Past projects 3
Identity and Choice Matters!
Funded Aug 14, 2024Thank you so much for your incredible generosity! Thanks to you my students and I have had a great start to the year!
Students are learning what they each individually need to learn best. They are choosing when they want to sit at their desk and when they are more comfortable on the floor or standing. It's such a good life lesson to know how and where you work best and I see them trying out different places. Together we reflect on what works and what doesn't. Some like to wear noise cancelling headphones and sit alone, others are more collaborative learners and prefer to be with their table groups. I love watching them explore and try different things out.
My goal for my classroom is for the students to have the agency, confidence, and pride in their learning all year long and beyond. With your generosity they are able to use a variety of different seating options. We have also enjoyed the class sets of school supplies and fresh markers to use. With the teachers pay teacher gift cards I have been able to provide more choice and differentiation in our work so each student gets what they need.
Thank you so much for your unparalleled support and generosity!
My hope for my students this year is for them to know who they are and learn to support themselves in their learning this year and throughout their academic career. You are all apart of that. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Anderson
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 8 other donors.Classroom Organization!
Funded Aug 2, 2023Thank you so much for your incredible generosity! Thanks to you my students will be starting the year off in a very organized and easily accessible room.
With the book bins, students mailboxes, and other organizational pieces I was able to completely overhaul my classroom this August. The classroom library in particular has gotten a big upgrade. The books are categorized within fiction and non-fiction, and each bin has a number system so that students will be able to uphold the organization all year long.
My goal for my classroom is for the students to have the agency, confidence, and pride to maintain their environment all year long. The classroom is centered around them and gives them complete access to all the tools they need for their learning. My first graders and I thrive on consistency and routines, with your generous support we are able to implement more of that into our classroom efficiency this year and I feel confident these scholars are going to feel right at home.
Thank you so much for your unparalleled support and generosity!
My theme for this year is "Together, we can move mountains" and you are all apart of that. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Anderson
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.Reading Just Right Books Feels Good!
Funded Apr 20, 2023Thank you so much for your generous donation. The books that were purchased as a part of this project have had a high impact in my classroom already and are going to continue in this up coming school year.
In my classroom I teach phonics instruction and students learn how to read through a curriculum called SIPPS, Systematic Instructions in Phoneme Awareness, Phonics, and Sight words. This curriculum is aligned with the Science of Reading, works really well, and has a lot of strengths! In each lesson, students are assigned a story book that is aligned with whatever sounds and sights words they are learning. This provides students with not only a way to practice what they've learned but to actually read a book/ story on their own utilizing their skills and meeting them right where they are at. Once you near the end of the level commonly used in first grade, students graduate from these stories and are meant to try their skills on in other books of their choosing. However, in small groups, we already have set routines and are used to all reading the same book as part of a lesson. That's where all these books come in, with your generosity, I was able to get 6 copies of various books so I can assign everyone the same book to read as part of our lesson. All reading the same book in a small group is a great way to support reading comprehension and build confidence in these readers. They were so excited to see the variety and to graduate from the curriculum books to "real" books!
Students get many other times in our day to read freely from the classroom library and I have a wide range of books, some of which I purchased as a part of this project too! Now, I am able to keep the small group books separate which makes them feel more special for the kids and also allows me to have a streamlined approach to my small group instruction.
Last year, thanks to your help, my entire class was reading at grade level by the end of the year! The joy of reading was wrong with my first graders last year and I am looking forward to working with a new set of scholars this year!
Thank you so much for your incredible donations! I am so grateful and feel very supported by your generosity and kindness,”
With gratitude,
Ms. Anderson