Past projects 63
Agents of Change
Funded Jun 1, 2015I can't express enough thanks for your generosity and support! Because of your contribution toward my project, students are well on their way to becoming agents of change!
Over the course of our earth science unit, Water Planet, students learned so much about the water cycle, weather patterns, and how water is redistributed across our planet. Because of this understanding, students realized just how limited our freshwater supply is and began to take steps and offer solutions as to how we could conserve our supply. The Kids Discover Magazines and literature became a source of information about water and conservation; our water contamination lab was an important resource and eye opener for students as to what happens when contaminants enter our water supply, and the weather DVD provided visuals as to what occurs during severe weather conditions. Students' learning was deepened because of these resources, and I only wish you could have been in the room to hear the excitement in their voices when students were participating in the lab and the thoughtful conversations, discussions, and questioning that took place all throughout our study and beyond!
The abundant amount of art supplies purchased provided students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding in a creative way. The students each had a clever approach to creating their water molecule comic stories and their watercolor paintings highlighted different aspects of weather or the water cycle. A message of conservation was shared. You have truly made a difference in the lives of my students, and we are forever thankful for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and one other donor.Calling All Codesmiths!
Funded Aug 23, 2015When it comes to making an impact, you have left a mark indeed! Because of your donation, you have opened my students up to a whole new world of coding and a newfound understanding of computer science! As soon as we received the packages, my students had the apps downloaded onto the iPad mini and the Spheros were programmed in no time at all! I wish you could have been there to see the enthusiasm and delight on their faces as each student programmer gave commands for the Sphero Balls to move and maneuver through the obstacle cones! Code.org has also been an incredible resource and because of the Chromebook and iPad mini that you helped fund, students have been able to access coding sites more frequently. This kind of learning has definitely had a positive impact on my students, and we are forever thankful for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by Infosys Foundation USA and 10 other donors.Bring It On! Keeping Healthy and Fit All Year Long!
Funded Oct 26, 2015Thank you so much for your generous donation to support our project. My students have enjoyed participating in the catch and ball, relay, and beanbag activities and the ball bin has been especially useful as we now have a place to store all of our physical education equipment!
With the new resources, students continue to build their running and coordination skills while allowing them to demonstrate teamwork, sportsmanship, and a competitive spirit. Our ball bin allows us to access equipment easily and transport materials to and from the yard with ease.
You are appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by NEA Foundation and 4 other donors.Voices of Success, Words to Inspire
Funded May 13, 2015Thank you so much for your bigheartedness! Because of your generosity, you have made a difference in the lives of my students. They were so inspired by the stories presented in Reach. Reading about the obstacles some of the men presented in the text had to overcome touched my students deeply. Many of the stories on loss or not having a strong presence of a father figure were issues my students felt compelled by. They were also so impressed that each of the men became so successful despite the hardships they endured. I only wish you could have been present to hear their conversations and how they were impacted in such a positive way by what they had learned.
My students also wanted me to express a very big "Thank You" on their behalf, for all of the art materials they received in addition to the books. They loved creating collages-a first for many of my students. They enjoyed selecting quotes and designing a board to represent their chosen person from the text. They were very thoughtful in selecting images and words to reflect their person of study and were excited to share their knowledge with others during our gallery walk.
We appreciate your thoughtfulness and bringing this project to life! :-)”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 2 other donors.On Our Way to a Financially Sound Future
Funded Apr 1, 2015Inspired. Grateful. Blessed. That is how your generosity has made me and my students feel and for that we are forever thankful! :)
Because of your contribution toward this project, my students are on their way to making better financially sound decisions! They have a stronger understanding of how to be responsible with the money they earn, the importance of planning and saving, what it means to invest, and the concept of credit. Many students were surprised to learn about credit as many didn't realize that when using a credit card, the money borrowed had to be paid back... with interest! :-) That led to a wonderful discussion about the pros and cons of using credit.
A highlight to this project was the PWC curriculum module which allowed students to explore careers and interview family and friends about career opportunities and choices. They loved the activity and were able to use the technology to further research the topic and graph findings on career incomes. Their research was presented on our television using Chromecast, both of which your donation funded. In addition, the tablet has been used for students to play apps that involve money and finances, thus allowing them to develop a deeper understanding about this topic.
This project has provided the opportunity for my students to become financially literate. It is my hope that in the future, they will apply the knowledge they gained from this project to make financially sound decisions about their earnings. I want to again extend a heartfelt thank you for helping to make a difference in the lives of my students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. and 6 other donors.Money Matters 2: An Exploration into the World of Economics
Funded May 12, 2015I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your support and what you have done for my class. Because of your generosity, you have helped my students begin their journey to become financially literate individuals ready to take on the world of economics! We have already begun downloading accounts and setting up accounts on our tablets in order to get ready for our year-long study.
The board games were a great kick-off to our project; students were so excited to play and didn't even realize how much they were learning about money and strategy in saving and spending! The books have been a favorite in our library. We received our first DynaMath monthly subscription and my students couldn't put the magazine down! My students keep asking when they're going to get to use the Checks and Balances kit since each of them will be getting their own checkbook. I've had to reassure them that it will be very soon, once we really delve into our study.
