Past projects 50
A Ukulele for You!
Funded Sep 8, 2018Your donations means that my students will have more opportunity and time to play ukulele. Over the summer, we received from donorschoose.org a set of 15 ukuleles. As soon as school started it became very clear that our students were VERY enthusiastic about learning to play the ukulele. The problem is that our class sizes are large and our class time is limited. "Real" hands on time with an instrument is limited to about 15-20 minutes when an instrument is shared, if everything is going well and there are no interruptions. Now, because of your donation, students will get to spend between 30-40 minutes a week actually playing the ukulele.
Thank you so much for your support. My students today said it best when they told me after playing ukulele for almost the entire class, "Today, music was on FIRE!"
We could not accomplish such wonderful things for our students without your continued support! Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
Ukulele Project - Part 1
Funded Jul 20, 2018The joy on my students faces as they FINALLY get to play the ukuleles that have been hanging on our wall of the last month as they acclimated and tuned is immense. In fact, we had to mark our classroom calendar so that each group could count down how many days were left until it was there turn to begin playing. So far, my favorite part about teaching my students with ukuleles is the beauty of their singing. Using ukulele is also opening up a pathway to musical experience for students who up until now have been less enthusiastic than their peers. One boy was trying to be silly while expertly playing his ukulele by singing in what he supposed was an operatic voice. His attempt to entertain the class backfired when we heard the beauty of his voice. Instead of laughing as he expected, his classmates cheered him on. Without prompting, he stood and sang the entire song while playing a fantastic sounding C chord! It was beautiful! As my fourth group of ukulele players was leaving today one student told me that today, "music was on FIRE!"
Thank you for your support of this project! This project was funded both by longtime friends and family and new friends that I met over the summer in North Carolina. To my long time friends and family, you have come through for my students once again and I love you for it. To my new North Carolina friends, I am so grateful that our paths have crossed as I learned so much from each of you in such a short time. Thank you for making this Texas girl feel at home.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
Marvelous Musical Moments
Funded May 10, 2018Once again your generosity has and will continue to enable my students to learn music in a well-equipped music classroom. The day our materials came in we were able to immediately incorporate the instruments and posters into our lessons. The rhythm sticks, tambourines were used as part of a rhythm and movement activity while the xylophones were used to explore various known melodies. The instrument posters were perhaps the biggest hit as they allow my students to study the instruments of the orchestra more closely and in more detail than ever before. The listening guides included in the "Luigi's music lab" are already included in my lesson plans for next year and I cannot wait to share them with my students. Thank you for your continued support of my students and their musical endeavors.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 4 other donors.Creating Musical Memories, One Folder at a Time.
Funded Oct 26, 2017Thank you for ensuring that my students will have folders to organize their musical classwork during our next school year. This project will allow me and my students to replicate an organizational strategy in music class that was VERY successful this year. I am looking forward to sending home folders full of musical ideas and learning. I am also looking forward given each of my students a folder at the beginning of this next school year, knowing that we will use them to great effect all year long! Without your help, capturing student work and sharing what students learn during music class would be quite difficult. Now, because we have folders, it is a snap! Thank you for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
Brilliant Biographies Bring Beauty to Music Class
Funded Oct 25, 2017My students are simply enchanted by our composer biographies! They ask marvelous questions as a result of reading these splendid books. My students especially enjoy sharing books about the SAME composer. They read them and then discuss what they have discovered. In music class, we spend so much time listening to music that it is sometimes easy to forget that the pieces of music we share were written by "real" people who lived full and exciting lives. By providing these biographies for my students, you have helped them make connections between their own world and the lives of the composers they have grown to love. Thank you for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
School Supplies for Super Singers!
Funded Jun 18, 2017Our folders and accompanying organizational tools are in full use! Each time my students attend music, they add content to their folders to reflect the music learning taking place. Sometimes we use our folders as an introductory activity, to help frame for the learners the objective of the lesson. Other times, we use our folders at the end of class to evaluate our learning for the day. My students are most excited about the opportunity to take the folders home, filled with mementos of great learning. This project has transformed our music classroom and I look forward to the year ahead with the opportunity to capture student learning in a very accessible way. Thank you for your support of my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
Subscribe to Thrive - Music Magazines for Kids!
Funded Oct 3, 2016My students absolutely LOVE using our Music Express Magazine Subscription! I have students who come to music and ask, "Is today magazine day?". The musical content is highly relevant, of the highest quality and very well produced. My students also ask if they can take them home to share with their parents. In my book, that means that this resource is a HIT! Thank you for helping to provide such a wonderful resource for my students. You are making an incredible impact on the way they learn about and access music. Without your help, resources like this would simply not be available. Thank you for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
A Book for Every Musical Season
Funded Jul 18, 2016Dear Donors,
It is with great joy that I express my gratitude for the new instructional materials you provided through donorschoose.org. I am pleased to say that each of the items you provided is already in use. These new multicultural songs, recorder songs and instructional tools are both compelling and entertaining for my students and we are enjoying them immensely. Your donation has made a difference in the lives of my students and the experiences we share during music class. Thank you for all that you do.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
Music Listeners Love Learning
Funded Jun 16, 2016Dear donors,
As I sit down to write this thank you note, I am in the process of planning lessons where we will use our new headphones. Listening to music can be quite challenging and our new headphones have aided in student ability to focus. Within our composer lessons, we will use the headphones to aid in collaboration with other students on an iPad as we incorporate the use of headphones within listening stations. As someone who strives to provide great lessons for my students, I can tell you that having the right resources, including the headphones and splitters to use with our devices has made a huge difference. One of the biggest improvements we anticipate is the ability of students to self-select their listening choices. I will be sharing playlists for my students to enjoy within the next month. My students know that the headphones are in the plans within the next few weeks and anticipation is growing. Thank you for all that you do to support my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
iPads for Everyone - Part 3
Funded Apr 7, 2016Thank you so much for helping us to improve the student to iPad ratio in our music classroom. Our iPad has arrived and on Monday, we are going to use our newest iPad along with the others funded by the generous people of donorschoose.org to provide third graders an engaging way to practice naming notes of the staff using a web-based application. In kindergarten, we are going to use our iPads to compose an original piece of music using a music looping app. All of these activities allow me to engage my students in fun, active learning transforming our classroom from ordinary to extraordinary. Your generosity and kindness have made these learning experiences possible. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McSpadden
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 6 other donors.