Past projects 186
Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi - You're My Only Hope!
Funded Jul 22, 2014Your Star Wars books (and display) have caused two reactions. Fourth, fifth and sixth grade boys, particularly the gifted-schmifted ones, are enchanted. Some of the other kids aren't quite sure who the cut-out characters are. Makes you feel old, doesn't it? No worries! I was expecting responses like these. We accomplished our mission. We appealed to the 'Star Wars' die-hards, and we are well-positioned to appeal to the new fans created by the upcoming movie. THANK YOU SO MUCH! You certainly made the right move when you supported a library. These books will be used by many kids for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Books For Hundreds of Kindergarten, 1st + 2nd Grade Students
Funded Apr 14, 2014Thank you for these great books! I'll tell you what I like best about them: they are written on a first grade reading level, so they can be read and enjoyed by the munchkins themselves. (You might think that most picture books are written on a basic level, but they are not. Dr. Seuss, for example, is on a third grade reading level.) Kindergarten and first grade students get out of school at two, an hour earlier than the rest of our kids. Their parents pick them up in 'The Children of the World Park', a beautiful shady spot right in the middle of our campus. Next year, I'm hoping to have a story-time there at two o'clock, and will take with me a cart of library books that I can check out to the parents after story-time. (That's just become possible because the school has been equipped with Wi-Fi, so I can check out on a laptop.) Your books will be on the cart! Thank you for helping our little ones!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Staying Healthy In The Miami Heat
Funded Apr 14, 2014The kids in the photos aren't all library regulars, but they are all Heat fans. They loved your books. Sports titles are a great way to bait the hook, when you're trying to catch reluctant readers. That's especially true for boys. Speaking of sports....Some of you will already know, but for those who don't, we featured soccer in our latest Accelerated Reader celebration. (Accelerated Reader is the online reading program that measures how many books the kids are reading + understanding. Kids are given individualized reading targets each month, and those who meet them are invited to a party.) So the theme of this last AR Celebration was 'Let's Go to Brazil'. Remember, over 80% of our kids are Hispanic = soccer crazy, and we're all looking forward to the World Cup in Rio next month. The AR winners took part in a penalty competition, besides learning a Brazilian dance + savoring some Brazilian food. Returning to basketball, I'm glad to say that the Heat just won their game against the Nets. So Miami can breathe again, till the next cliffhanger. Thank you for remembering our kids. I always say this, but I do wish you could be here to see their reaction when they open those boxes. It's priceless. Thank you once more, and LET'S GO HEAT!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Selling Our School!
Funded Apr 14, 2014Your gift arrived late last week. I asked the boss of the main office what announcements she would like me to feature on the digital photo display. Over the Easter weekend, I made an announcements video. (I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say that it is very easy to do.) I went into the main office this morning, before the office opened, and left the video playing on the counter top. The secretaries and middle school aides loved their surprise! The photo display looks very professional, attracts the moms and dads' attention, and cuts down on the time that they spend at the office counter because it gives them the answer to many 'frequently asked questions'. The LED display, which is going to go up in the library, works fine but I haven't put it out yet because the library is serving as a testing site for the next couple of weeks. I did post some photos about an hour ago, but they don't go anywhere near doing your gifts justice. It's difficult to take pictures of your gifts - it's a little like photographing / shooting a video of a TV screen. The picture on that screen just doesn't come out right. That's particularly true of the flashing LED display, which is why I only included one picture of it. It looks absolutely amazing. The kids are going to love it! What's next? Once these blessed tests are over, I'll get kids working on the displays. Middle schoolers can easily make the announcements videos, and I want to get the best artists in the school to draw on the flashing LED display. These materials are phenomenal: they are easy to use and they look great! Thank you all so much for helping our school!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Cancer: Knowledge and Comfort.
