Mrs. Chapluk's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 18

• Cutting Edge Graphics for Future Health Professionals

  Funded Jan 31, 2022

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. When our HOSA class received word that the annual State Leadership Conference was given the green light, we were all ecstatic, but also realized we had to get down to work on completing competition project boards. To take the student display boards to the next level, we realized we needed to create crisp and professional graphics, and a Cricut is a machine with which I had familiarity, having used one often at home. When students saw me unboxing our classroom Cricut, they were giddy with excitement and got to work with rulers measuring and planning what sort of lettering they wanted as titles and section headers on their display boards.

  These students worked tirelessly to enhance their projects and make their display boards come to life. One team competed in the "Health Career Display" competition where they researched a health career and developed a tri-fold display to report on Cardiology. They used the Cricut to print out lettering for each section of their display board. Another team competed in the "Exploring Medical Innovation" competition where they researched a medical innovation and developed a tri-fold display all about 3-D printed organs. They chose a holographic material to make the display as attention-grabbing as possible and we were able to cut out the title on the Cricut. They used foam squares to elevate the letters, so they had a three-dimensional aspect to them. This team won the gold medal in their competition, a first for our school!

  Thanks to your generous donations, this Cricut has already been put to great use, and I look forward to the years to come as students work on projects for both our class and our annual competition. My students constantly surprise me with their creativity and passion for healthcare and having this Cricut has made a huge difference in helping students translate that creativity into tangible products. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

• These Shining Lives: America's Glowing Girls Fight for Justice

  Funded Oct 22, 2021

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. Students have enjoyed reading the first major section of The Radium Girls and learning about this underreported event that took place about 100 years ago. They are so fascinated with how radium was once promoted as a cure-all and was found in a variety of consumer products. We read in a variety of ways: sometimes I read aloud to the entire class so that we can pause and discuss along the way. Other times, the students get into their smaller "literature circle" groups and read together in a smaller huddle and discuss among themselves along the way while I circulate to answer questions they may have, but also to ask them deeper questions about the reading.

  We have been using "literature circles" each week as we read. Students each have a job which gives them a lens through which to read the book. At the end of the week, they spend the period with their circle and share what they discovered as part of their job. These function very much like a book club. The jobs include: artist, discussion leader, bridge builder, and passage master. The artist illustrates something from the week's reading, either as a comic strip or an overall illustration. The discussion leader develops three questions that promote discussion among their group. The bridge builder takes notes on connections they have made between the book and their own lives. The passage master keeps track of new vocabulary and reports their definitions to their group, and also chooses two intriguing passages to share with the group to elicit discussion.

  Students have been having thought-provoking discussions and have made some great connections between what the girls in this book were facing with their own lives. Furthermore, they are stating the importance for standing up for underserved individuals who might not be able to stand up for themselves. We are currently 1/3 through the book and they are eager to dive back in to find out what sort of justice was served for the girls and what further impact radium exposure had on their lives. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made and 3 other donors.

• These Shining Lives: America's Glowing Girls Fight for Justice

  Funded Oct 17, 2021

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. Students have enjoyed reading the first major section of The Radium Girls and learning about this underreported event that took place about 100 years ago. They are so fascinated with how radium was once promoted as a cure-all and was found in a variety of consumer products. We read in a variety of ways: sometimes I read aloud to the entire class so that we can pause and discuss along the way. Other times, the students get into their smaller "literature circle" groups and read together in a smaller huddle and discuss among themselves along the way while I circulate to answer questions they may have, but also to ask them deeper questions about the reading.

  We have been using "literature circles" each week as we read. Students each have a job which gives them a lens through which to read the book. At the end of the week, they spend the period with their circle and share what they discovered as part of their job. These function very much like a book club. The jobs include: artist, discussion leader, bridge builder, and passage master. The artist illustrates something from the week's reading, either as a comic strip or an overall illustration. The discussion leader develops three questions that promote discussion among their group. The bridge builder takes notes on connections they have made between the book and their own lives. The passage master keeps track of new vocabulary and reports their definitions to their group, and also chooses two intriguing passages to share with the group to elicit discussion.

  Students have been having thought-provoking discussions and have made some great connections between what the girls in this book were facing with their own lives. Furthermore, they are stating the importance for standing up for underserved individuals who might not be able to stand up for themselves. We are currently 1/3 through the book and they are eager to dive back in to find out what sort of justice was served for the girls and what further impact radium exposure had on their lives. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made and one other donor.

• Future Healthcare Professionals Need Books!

