Past projects 7
Enhance Our Classroom Library With More Diverse Books!
Funded May 7, 2024Wow! We are so excited and so very grateful for your support. We will use these books from the minute they get to our classroom; many students will enjoy these titles many years into the future. Thank you for supporting children and their access to high-quality, interesting books. Thank you for supporting me and the work I do each day! I appreciate your kindness and generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 4 other donors.Magical Book Sets for Summer Reading Adventures
Funded May 7, 2021This was truly magical for our students! There's nothing like a new book, and a new SET of books picked especially for you to enjoy is so very special. The kids were beaming, and I know they enjoyed the titles and added them to their personal libraries. It's very important to have books you can call your own. Many students passed the books on to siblings and friends too; the gift keeps giving and the readers keep reading.
Thank you for supporting our students and for sharing a love of literacy. We appreciate you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 5 other donors.Distance Learning Literacy Kits for Primary Kids
Funded Aug 11, 2020Planning for the 2020-21 school year wasn't easy! In August we decided one thing could make a big difference in distance learning: literacy kits in personal learning tubs with magnet letters, magnetic whiteboards, and dry erase markers, and erasers. You came through for our Boston Harbor Elementary students in a BIG way, providing every K-2 learner with literacy kits for the school year (including students from other schools who joined BHES distance learning mid-year due to district hybrid shifts).
Beyond Zoom access, one of the most critical factors in student success throughout distance learning has been these whiteboards. It can be difficult to get a quick, informal, class-wide assessment over Zoom, but whiteboards save the day! Kids can easily respond to questions and prompts. They are not simply part of a passive audience but are, instead, actively and individually engaged in learning. It's not an exaggeration to say these were transformative. I can't think of a more significant tool in my personal teaching and learning practice this year. (Also, when technology problems inevitably occur in distance learning whiteboards are a communication and problem solving dream!)
Every student has the same access and opportunity when we can provide each child with the same materials. Thank you on behalf of the full BHES primary team and our students. You made a huge difference in a difficult year, and we are grateful.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 14 other donors.Adding to the Fun With BOOKS!
Funded May 16, 2020When I first sought donations for new summer books for my second graders I was overwhelmed with your generosity! Our project was fully funded and extra donations were held in the form of a "gift card" for a future project. I chose to make the original project more robust with your generous funding, and with this extra money I was able to purchase even more new, exciting books for each child. I'll include info about this original project below, as your contributions served to make it a reality:
Thank you for your generous donation to fund new books for my second graders as they headed into summer. I worked hard to foster a love of reading last year and though Covid impacted our learning in many ways, I was determined to keep the second graders reading all summer long!
This fall our school and public libraries have caught up to the challenge of providing new reading material in safe ways, but last spring my students were very hungry for new, good reading material. With your support I was able to select a unique set of appealing titles at appropriate reading levels for each individual child in my class. You showered my students with Roald Dahl magic, Boxcar Children mysteries, exciting non-fiction science titles, just-right and fun early readers... I packaged the books up with ribbon and a bookmark and a lot of love too!
We missed out on a lot of our second grade traditions in the spring, but giving each child a beautiful set of new books to call their own was a positive and happy way to celebrate their hard work throughout the school year. Though there was change and challenge, my students were READERS with fresh books. What a great way to forge ahead in life, with a whole community of people there to lift them up-- that's YOU!-- and books at the ready to provide a little friendship, imagination, and possibility.
I appreciate your support so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
Reading Takes Us on Learning Adventures
Funded May 5, 2020Thank you for your generous donation to fund new books for my second graders as they headed into summer. I worked hard to foster a love of reading last year and though Covid impacted our learning in many ways, I was determined to keep the second graders reading all summer long!
