn literacy skills such as letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming words, vocabulary, etc. Through this project funding, my students have more hands-on games and activities to help them learn these skills.

  One of the things I love most about these materials is that they encourage my students to work together collaboratively, as well as work on their social skills such as sharing and taking turns. Games such as the Tell the Tale and Zingo game really help the students work on these skills. The new materials from this project are very exciting to the students, so we are definitely hitting these standards in both literacy and social skills! Students are excited to share their accomplishments with their peers and other teachers, and will often ask for us to take a picture of something they accomplished to show their parent(s).

  This project has allowed my students to have more opportunities to be successful in learning their pre-literacy skills. They are excited, engaged, and are making progress with beginning letter and sound recognition, and vocabulary already. I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 3 other donors.

• Little Learners Learning About Sounds

  Funded Mar 15, 2018

  I cannot begin to express my sincerest appreciation for your donations to my Little Learners Sound project. Our Science Center is VERY popular with students waiting patiently to have a turn to explore! The materials you gave us are not only helping my students learn about sound, but working on literacy skills as well, and allowing them to explore and learn through natural and hands-on learning experiences. These materials are also helping my students learn social skills such as sharing materials, taking turn, as well as collaborating with a peer.

  I've been able to use these materials at large group to introduce the concepts, during small groups to work with students on specific goals, and am also able to set them out at center time for students to work independently or with another friend or two. Although these materials were intended to learn about sound, we have also been able to use them to work on magnetism as well. There are endless uses to these materials!

  Thank you for giving my students this wonderful, educational gift to learn, play and explore! We are eternally grateful for your generous donations to our project, our classroom and my students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

• Not Just Writing...We are Learning Science Too!

  Funded Jan 26, 2018

  Thank you so very much for your generous donation and support of our Not Just Writing project. In early childhood we are always trying to find fun and engaging ways to help students learn literacy skills such as letter recognition. Through this project funding, my students have a hands-on activity to help them learn not only literacy skills, but writing and science as well.

  One of the things I love most about these magnetic writing boards is that it encourages my students to learn about cause and effect through magnetism. These new materials are very exciting to the students, and they are helping them to work on learning how to form each of the letters! My students have learned to have a love of science, and especially love anything involving magnets, so this project is a huge motivator for them.

  I cannot thank you enough for the generous donations and opportunities you provided for my students through this project being funded.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Hitchins

  This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 3 other donors.