  Funded Mar 19, 2020

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. One of the foundations in a healthcare career is learning the language of the medical field: medical terminology. When teaching it, I explain to students that it is very much like learning a foreign language. These textbooks organize the medical terminology into body systems which helps them learn the terms more contextually as they are also learning about that particular body system's parts, functions, and pathology at the same time. What helps them most is that this textbook is an illustrated guide to medical terminology and having graphics makes learning much more engaging and realistic. Additionally, students appreciate the pronunciation guides because many of these words are very challenging to pronounce out loud.

  So far this year, students have learned about the following body systems and the medical terms that accompany them: Respiratory System, Cardiovascular System, Blood and Its Components, and the Lymphatic/Immune System. They spend several days learning about the body system through interactive presentations that I create using the textbook as a foundation. Throughout the unit they play online games to practice learning the terms as well. The last part of each body system chapter is about pathology: the diseases and disorders associated with that body system. I use the textbook to give a short overview of these diseases and disorders, and this provides a nice introduction to the students. They then spend the next week researching and developing presentations on one disease or disorder associated with that body system. One additional benefit of the textbooks is that the notes I create from them allow students to complete practice exercises related to the content in the textbook. These exercises help to reinforce the concepts I hope they will remember as they move on to high school-level coursework and beyond.

  My sincere hope is that our class and student body organization will be able to compete again one day at the California-HOSA state leadership conference. This textbook is the official reference book for the medical terminology competition in which several former students have won medals for placing in the top six in the state. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

• J.U.M.P. into Healthcare Awareness

  Funded Jan 23, 2020

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. So much of what students do in this class is project-based, which means there is ample opportunity for art and creativity! Back in December, students organized a card-making campaign before the holidays for senior citizens living in a local home. Students each made three personalized greeting cards that truly brightened the holidays for these lovely senior citizens. We also regularly make posters to spread awareness of medical topics and to promote our class and club's activities using construction paper.

  What I quickly realized was that we needed a better way to store all of the construction paper and keep it organized so students could quickly find the color and size of paper they needed for their projects. My fellow "neat freaks" were just as thrilled as I was to see this heavy-duty organizer that could keep all of our construction paper organized in rainbow color order, and also separated by paper size. One of my students was more than happy to make sure that the paper was organized perfectly!

  Our most recent project involved our class and club organizing a card-making campaign during lunch time for pediatric cancer patients. Having the paper organized made it easy for them to create templates and samples to use during this activity, and to choose the color(s) of paper they wanted for their cards. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Arts Supporter and 8 other donors.

• Drone On

  Funded Dec 3, 2019

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. For some time, I have wanted to update the technology for our eighth graders' Mission to Mars Project and the drone we received was exactly what we needed. Students were so excited when I first showed it to them and the excitement that emanated from them as each team dropped their egg-lander devices was pure gold! The drone raised each lander to a height of approximately 100 feet before releasing the egg-lander and we were able to capture some amazing footage thanks to the HD camera on board.

  Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to conduct all flights seamlessly because of the spare batteries that were charged and ready to swap out each period. Such a heavy-duty drone can only fly about 17 minutes on one fully-charged battery, so we absolutely needed to have plenty of spare batteries to conduct 8 flights per period over four periods in one entire day. Also, thanks to your generous donations, I know that this very expensive drone will be safe from damage when storing it from year-to-year inside the case.

  Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. This project helped bring difficult physics concepts to life for all our students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come, and furthermore it has provided incredible memories for these students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 11 other donors.

• J.U.M.P. into Healthcare Career and Technical Education

  Funded Oct 8, 2019

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. When I received news right before summer break that J.U.M.P. would be offered as an elective class, I was so eager to get started planning how the class would be structured and what the students would learn. I knew that I wanted most of the curriculum to be student-centered and for the students to be given much choice into what they learn through project-based learning.

  What I quickly realized over the summer as I was planning various projects was that we only had a decades-old black-and-white laser printer. Many of the student projects involve students spreading awareness of a particular topic in healthcare and having a printer for them to create eye-catching and professional-looking displays was imperative.

  Thanks to your generous donations, the new color printer arrived and students have been printing graphics and text to enhance their posters, flyers, display boards, and reports on healthcare topics ranging from mental health awareness to the opioid crisis and for career research boards such as NICU nurses and athletic trainers. The students constantly surprise me with their creativity and passion for healthcare and having this printer has made a huge difference in helping students translate that creativity into tangible products. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

• Soundwaves: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream

  Funded May 23, 2019

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. A couple of months ago the eighth graders learned about sound waves and how they travel. One of the primary concepts they learned is how sound waves are a form of energy that requires matter in order to travel. They learned that it travels fastest through a solid, a little slower through a liquid, slowest through a gas, and will not travel at all through the vacuum of space where there is very little to no matter. To demonstrate this concept, students completed several hands-on activities where they sent sound waves through different states of matter, but when we got to the vacuum of space, we could only watch videos.