This fall our school and public libraries have caught up to the challenge of providing new reading material in safe ways, but last spring my students were very hungry for new, good reading material. With your support I was able to select a unique set of appealing titles at appropriate reading levels for each individual child in my class. You showered my students with Roald Dahl magic, Boxcar Children mysteries, exciting non-fiction science titles, just-right and fun early readers... I packaged the books up with ribbon and a bookmark and a lot of love too!
We missed out on a lot of our second grade traditions in the spring, but giving each child a beautiful set of new books to call their own was a positive and happy way to celebrate their hard work throughout the school year. Though there was change and challenge, my students were READERS with fresh books. What a great way to forge ahead in life, with a whole community of people there to lift them up-- that's YOU!-- and books at the ready to provide a little friendship, imagination, and possibility.
Thank you for providing this important, positive opportunity for me and my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 5 other donors.Active Learners Seek Flexible Seating
Funded Jan 26, 2019Thank you so much for your generosity in funding our flexible seating in second grade! The kids were SO excited about the different seating options and they all clamored to try each seat. We talked about expectations for the stools, chair bands, bouncy pads and exercise ball seats, and then we all started to use them immediately! The class came up with an equitable plan to give everyone a chance to try every option, and our flexible seating choices are the most in demand seating options for work time every time.
Integration was pretty seamless and natural. It instantly felt like just the right thing to have these options in our room. Most kids prefer a specific seat over others, and everyone has a different preference! (For example one child will seriously focus when they can use the exercise ball seats and another child is happiest with bouncing their feet on the bands.) The bouncy pads roam throughout the room and the wobble stools are in the highest demand. I even had several parents sit on the stools during conferences!
I feel every classroom could benefit from these options and I know many, many children will use these for years to come. It's improved the "flow" of our classroom work time, and it empowers students as learners to find what works best for them individually. I've had other teachers stop by to ask which seats are the most popular as they think about writing their own grants, and look toward integrating more choice and movement in their rooms.
I am so grateful for your generosity. It's made a difference for my students and it will continue to support children in the future. I appreciate your support immensely.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by Carol Kupers Whalen Memorial Fund and 6 other donors.Robot Power! Full STEAM Ahead
Funded Mar 3, 2018Thank you so much for your generosity in funding our after-school robotics club! Your support means kids can attend and participate with no cost. We have three robotics kits, so ten children in grades 3-5 can team up to build and code in each session. We started in spring with our first eight-week session, and we're already into our first session of the 2018-2019 school year. (We'll have fall, winter and spring groups.) There is tremendous interest in our club so we hold a lottery to see who gets the spots (five girls and five boys); this last session we had over 30 children fill out an application. We have around 80 children combined in those grades so roughly 1/3 of the student population in that age range.
Each of the two groups of children thus far have been ecstatic about building Vernie, the first robot build in the kit. They're intuitive coders who need very little instruction to launch into complex problem solving with the robot. We have a middle school mentor who attends each club meeting to offer support. He is able to talk to the kids about what they can look forward to when they continue their robotics learning at future levels. We meet once a week to build, code, and we even have a snack while we watch a couple of robots-- like the Boston Dynamics "dogs"-- in action online.
I created a survey for our first group of builders and coders in the spring. 100% of the students reported a yes to the question: "Did Robotics Club help you get more excited about robotics and coding?" When asked about their favorite part of the club replies ranged from "everything" to "all the teamwork in the group" to "building with my friends, of course!" 40% reported they will probably try Robotics Club (again at the elementary level) or FIRST Robotics (middle school) in the future, and 60% said they definitely will.
Thank you again for your generosity. Inspiration and skill-building with cool opportunities like Robotics Club can help kids envision possibilities for their future, and I really believe children will make the world a better place. I'll leave you with a few quotes from the children about what they learned from our first session:
- "I learned how to code and program the robots with the group."
- "Robots help around the world."
- "I learned how to program better and measure how far the robot needs to go."
- "I learned that if you build or work on something one way, it'll turn out the way you worked, but if you do it a better way next time, it turns out better and faster."
- "I learned how to program a robot!"”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson