Past projects 7
Social Emotional Care for Students & Families
Funded Nov 23, 2020Words alone cannot express the gratitude I feel. I am so thankful for your generous donations. I work in a low income neighborhood in a early childhood (3K-2nd grade) school that services immigrant families, special needs students, students whose parents are essential works and English language learners. Our diverse population has made learning during the COVID Pandemic extremely difficult. Many students have lost family members or are staying with relatives because their parents are working around the clock as an essential worker.
The amazing staff not only wanted to support our school community academically, but emotionally as well. Taking care of each other in every way is our priority. The Family Calming Kits that were funded by this project has made it much easier for all of the teachers to support our students. Every single child in the school received a kit, that is just amazing! This helped to ensure that we are not only supporting our students emotionally, but doing so in a safe way as materials are not shared and we can maintain social distance.
Classes use these kits in different ways depending on the needs of the students in the class. Some students use it first thing in the morning to help with the transition from home to school. Some classes use it after lunch to calm their bodies and minds and get ready for the afternoon. Other students use it more frequently and carry the bear or another part of the kit with them all day, while other students needed it more in the home setting so the kit travels with them after school.
One 2nd grade classroom created a class job of "chime ringer". The student who is the chime ringer for that week, will ring the chime everyday after lunch to signal that it is calming time. In music class, students will bring the teddybear with them as it helps them to remain calm in the hallways and stay calm during a less structured class. All classrooms in our school have what we call a break area. This is a safe space where students can go when they are having big emotions and needs a space to calm themselves. The calming kits help students while they are using this space. The kits also help the students identify their feelings so they can better talk about it with an adult. Teachers will pair the kit with other strategies such as comic stripping or social stories, to assist children in identifying their feelings and work to address them. There is no limit to the differing ways the kit is used across our school community.
Again, I thank you for helping to make our little ones and their families feel calm and safe during this unprecedented time.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
This classroom project was brought to life by Allstate Foundation and one other donor.Books and More for Our Growing Readers and Learners!
Funded Nov 27, 2018Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your very generous donations. The impact your generosity has had on our classroom is immeasurable! Our students have new books, a globe and supplies that will foster a wealth of learning throughout the year. The students are especially exited to look at the globe in our upcoming geography unit and just adore reading the new books we were able to add to our classroom library. Your donations will help create forever readers! Thank you again for your generosity and kindness.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
The Bare Necessities! A Home Away From Home.
Funded Sep 20, 2018We can not express our gratitude enough. Thank you so much to all of our donors for all of the contributions you made to our classroom. The students were delighted when the materials arrived. They knew that our project had been funded and every morning when we would pick them up the first question was always; did our rug arrive?
The rug alone has made a huge impact on our classroom environment. The cheers that we heard were music to our ears. The students immediately dropped their backpacks and rolled around on the rug. They are now much more comfortable and attentive during our mini-lessons.
The easel also made a big impact in our classroom. We are now able to do small groups and other differentiated teaching styles that help us meet the needs of our students.
Once again thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Ms. Lopez, Ms. Trigoboff and class 2-309.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
This classroom project was brought to life by Neukom Family Foundation and 6 other donors.Home Sweet Classroom
Funded Feb 24, 2012Thank you so much for donating to my classroom. I work in a low income area and supplies are hard to come by. The bean bag chairs and seat spots you funded really made the classroom become a home away from home for my students. They each have there own individual seat cushion that they use both at their desks and on the rug. It really helps them remain comfortable and focused so that they can complete their work. The bean bag chairs have been moved all over the classroom where the students use them to read on, write on or complete research on the computer. Sometimes, I find two students sitting on one bean bag chair together completely engaged in a book they are sharing.
Once again, thank you so much for your generous donation. I know it made a difference for my students this year and I am sure it will in future years as well.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
This classroom project was brought to life by Seth Sprague Foundation and 4 other donors.Making Learning Fun through Art!
Funded Feb 18, 2012Thank you so much for your donation to my classroom. I work in a low income neighborhood and supplies are hard to come by. The art supplies that you have donated will really help to enrich the learning and work my students are doing.
We will be using the paint, glue and other supplies to create end of unit projects. We made clay puppets of characters we created for our fairytale unit. We made posters about New York City to teach a rural community about where we live during a video conference. We used face paint to become the characters when we acted out story's for our writing celebration.
We will continue to use the art supplies you donated in the following school year. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
We Can't Complete Our Computer Work - We Need Ink!
Funded Feb 8, 2011Thank you so much for your generous contribution to my classroom. We have been without printer ink this entire year and it has limited the type of projects we can use our computer for. The ink came at just the right time.
We recently received a grant for XO laptop computers. Every student on our grade received their own laptop to use in school. The students are learning how to do things like take photos with the laptop and insert the pictures into their writing documents. We can now print that work out. There are also programs like paint that they can now print from. Our students use special on-line reading programs which offer the students certificates of completion. We have not been able to print those certificates until now. We are also excited that we can now print out our work and send it home to share with our families.
Once again thank you so much for your donation!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
This classroom project was brought to life by Perry & Donna Golkin Family Foundation and one other donor.Help! We Need a Place to Sit!
Funded Oct 7, 2010Thank you so much for the rug you donated to our classroom. We have had the rug in our room for a while now and are so grateful. The students are now happy to meet in their small groups for guided reading or strategy lessons. We also use that area for one on one teacher/student conferences. We no longer hear complaints about how they do not want to read because the floor is too cold or uncomfortable. The kids even cheered the morning it arrived and it was all they talked about for days. They even sometimes argue about which group is going to be able to use the area that day.
With most of our students coming from low income housing projects it is very rewarding as a teacher to not only provide our kids with the academics but also a comfy and cozy educational atmosphere. We couldn't have done that without your help. So once again thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lopez
This classroom project was brought to life by Perry & Donna Golkin Family Foundation and 7 other donors.