Past projects 51
Making It Last
Funded Aug 5, 2021Thank you so much for helping to fund this project! Your generosity is appreciated in so many ways.
I've already gone through an entire pack of laminating sheets and spent a great deal of time laminating our most important educational materials. We've been able to make our resources last longer and make them so that they are reusable time and time again. I still have two more packs of laminating sheets that I already have big plans for and will continue to be grateful each time they're used!
Thank you so much for your support. Teaching takes a village and you will forever be part of mine.”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 2 other donors.Making Sense of Math
Funded Aug 3, 2021Thank you so much for believing in this project enough to fund it! We wasted no time putting these materials to use.
We've already used our manipulatives to help us make sense of numbers and the values they represent. We've used them to model adding by pushing them together and finding a bar that is of the same value. Soon we will begin using them to model subtraction by canceling out two amounts. These bars will help us as we transition from smaller numbers to larger numbers and begin to regroup. These manipulatives will even be used during after school time as we support our students with the most needs!
It is so important that we ground our mathematical understanding in visual and concrete understanding. With these manipulatives, we're able to build a conceptual understanding by spending time building to model and make sense of math.
I cannot thank you enough for helping us get these materials into our kids hands. It's so important in so many ways.”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
Is This Seat Taken?
Funded Sep 23, 2018Thank you so much for working together to fund this project! It truly was a team effort but it was one that made a difference.
Our students love to use the wobbly cushions when they find that sitting still is hard. In this unit of reading, our students get to choose their own reading spots around the room and they all race to get a wobbly cushion and use it for a reading spot. Our students who have a difficult time sitting still on the carpet really benefit from our weighted lap dog. They don't even realize it's a tool but, rather, think of it as a companion!
It's so exciting to see them using sensory tools to help them do their best learning. It makes me happy that they are smiling as they learn. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
Doodle in 3D
Funded Aug 22, 2018Thank you so much for your generosity in donating and filling this project! We have been making it our goal this year to help our new kindergarten students grow into creative thinkers.
With this new tool, our students have begun to gain familiarity with printing and creating in 3D. Students ideas transfer from their minds into actual tangible things that they can hold. Our students are excited to try it out but even more so to perfect their use of it. They love to use the different colors and make their creations "just right."
We can't thank you enough for believing in our ideas and, even more, our students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.Bee Smart, Bee Bright, Bee-Bot
Funded Aug 22, 2018Thank you so much for your generosity in funding this project! You have no idea the excitement and "buzz" that these little Bee-Bots created!
In December, we decided to introduce these to the children for the week of coding. Students quickly learned how to use them and began figuring out how exactly they worked. The kids worked to create problem sets with starting points and ending points. Then, they wrote the code they wanted to get the Bee Bot from beginning to end. The students troubleshooted the code, as needed, making corrections along the way.
Every day from that day on the students asked if we would be "doing Bee Bots." The excitement it created around learning was amazing! Our students started to think in new ways and build a growth mindset realizing that they could make their codes even better. We cannot thank you enough for the learning experiences you have brought to our room!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.An Apple a Day Can't Keep the Learning Away!
Funded Oct 9, 2017Thank you so much for your generous donation! You have no idea how much it has impacted our classroom!
Over the years, we have started growing a collection of technology that can be used in our classroom on a daily basis. As the students become more comfortable with using the technology, it often gets used more and more. This can lead to iPads dropping, screens cracking, and the inability to use our technology! With your cases, you have transformed our classroom. Our students feel more comfortable using it. They even realized that the cases allow the iPad to stand so they can read or work without holding their iPads upright. Additionally, our students now have access to another iPad to use!
Without your donation, our classroom wouldn't run as smoothly as it does. We are so grateful that you were thoughtful enough to believe in us and our class. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
iLearn with iPads
Funded Sep 20, 2017Thank you so much for your generous donation! You may not realize quite how meaningful your donation is initially but you are providing our students with an amazing opportunity.
Many times students that are schooled in low-income areas receive unequal access to resources. Materials are much harder to come by, especially working technology. By donating this iPad, our students are able to increase the amount of access they have to technology and the many educational opportunities they offer. Our students favorite thing to do on the iPad is to read! Our selection of books can often be outdated and the books can be old and torn. The students feel excited to read when they go on apps such as Epic! They have access to all kinds of books and don't have to worry about the condition. We also use the iPads frequently to practice our math skills. Our students love to be able to play educational games while learning.
Without your gift, our students would not have access to things that come so easily to others. They are excited by the possibility of using technology and, for the first time perhaps all year, they can't wait to read! We are so grateful for all you have brought to our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
It's Not About the Answer, It's About The Journey
Funded Jul 27, 2017Thank you so much for believing in me and my students. This year I had a wonderful opportunity to learn new, inventive, research-based strategies for teaching math that my students have never had access to before. This new strategy called for new resources and materials. These books are just that!
With these books, we were able to remind our students of partial quantities such as fractions. They were able to work within a context to gain a better understanding of fractions and reason about them. These books provide challenging tasks that are also personalized and individualized allowing for not just a singular strategy.
Our students deserve the best resources for learning about mathematics. I feel so excited to help our students learn to love math again! It's all thanks to you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and one other donor.Supplied with Success
Funded Oct 18, 2017Thank you so much for your generous donation. We cannot tell you how much it means to us.
The students at our particular school scarcely bring basic supplies to school. Often we are using our own money to purchase notebooks, folders, and pencils for our students. It is always a dream to be able to have more meaningful supplies like the ones you've gifted us. These students benefit greatly from having folders that help us communicate with their parents. We can easily get important notices home and receive letters from home. The graph paper and graphing notebooks help our most at risk and mathematically challenged students organize their work. Using grid paper they can line numbers up according to place value as well as model with mathematics.
We are so excited to have these supplies available for our students. We cannot thank you enough!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
"E" for Effort: Developing A Growth Mindset
Funded Aug 1, 2017Words cannot express how thankful we are for your help! I could not think of a group of students who more appropriately need to be taught about a growth mindset.
The students in my class are far below grade level and feel very insecure about their learning. They do not feel that mistakes are a good thing and think negatively about themselves when things don't come easy. The initial surveys was proof of the fixed mindset they exhibit. As the year went on and we ask them to become more self-reflective and engaged in brain research and growth mindset learning, the students are becoming more excited about the work they do. They've come to realize that it's not about the answer but it's about the process to getting there.
The students relate this learning to their every day lives, as evidenced by the pictures I've uploaded. The students see how necessary it is to grow and how detrimental it is to think the way they used to. We are so excited to watch our students continue to grow!”
With gratitude,
Ms. DeGrazia
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 2 other donors.