Ms. Oakley's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 13

• Amazing Mustang Readers!

  Funded Apr 28, 2022

  Books play a huge role in my social emotional classroom lessons. Students PreK-5th grade enjoy read aloud stories that coincide with our social emotional topics. We use these stories to make connections to the material we are exploring and it provides fun, age appropriate content for student to access.

  Thanks to your kind donation, I have been able to add a number of Spanish language books to my social emotional counseling library. Titles like Como Yo! or Like Me! give students who are learning English as a second language access to career exploration in their first language. Students are able to follow along with their language of choice and receive a deeper understanding of the material.

  My students have really enjoyed seeing more Latin and Native American titles on my shelves and have responded to the new books with enthusiasm.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Oakley

• Hands-On Learning with LEGO!!!

  Funded Jun 17, 2022

  When I created this Lego project I knew it would be a great addition to my counseling toolbox. However, I greatly underestimated how big a hit this set would be with my students. Every student who has come through my doors this school year has commented on those brightly colored blocks; each student who has utilized the bricks has been able to talk and create about feelings and emotions they are feeling.

  Each set came with a set of cards that shows different feeling faces and my students have used the cards to self regulate, create and share their feelings with me.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Oakley

  This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 3 other donors.

• Takis for Testing!

  Funded Apr 7, 2022

  The idea for Takis for Testing was simple, find an incentive to reward students for attendance during testing. Takis for Testing turned out to be much more than a simple reward for our school. Historically, our school has struggled to get students to school during crucial testing days. Students are more successful when they test with their teacher and class and it is easier to maintain testing fidelity when all students are present. Not only that, but the time and resources that it takes to conduct make-up exams with missing students can be overwhelming. Thanks to your generous donations to Takis for Testing, our school was able to achieve a 96% testing rate without having to disrupt valuable teaching instruction with make-up exams.

  At our Takis for Testing event, students who had completed all of their mandatory state tests were invited to attend. Students participated in an extra recess and were delighted to receive their treats. They could not believe that people cared enough to donate to our school so they could have a fun break following the stressful testing season.

  Thank you for supporting me with this project. This event was great for the morale of our school and will be repeated in the future.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Oakley

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose community & an Anonymous Partner and 15 other donors.

• Classroom Calm Down Kits!

  Funded Mar 12, 2022

  Thank you so much for funding this project for the teachers and students at Miller Elementary school. Teachers received their classroom calm down kits this week and the response was overwhelmingly positive. These kits will be used by teachers for MTSS Tier 1 behavior interventions in the classroom and were curated to include a variety of sensory tools for students to utilize as they learn more about self-regulation.

  Students were so excited to see some of the different tools that were included in each calm down corner box. Pop-its were declared "So Satisfying," the sensory glitter tubes were called relaxing, and students even found new fidgets to explore.

  Each box also includes different visual prompts to allow students who are not able to verbalize their needs while escalated to communicate with their teacher and find the tool that works best for the student. Thanks to your generous donation, more than 500 hundred students will be able t o access tools to aid in self-regulation without having to leave the classroom and lose valuable instruction time.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Oakley

  This classroom project was brought to life by Arizona Department of Education.