Past projects 5
Seating for Williams' Writing Room
Funded Jul 15, 2023Thank you so much for the donation for the futons for our classroom! The students love being able to sit on them to do their work. Having cool seating seems to make writing less painful! It's interesting to notice which students prefer the futons, which prefer beach chairs/stools, and which prefer normal table seating. I'm so thankful to be able to give them options!
My students from last year come to the room to hang out in the morning and, while I'd love to think it's just because they miss me (Ha), I know it's partially due to the futons. Occasionally I have students from younger grade levels in my classroom and they are stunned by the fact I have futons! All of this just shows how impactful your donation dollars were -- not only to the 4th graders but to many other students as well.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Williams
Mathstackers for Mini-Mathematicians
Funded Jan 14, 2022My students love the Math Stackers! They were so excited when we first used them and they complain when we have to put them away. It's a math teacher's dream to hear students complaining about math being over!!
It's fun to hear their "ah-ha" moments when they make connections. Some students really have trouble visualizing part-part-whole, etc. models and Math Stackers are awesome for that! It gives students a concrete manipulative to use as they work to solve word problems.
Even though I'm "The Teacher," I've also learned from Math Stackers. The company provides ideas and training on ways to use them in the classroom and I'm looking forward to using those ideas with students next year.
Thank you so much for your generosity and for making a positive influence in the lives of my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Williams
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex and 2 other donors.Manipulatives for Struggling Mathematicians
Funded Oct 23, 2020Thank you so much for you generous donations!
I'm so excited to be able to use the manipulatives with my students. The digiblocks are new and different, so the kids were curious from the time they first saw them -- which is a HUGE win in the teacher book.
In addition to using them with my students, I offered a "show and tell" to other teachers so they can borrow them to use with their students. This has made your donation dollars provide opportunities for many more than I originally expected. Next year I plan to offer a Digiblock professional development session to teachers not only in my school, but across the district so your kindness will continue to bless others.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Williams
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 3 other donors.Storyworks Magazines for Stellar Students
Funded Oct 28, 2018Thank you so much for your generosity in giving to my class project! I have been able to use the magazines you funded to greatly enhance my students' exposure to various types of writing. We are currently studying prose, poetry, and drama and the elements of each type of writing. Every issue of Storyworks has an example of each, so it has been so easy to provide examples for my students. Since the passages have been so readily available and I haven't had to search for them, I've been able to expose my students to many more examples than I would have otherwise.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Williams
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 5 other donors.Fancy Rats for a Fantastic Class
Funded Dec 14, 2014My students were very curious when they saw the large box delivered to my room. The many guesses of what it contained were funny. After school another teacher and I put the cage together and I put the rats in the next morning before students arrived. I wish I'd thought to take pictures as the students entered the room. (This was my first DonorsChoose project -- I'll know better next time!) When they saw the rats, my students had mixed reactions ranging from "Aw how cute!" to "Yuck!"
Now that they are used to the rats, most of the students are really intrigued by them. They stop and talk to them during transitions and put their fingers up to the cage to allow the rats to "nibble" them. On the flip side, the rats seems to enjoy the students as much as the students enjoy the rats. When I come by on weekends or breaks to take care of the rats, they immediately start climbing on the side of the cage as if to say, "Hi! Glad you're here!" Even support staff at our school are enjoying them.
Due to the timing of when the cage arrived (we had some problems getting the cage ordered due to stock, etc.), I haven't had class time to do "official" experiments; however, students are already making observations about behavior and food without my direct instruction to do so. I have also been able to use the rats as rewards for students who struggle with behavior or getting their homework turned in. That alone has been reason enough to have the rats! Students love to feed them carrots leftover from lunch and watch the rats "grab and go" as they hide with the carrot treasure back in the rat tropical hut!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Williams