Coloring Me Happy

Funded Apr 19, 2022

Thank you so much for donating to my project. This was my first project and it was very exciting to receive a package that would impact my class the way it did. My students were so excited when they saw that the contents of the package was for them. The thought that there are people that care about them outside of the classroom was very significant to them. There was clapping and cheering all around the classroom.

My students are using their new colors on many of their assignments that require coloring. They don't have to be worried about asking for colors because they have their own colors from Donors Choose. I am so grateful for that. They are also using their colors to color on the Crayola Colors of the World Coloring Book that you sent. They use their coloring books every chance they get because they love to color. They are doing more than coloring in these coloring books. They are learning about special places around the world with these coloring books. They also love the fact that they get to draw themselves in some of the different pages. Some of my students have also told me that coloring makes them feel happy. This project is contributing to the well-being of my students as well. Coloring in the coloring books is a creative outlet for when they feel anxious or stressed. They use the glue sticks for every assignment that requires cutting and pasting. They especially like to use the glue sticks in their interactive Science and Social Studies journals. Before they would use bottle glue and sometimes this would get very messy. The pages would stick together and ruin their work. Now with the glue sticks their pages don't stick together and the journals remain nice and neat.

My students also love the stickers. They love to get stickers as rewards for answering questions correctly, for following the rules, when they complete a project, etc. They love to show off their stickers when they get one. The stickers are so important to them that if they lose it or it gets washed off their hands they are very worried. They look for that sticker everywhere and they even check other students to see if they might have it. I am grateful that I can tell them that there are more chances to get a sticker because Donors Choose sent a lot of stickers in this project. This information makes them happy again. The stickers are also used to motivate my students to do their work. They get stickers when they finish writing the morning message, when they do their independent math page, when they bring in their completed homework, and when they are done with small group instruction. The next math assignment that they will work on will require using stickers. The students will make a number booklet and they will place stickers in the ten frames to build the number on the pages. Fine motor skills will also be improved because they will have to use their fingers to pull off the stickers. Thank you so much Donors Choose for donating to our Kindergarten Class Project.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Castilleja