Mrs. Curry's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 4

• Amplifying Student Voices to Accelerate Literacy

  Funded Aug 1, 2023

  Please accept my deepest gratitude for your support of my recent project. My students will be able to have consistent access to high-quality headphones with a boom microphone, which will allow them to read, narrate, and recite text to practice a very important part of fluency: prosody. As students start to become more comfortable with text, they crave opportunities to show off what they know. These tools will help them create videos, podcasts, video read-alouds, and many other digital artifacts to share their voices.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Curry

• Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Help Our Voices Be Heard!

  Funded Dec 29, 2018

  When you enter my classroom, you see my motto in big letters: "Find your Voice...Tell your Story." It summarizes what I feel is the greatest motivator for students to become accomplished writers: a voice. Every student has a library of stories just waiting to be told. They crave a platform to share a point of view, a memory, or an opinion. Through this project, you have given EVERY student in my classroom a voice.

  After my project was funded, a large box arrived at school and my heart sunk as I opened the box to see that it was 30 pairs of headphones without microphones. I was beside myself because there is no way I could update my donors with my stories of success if the vehicle to success (the microphones) were not a part of the classroom experience. As would be expected, the staff at DonorsChoose and Best Buy were more than accommodating, allowing me to ship the headphones back from Alaska and order new headphones. They will probably never know how much that seamless process meant to me.

  Once the headphones arrived, I purchased a 30 shoe holder and a rolling garment rack. I spent a Saturday morning labeling each pair of headphones with my last name and a number, and labeling each cubby in the shoe rack in the same way. I couldn't wait for my students to see them. The first morning they came in to use them, I heard lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" and excited chatter about the headphones. Students were motivated to use them. Luckily, I have many opportunities to use the headphones in my classroom, and as my 104 students flowed through my writing classroom those first few days, I saw what I had yearned to see when I first created this project: FREEDOM.

  You see, not every child at our school has a pair of headphones with a microphone. Even though we ask for it in your supply list, our demographic does not allow for this request to become a reality for many students. As soon as the headphones arrived, everyone was equal. Everyone could record their reflections, responses, read-alouds, and geography question justifications with the same clear, high-quality sound as everyone else. There was no longer a subtle barrier to success. There was no longer a barrier stopping certain students from letting everyone hear the thing that is most important to me as a teacher of 21 years: A student's own voice. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I look at that rack of headphones every day and think of you and your generosity. You have made an indelible impression on a group of aspiring writers in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I am forever grateful to you.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Curry

• Take a (Comfortable) Seat!

  Funded Jun 24, 2018

  My students came to school this year surprised to see a wonderful array of flexible seating options for them to choose from. They immediately embraced them as we went over the rules and expectations for our seating. We follow the S.M.A.R.T. acronym, which means we S-Stay on Task, M - Make Safe Choices, A- Act Appropriately, R- Reflect and move if needed, and T - Take care of our spots. I find that this framework sets students on a course where they can use the flexible seating as a beneficial tool to get more work done as they are the one responsible for their seating choice.

  Since I teach multiple grades this year, I am able to teach many of my 5th graders from last year once again. I have found that the students who could not concentrate for longer periods of time or were constantly out of chairs are now content to sit and get things done. They just need a little movement or recline and they are happy to dive into any challenge I give them.

  In retrospect, I don't know why it took me so long to realize that something as simple as changing a seating choice can make a world of difference in a classroom. By having 28 of the same chair, I put all of my students in a box, while at the same time telling them they were all unique and special. These chairs, balls, and stools have reenergized me as a teacher and have made a world of difference to the 104 children that use them during the school day (not all at the same time...)

  Thank you for your generosity and your willingness to entrust your donation in my meaningful project.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Curry

• Operation: Green Screen!

  Funded Apr 22, 2016

  Dear Donors,

  I would like to express my deepest thanks to the donors of my recent DonorsChoose project. Your contributions allowed me to buy 4 iPad mini 2s that have helped my Digital Media class create amazing videos using the GreenScreen iOS app from DoInk. Having this kind of technology accessible to students is critical to me as I help 21st Century Learners emerge from Middle School in a state where education funding is not a priority.

  The most exciting thing about having the iPads is that not only are they learning video production, they are learning how to upload and share files in their Google Drives, and how to share folders with their partners and me, their teacher. Online file sharing and collaboration is a skill that every student must be comfortable with in today's digital world. The act of having to share files correctly is something that they are learning in real-time. I know this skill will give them an edge as they grow in school and beyond.

  I had two students this year who had never used a tablet for anything other than Netflix. I know that the daily use of these devices as tools and not just entertainment has been an enlightening, life-changing experience for them. I would like to invite you to see our videos as they are posted this year. The first ones were just finished and are set to upload very soon. Please check back with our video channel or subscribe for updates. https://vimeo.com/channels/hmsmedia1617

  Projects like this are not possible without generosity like yours. From the bottom of our hearts, my students and I thank you.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Curry

  This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 15 other donors.