The enthusiasm for learning about money is contagious and I wish that you could be present to hear the buzz and excitement in my classroom that your donation has generated. You are making a difference in the lives of my students as they are learning about money, economics, and how making wise financial decisions will have a positive affect on their financial future. Once again, thank you for your support! :)”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by Experian and one other donor.Interactive Learning through Multimedia
Funded Mar 3, 2015I continued to feel so blessed by your support and the opportunities you provide for children to have access to quality education. Thank you for your tireless efforts and understanding the need not just for the children to have the access to resources to help them succeed, but also in providing educational opportunities for teachers to enhance their practice and craft. This is turn benefits the children directly because as we become better teachers, we can apply our ever evolving practices to provide optimal learning experiences for our students.
Because of your teacher professional development pilot, I was able to utilize technology to deepen my understanding of content matter by being able to participate in reading, science, and social studies webinars that I could mirror on my television using the iPad mini and Apple TV. I was also able to share the knowledge I received from webinars and content from Williamsburg.org, to present a lesson plan on colonial history to other colleagues in my local area. In addition, I used my technology to skpe with other teachers to develop lesson plans and share strategies when I didn't always have the opportunity to see them in person.
I have never viewed myself as tech-savvy person, but through my participation in online tutorials, YouTube education channel, and webinars on using technology in the classroom, I feel confident that I can now begin the new school with a newfound confidence. The best thing is, that because of the technology your donation helped provide, I can participate in online professional development opportunities all year long, every year! You have made a difference in my life and thus, have also impacted my students in a positive way. You are appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Money Matters: A Fusion of Financial Literacy & STEM
Funded Mar 5, 2015Thank you for your generosity and support! You have impacted my students in such a positive way. Because of your donations, students have learned so much and are on their way to becoming financially sound individuals. They learned how to manage money by receiving earnings for positive behavior and good work and study habits. Money was also deducted for the opposite of what was described-that certainly kept students on their toes as they looked forward to seeing their accounts grow! :-) Tablets were used to scan QR codes in order to access student bank accounts and deposit/deduct earnings.
To integrate the STEM with financial literacy, students were given a design challenge and worked in teams to build a space colony that met certain criteria. Earnings were used to purchase supplies such as balloons, dowels, straws, and modeling clay for students to be able to engineer and design structures for their space colony model. A student team was selected to set prices on the each of the materials and handle transactions. Each space colony team determined a budget and created an expense sheet. The team who spent the least percentage of their earnings won a prize. It was so cute to see how thoughtful they were with their purchases and surprisingly, many students became quite thrifty using many of the "free" materials such as paper, index cards, and yarn in order to save money. :-) My students were so engaged and deeply engrossed in the process of creating, designing, problem-solving, and collaborating. This type of creative and critical thinking is exactly the type of 21st century skills that students need to develop in order to become the leaders of tomorrow and financially responsible leaders at that!
As you can see from the pictures, my students have really enjoyed this project and it would not have happened if not for you! Seeing their smiling faces and hearing their conversations about building a space colony and using technology was priceless! My only wish would have been for you to be able to see for yourself what a difference you made because of your support! Thank you again for helping to make our learning experience a memorable one!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. and 8 other donors.Sculpting Our Way Through Colonial History
Funded Sep 15, 2014Thank you so much for your contribution towards our project. Because of your generosity, our study of American Colonial History was deeply enriched. Although I had to modify my project due to time constraints, students were able to still learn about colonial history in a fun and engaging way! Students used the Play-Doh and art materials to create artifacts that represented a natural resource or product that were unique to their chosen colonial region of study. Students worked collaboratively to gather research and create 3-D models demonstrating their understanding of the establishment of the 13 colonies. Artifacts were then displayed in a classroom exhibit where others were invited to participate in a gallery walk and students were able to give presentations describing their region. Our study of history became meaningful and memorable-students were so excited to demonstrate their understanding through their artifacts and the class was abuzz with conversation they couldn't wait to share about what they had learned.
Because of your donation, you have made a difference. This kind of learning would have never happened by just reading a textbook and for that we are truly thankful. :)”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez
This classroom project was brought to life by Play-Doh and one other donor.We Like to Move It, Move It! Part 2
Funded Jun 5, 2014I would like to extend a HUGE thank you for fully funding this project! You have made such a difference in the lives of my students and they are so appreciative of your support! My physical education instruction has been transformed because I now have equipment to teach my students different skills and techniques to help them on their journey to becoming more physically fit. I also have multiple pieces of the same equipment which means I can run multiple groups without the wait time. All students can be actively involved in our physical education block at all times.
We have had so much fun using the resources your donation provided. When we began our physical education unit in jump roping and hula hooping skills, my students and I all thought that we would be handling the equipment easily and learning the skills would be a piece of cake!!! Boy, were we wrong. :-). After the first 30 seconds of even turning the rope, we were wiped out! However, the kids stuck with it, built up their stamina, and now can jump for extended periods of time. They can even do tricks like partner jump, skier, and the bell! My boys have also been motivated to practice during recess and lunch-it is so wonderful to see them on the field during non-instructional time wanting to get better. Hooping has been a fun experience as well! We're still working on the double Dutch skills as many are developing their confidence to be able to run into two turning ropes without getting hit by the ropes. Chinese jump rope is a hit! Can you believe many of my students have never even heard of the game? I am so excited to be sharing a childhood favorite with them.
The equipment has also been used by others; the impact of this project has extended beyond my classroom to reach so many more students. During our recent Venathlon, students rotated physical education stations. I was running the hula hoop station with the equipment your support provided and 50+ students rotated through my station. In addition, our 5th grade classes are performing to a song titled, "I Like to Move It" for our upcoming poetry night. Students will be showing off their hula hooping and jump roping skills to their parents in choreographed movements to the song, rhythm in sync! Your support has meant so much and we are truly grateful!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chavez