  Thanks to the timely arrival of the vacuum pump, I was able to set it up in time to do live demonstrations of the two videos we watched. First, we placed a partially-filled balloon inside the bell jar and used the vacuum pump to extract the air. Students were able to see first-hand that the balloon did indeed expand, and we were able to review the reason WHY by having a quick discussion. They remembered that the reason the balloon expanded was because it was uninhibited by the air particles that had been surrounding it. They were also fascinated when we released air back into the chamber and the balloon quickly deflated and bounced all around from the "whoosh" of the air returning.

  The second demonstration involved sound waves. We placed a digital kitchen timer inside the chamber right as it started to beep. This particular timer has a red light on it so we could see that it was beeping as well. Students were able to hear the sound slowly fade as air was removed with the pump until they could hear nothing, even though they knew it was still beeping because the red light was still blinking. Then we allowed the air to return and the sound faded back in. Their faces were priceless. This truly shows how having a live demonstration is so much more meaningful than simply watching a video. Thanks to this donation of the pump, I will be able to conduct these demonstrations for all future eighth grade classes as we learn about sound, and I plan to add even more investigation demonstrations based on student suggestions (i.e., What happens to a marshmallow inside a vacuum?)! Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 11 other donors.

• Cultivating Our Future – Urban Gardening

  Funded Jan 2, 2019

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. Students have been hard at work learning all about agricultural practices by learning the history behind it as well as current practices. All students successfully constructed a radish glove garden by using the funnel to add soil and radish seeds into the four fingers of the plastic glove. Students then used the beaker of water at his or her workstation along with the syringe to carefully measure the necessary amount of water into each glove's finger. Every finger started with a different amount of water. Through daily observations in their logbooks of plant height, health, color, and soil temperature, they learned the optimal conditions to successfully sprout their radish seeds.

  I wish you could have been there the day after they planted their gardens so you could hear their gasps of excitement when they first caught glimpses of the tiny sprouts that were already growing 24 hours later! Those moments are truly worth gold as a teacher. Students were able to take their glove gardens home the week before spring break to continue to nourish them and I look forward to hearing how many of them grew radishes to eat over the next several weeks.

  Currently, students have been hard at work collaborating with their partners to design table-top-sized greenhouses after learning about design constraints and limitations. Many are already using their Geosolids kit and plastic wrap to construct their greenhouses, and soon they will test their greenhouse's efficiency by comparing the outside temperature to the inside temperature in the hopes of achieving at least a five-degree temperature differential. Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide real-world and meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

• Elevate Your Future in Culinary Arts Career Technical Education

  Funded Nov 16, 2018

  First and foremost, I want to thank you for your generosity and support for this project. My goal as a teacher is to always make my classes simulate real-life experiences as much as possible to increase student engagement and to answer that age-old question, "Why do I need to know this?" While not every student will go into the field of engineering, the skills they learn over the course of this project will help them in any career path. These "soft" skills include collaboration, conflict resolution, and communication among the more important ones. Students don't always get along with their partners, but they learn how to move past their differences and come to a common ground as they troubleshoot various challenges along the way. These skills are valuable as they move toward adulthood.

  Sixth graders are new to the exciting world of middle school and the new responsibilities that come with it. Most have never seen the equipment they used in the "Safe Food" project and they were SO incredibly excited to use "real chemistry lab" tools like real chemistry students and scientists. The molecular model kits were a huge hit and they had so much fun building the various molecules involved in the field of biochemistry. Many extended the activity by challenging themselves to build difficult isomers with the atoms and even competing with neighboring stations. I was honestly worried about sixth graders using hydrochloric acid but on the day we completed that particular activity, every single student stepped up to the level of responsibility and were so very careful with the chemicals and equipment. They took their time measuring with the brand-new graduated cylinders and carefully pouring into the test tubes in their racks.

  As they finish this project, they will demonstrate what they have learned about food chemistry and develop their own protocol for assessing kitchens. Many are excited to go home and evaluate their own home kitchens and many let me know they'll be looking at restaurants a lot more closely now, especially ones where the kitchens are visible to patrons! Thank you again for your support in my efforts to provide real-world and meaningful experiences for my students. Your generous donation is truly a blessing that will serve the students here for many years to come.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Chapluk

  This classroom project was brought to life by Staples and 2 other donors.