Funded Feb 27, 2014Good news! The books have all been checked out, and 'The Fault in our Stars' is especially popular. It seems to be the latest fashion in middle school. About a dozen kids have placed it on hold. Thank you for your support with this project - and with so many others. When I started in the library, I thought that I needed to get a lot of new books, and then the collection would pretty much take care of itself. I was living in la-la-land, of course. The more the kids read, the more dilapidated the books become, and the more books we need... It is kind of a vicious circle. Except that there is nothing vicious or problematic about that - it is actually a great situation to be in. It means that our kids are voracious readers, and the library is thriving. None of this would be possible, of course, without the support of friends like you at Donors Choose. You are amazing!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
From Dragons To Pikachu: 4 Library Projects In 1
Funded Feb 4, 2014Hi there! Your Pokemon books, needless to say, are a great hit. They never actually get to the shelves. You know how books are checked in at the library circulation desk, put on a cart, then wheeled over to their place on the shelves. The Pokemon books are snapped up at the desk or on the cart. You should see how thrilled the third graders are when they get a Pokemon book. You'd think they'd won the lottery. The kitchen timers are coming in very handy. When the little kids visit, I read the note from their teacher that says how long they are supposed to stay with me, set the kitchen timer and choose a group leader, who holds on to the timer until it rings. Remember how excited you were to be appointed line leader / door holder? The group leaders react the same way. They treasure the timers and make sure their friends get back to class on time. On Thursday and Friday I made over the library. The rocking chairs had been in a neglected corner. I added your red, blue and green seat pads and put them close to the circulation desk, in front of a newly-donated puppet theater, so our grown-ups can watch the little ones' shows. (The theater came without puppets, but that's not stopping the kids from enjoying it.) That neglected corner is now inhabited by your dragon. I hung the dragon kite in an 'S' shape. Imagine an 'S' rotated 90 degrees clockwise. The right hand-side is the dragon's head, lowered so that the kids can see the detail on the eyes, nostrils and teeth. The body then undulates and the tail, on the left hand-side, rises into the air. It looks as if the dragon were swooping down on the kids. It's great. I'll send you some photos after Presidents' Day. The place needed a little bit of color and fun! On behalf of all our wonderful children, THANK YOU!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Caldecott Medal Books: Giving Our Families The Best.
Funded Jan 27, 2014Thanks once again! I've been showcasing these books during story-time. We have story-time for every class in PK-2nd grade. Typically, story-time is first thing in the morning. A nice way to start the day! The Caldecott books have been a lot of fun. Half the story is in the pictures, not the text. It's great to see the kids' faces as they pore over the illustrations. We certainly need books like these - books for munchkins, I mean. They are our number one priority. I was just talking to some 'Head Start' parents the other day - that's Pre-K and Pre-Pre-K (!) moms and dads, urging them to visit us regularly and to take stories home with them...and I was thinking "Do we really have enough books for all these parents if they take me at my word?". The answer is "No", but never mind - we'll get there! Onward and upward, as you say!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
What Attracts You To Articles Online?
Funded Dec 21, 2013Well... this has been an interesting learning process. First, we checked the computer to see which books in the library were checked out the least. Turned out they were the history books. So we took photos of the best-looking books in the history collection, loaded a display into the picture frame, put the frame in the history section, and sat back and waited...and waited. Nothing happened. The kids never passed by the history section, so they didn't see the picture frame. Okay, so we tried something else. We put the same display in the middle of the library. We got a trickle of kids to visit the history shelves now. Still not too many. So we put the picture frame by the check out desk, and jazzed up the display by adding pictures of Rolando and Regina, the library rats (poring over history books, of course; they are very intellectual rodents). That got more history books checked out. Slowly, we were learning. What about the other picture frame? We used that to highlight the upcoming AR celebration, which will feature a visit from a wrestling club. And here's the great discovery! It turns out that the picture frames will show videos as well as photographs. So I got a brief video of a wrestling bout from the London Olympics, loaded it onto the second picture frame, with sound playing too, and put the frame in the middle of a selection of books about wrestling. The kids can't take their eyes off it, and the wrestling books are being checked out. I think we're really onto something now. We need to put videos onto these picture frames. We can film kids / teachers / parents talking about books / upcoming events.... These picture frames have been a great discovery, and we definitely need to get more of them. Thank you for helping us out on this project. I'm so glad we went for these frames.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Pokemon! Gotta Read Them All!
Funded Dec 30, 2013It took two days for the kids to spot and check out all of the Pokemons. It was the third graders who noticed them. I know just what will happen now. The third graders will share the new books with each other. They won't give them up. The upper grades might get their hands on the Pokemons by March - if they are lucky. The appeal of Japanese comics is quite astounding. Actually, the only reason that it took two days for these books to be checked out is that I needed some time to barcode them and to put bibliographic records into the library computer. Otherwise, they'd have disappeared in a couple of hours, not days. The kids go gaga over these things! Pokemon is a really good series to get because there's nothing too violent, nobody too curvaceous, unlike some other anime. Pokemon is good, clean fun, and all the kids like it. It's great to see them get so enthusiastic over books. Well done! Thank you for buying our children Pokemon!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson
Backing A Horse That We KNOW Will Win!
Funded Nov 21, 2013In brief, here's the impact that the Accelerated Reader program has had on the library this school year. Our annual library circulation is usually about 25,000 titles. This year, if current trends continue, we will circulate 30,000 to 35,000 books. Accelerated Reader has given a tremendous boost to student reading. Last month, the kids who met their individualized reading targets attended 'Holiday Hullabaloo', an AR celebration that focused on the upcoming winter holidays. In the new year, once I'm back at my desk, I'll upload you some pictures of 'Holiday Hullaballoo'. In February, winners will attend a 1970's-themed celebration called (what else?) 'Disco Fever'. We're all looking forward to that! Thank you for helping to boost student reading and for making it FUN!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Pearson