Past projects 62
Building and Exploring With STEM Activities in Preschool
Funded Dec 4, 2024Thank you very much for your generosity. With your help, I was able to add different STEM activities in my classroom. We got legos, magnetic blocks, number balance scale, marble run, and a gingerbread stem kit. My students love all of these activities!
Fortunately the gingerbread kit arrived before Christmas break. We were able to build rafts to help the gingerbread man float. A few splashes occurred which caused giggling. Fun while learning and playing is one of my goals!
The rest of the materials arrived after Christmas break. My students loved exploring the new building materials. After I introduced how to use the items, they were placed onto a shelf in the play areas for students to explore. The penguin number balance scale and the marble run are very popular choices during playtime. Thank you once again for helping me to add these resources in my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 8 other donors.Games and Puzzles and Cooperation, Oh My!
Funded Aug 14, 2024Thank you so much for your support. With your help I was able to add games and puzzles to my classroom. These games focus on cooperation and teamwork. My students love playing these games during centers.
The pictures that I shared are from 2 different centers. One set of pictures are from a movement game called monkey around that works on following directions. They had so much fun monkeying around and jumping/throwing the banana. The other set of pictures are from the class working on building a fire truck. There are pieces of different sizes and shapes to help my younger students participate in the puzzle building. Thank you once again for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 3 other donors.Preschoolers Love Scholastic Magazines
Funded Aug 14, 2024Thank you very much for your generosity. With your help I was able to get a class subscription to My Big World Scholastic magazine. My students love looking at and reading these magazines. They are also very excited to take them home to show mom and dad.
The magazines are designed for preschoolers. My students are learning to find each number box which contains the next picture and sentence. Some of my older students are learning to track the words while I read aloud. The activities on the back are engaging as well as the supplemental videos. Thanks again for providing this wonderful resource for my students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.Pretend Play in the Kitchen Area
Funded May 7, 2024Thank you very much for your generosity and for helping me to add a new kitchen table and chairs set in our house dramatic play center. The table is well made and my students are able to move the chairs independently. My aides and I enjoy having an adult size chair to support our backs in the kitchen/house play area. The addition of this table enabled me to replace a broken table that I had in my classroom and move my makeshift kitchen table back to the writing center. Now that I have a writing center, I have a few students who daily choose to draw or color during play time. I'm grateful that I am able to expand and include more play areas into my classroom since I got this furniture set.
The table and chair set arrived at the end of the 23-24 school year. My students had a couple of weeks to use the set prior to summer vacation. My former students and my current students enjoy setting the table or decorating the room with the artificial plants. The table is also used to set all of the food my students pretend to make. They love stacking several different meals/dishes on the table. This table and chair set helps tie together the entire play area. Thank you once again for your support. My students, classroom assistants and I love the items in this project.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 3 other donors.Preschoolers Build with Themed Magna-Tiles
Funded Dec 14, 2023Thank you very much for your generous support and for helping me to get these fun magna-tiles for my classroom. My students love playing with them!
Since January I have had the dino world set available on the magna-tile cart. My students are still playing with them weekly. This doesn't happen with every toy in my classroom. I love watching the variety of play my students are developing. Some days they build towers or a house for dinosaurs and other times they make a road/path for dinosaurs and cars.
Next month I will be adding another themed set to our light table. The versatility of these blocks are amazing. I'm excited to watch my students explore and play with these blocks for many years to come. Thanks again for your help in getting these blocks for my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 9 other donors.Preschoolers Building with Magna-Tiles
Funded Nov 27, 2023Thank you very much for generously helping me to get these fun magna-tiles for my classroom. The Grinch set arrived just before Christmas! My students loved playing with the set and building the Grinch. The Dr Seuss sets will be used next month during our school's reading month. Daniel Tiger sets will fit perfectly with the beginning of the year, transportation, and feelings/emotions units that I teach.
I'm excited to have a variety of magna-tiles that correlate with my weekly themed lessons. When all of the magna-tiles arrived, my students were excited to see the tower of magna-tile boxes before I put them away in the cabinet. Thank you once again for helping to support me and my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
Preschoolers Moving and Learning Together
Funded Nov 27, 2023Thank you very much for your generous support and for helping me to provide these fun activities to our movement area. The tunnel, soccer net, trampoline and traffic signs were the perfect addition to the space.
The tunnel is huge! One of my teacher friends helped me to carry the tunnel downstairs. It quickly became one of their favorite things to play with during bike time. I love that the tunnel has window screens so I can monitor my students inside the tunnel. The picture of a hand on the tunnel window was taken of a student who was playing peekaboo. The signs like stop or road closed have helped my students from biking by the storage area. The trampoline replaced an old trampoline that was broken. My students are happy to have a working trampoline again.
Thank you once again for your support. My students love using these movement activities during our weekly bike time.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.Building a Block Area
Funded Sep 8, 2023Thank you very much for helping me to add this storage unit and new wooden blocks in my classroom. It has been a dream project for several years. My students were very excited to see the new block area after it arrived.
I love watching the creative ways they use the blocks and what they build. I have students who love to make ramps for balls or cars to roll down. Other students like to build a structure for cars, animals or food. I included a picture of one structure that surprised me. I had two students build a pony barn and it was several floors high with ponies lined up.
I'm amazed how nicely my students are using and sharing the blocks and how they put them away in the correct spots. The new storage unit came with block shadow cutouts to label the shelves which is very helpful. Thanks again for helping me to provide this wonderful resource that will be used for many years to come.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 8 other donors.Preschoolers Love Scholastic Magazines
Funded Aug 16, 2023Thank you very much for your generosity and support. With your help I was able to get a classroom subscription to Clifford's My Big World magazine. They are designed for preschoolers.
My students love reading these magazines. The pictures are engaging and help my students learn the vocabulary/concepts on the page. There are videos and activity ideas available online for me or my students' families to access. The back page of the magazine is an activity for the kids to do such as tracing, coloring or counting. My students love taking their "books" home. I'm sure the families enjoy talking with their child about the book.
Thank you once again for your donations!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
Playing With Barbies Preschool Style
Funded Apr 3, 2023Thank you very much for helping me to get Barbies, Barbie dream house and accessories for my classroom. My students were so excited to see the boxes arrive. I showed what was inside and they all cheered. I had the play area setup the next day and it quickly became a favorite area.
I have a few students who don't play with a variety of toys but they engage with the Barbie play area. Some of my students preferred playing with the larger Barbies while others preferred the little people Barbies. I'm so happy that I was able to provide both through this grant. It was fun listening to them play with the Barbies and negotiate who got to be the mommy or the sister while playing.
The slide into the pool was a popular play area of the Barbie dream house. The accessories like the beds, the pets or the birthday balloons were also popular. My students loved driving Barbie in a car around the room. The Barbie area is a fun way to practice language and social skills. Thank you again for helping me to provide this fun play area.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Hovis
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 6 other donors.