Past projects 19
Mathematize our Classroom
Funded Aug 12, 2023I am so excited about the resources you have provided my classroom this year! In my second year of teaching only math, my goal for the year is to make my mathematical classroom more student-driven and student-centered. What better way to accomplish this, then through providing choice through centers! We have utilized math menus this year that incorporates centers and student choice. I have never had a classroom run so smoothly and I love how excited my students are to use the resources you provided!
This past week, I introduced my students to the 24 Game and Multiplication Pop-It! My students love how large the pop-it is and the tasks that go along with it. It is a great tool for practicing multiplication, which many of my students struggle with! The 24 game was also a hit! It encourages mental math strategies and has been a favorite this week with the majority of my students!
As the weeks progress, students will encounter more choices and learning activities in their math menus. These choices have been provided by you, our donors, and we are so thankful for the impact they are having in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by The State of Oklahoma.Headphones for a Healthy Workspace
Funded May 10, 2023Thank you for donating headphones to our classroom! Many of my students cannot afford headphones and with the daily need for headphones in conjunction with our technology requirements having them in the classroom makes them accessible for our students!
These headphones are very well made and will last our classroom many years to come! Students enjoy listening to the audio without earbuds in their ears! They use them daily for reading on our online reading programs during reading time and while learning about the history of our nation during social studies.
We thank you for helping us make headphones accessible for all of our students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors Corporation and 2 other donors.Making Mathematicians
Funded Oct 28, 2022As a newer math teacher, making math engaging and authentic has been a huge goal in my mathematics classroom this year. With this project, we have been able to purchase resources, like math task cards, and have a great place to organize them in our photo boxes. The Sterile Tubs are fantastic for organizing our math stations and give us plenty of practice in reviewing what we have learned this year.
In January, we reviewed what we had already learned about Fractions before break with some fraction centers, and then dove into a fun "GLOW WEEK" where we practiced adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. The kids loved using our fraction tiles, and large glowing dice during these centers. We also used highlighters to complete our math under the black lights.
It was a great way to take a difficult math concept and make it fun and engaging for my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
Meet Me at the Fair (A Colonial Day Project)
Funded Nov 5, 2022My students have loved our new Colonial Resources! We made butter in a jar before Winter Break, learned about the Colonial manners using George Washington's resources to write with our quill pens, recently learned about the Boston Massacre with a Crime Scene Investigation, and received a visit from William Dawes to learn about his role in the Midnight Ride! The students have been so excited about these hands-on editions to our classrooms that they are going out and studying the content on their own! To tell these lesser known stories and provide students with opportunities to experience these events our their own has been priceless. Students are coming into class full of curiosity and knowing that they are about to experience history in an authentic way!
We still have so many of the resources from this project to enjoy this year! In just a few weeks, we will be hosting a spy week in class where students will learn about Revolutionary Spies and their impact in the Revolution. We will make coded letters, learn to use a cypher wheel, and make invisible ink letters! We will also be using our school's 3D printers to create symbols for the Revolutionary Wars we will learn about! This is such an important part of our history and I am so thankful for your donation that has made this possible in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
Drawing Them In
Funded Sep 2, 2022My kids absolutely love getting to use the Wacom One to complete their digital assignments! With Google Apps, students can use the Wacom One to solve problems right from their computer! They want a turn every day! This allows many of my students to integrate the Wacom with their Chromebooks with ease! I love how versatile it is switching from one student computer to the next, so multiple students can use the device each day!
Students love getting the chance to use the Wacom with their individual devices. The pen is great addition for students who struggle to use the touch screen on their devices. I draw names for the lucky user each day and the kids get so excited! I even do extra chances for those who actively participate in the lesson! It really helps to keep everyone engaged and learning!
One particular student really struggles with writing and motivation to complete mathematical tasks. This device has been a game changer for him and allowed him a fun way to engage in computation and writing! We love our Wacom Ones!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Oklahoma Natural Gas.Creating Spaces for Collaboration and Conversation in the Classroom
Funded Feb 7, 2022Thank you! This project was perfect for my fifth grade students. We used these resources during our spring review in preparation for our state tests. The students worked in small group centers and got to enjoy all of the games as they practiced and reviewed content.
When testing wrapped up, students read our new novels in small groups and participated in deep discussions about the characters, plots, and figurative language of their novels. In our classroom reading is a collaborative effort. When students discuss, they are able to comprehend, understand, and connect better with the text. Book clubs allow us to have open discussion that goes beyond the pages of the books we are reading.
One student regarded the book from Book Club as "exciting" and wanted to "read more by the author"! How fun? Creating a love for reading and an initiative to seek out more is exactly what an ELA classroom should be!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and one other donor.Virtual Knowledge Notebooks
Funded Aug 13, 2021My classroom was so excited to get the mini-notebooks and petal highlighters for our classroom this year! Many of my students were virtual all of last year, so having hands-on manipulatives again was so important to them! Right now, our petal highlighters are all the rave. Students are using them in their word study of vocabulary and Greek and Latin roots. They highlight the words in text and have the ability to highlight using multiple colors with the ease of these petal tools.
When I first pulled out the highlighters, my students faces brightened! The fun brilliance of colors inspired their creativity and many of them jumped to work on finding the roots and vocabulary in their text. I know these tools will be very useful when we go deeper into classroom readings and provide a fun way for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding!
Next up for our classroom is to begin writing our first narrative piece. Students will be closely studying various narrative writings from mentor authors and then devising their own writing piece. Our mini-notebooks will hold our ideas and tips for creating the best writing pieces. I am exciting to extend our engagement to our writing unit and cannot wait to see what my students create!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 5 other donors.Digital Divas
Funded Aug 13, 2021Technology has been such a gift for our classroom over the passed year. It has allowed us to stay connected when we cannot be together, provided a space for us to collaborate in creative digital ways, and brought a sense of community into our digital learning environment.
My students are enjoying the digital learning opportunities that I have been able to provide them through this project! Recently, we had the opportunity to complete a digital escape room in small groups. Technology allowed us to work in groups while still maintaining distance within our classroom. The students were so into the escape room, that they begged me to let them stay and finish rather than going to recess! Another game my students enjoy is called Nearpod. The students completed a Nearpod two weeks ago to review content we had learned in class. Within the platform, students are able to test their knowledge and race each other up a virtual hill. My students enjoyed the friendly competition.
Students want more than anything to be connected and feel like they are a part of something. One student really has really struggled with writing tasks completing work. These digital activities and online learning platforms allowed him to engage in the learning activity in a threat-free environment. It was a great place for me to access his knowledge! I cannot wait to see what other connections they will be able to make as our year progresses!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and one other donor.Insignificant, Surely Not!
Funded Mar 16, 2021Thank you for getting this book and its accompanying materials in the hands of my students! This novel, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, is one of my new favorite books to teach about diversity and inclusion within my classroom. Everyone deserves to feel known and important for who they are. The main character of this book, Aven, just wants to be normal and fit in at a new school, but with her unique physical differences, it is harder than it seems.
This beautifully written realistic fiction book is used to teach so many comprehension skills: literary elements, point of view, author's purpose, and characterization! Students are able to connect with the charm of this story and dig deeper into these literacy skills as they build lasting relationships through intense discussion with their peers.
This book has the potential to be a favorite read for my students in this coming year. The feedback I received during virtual learning last year is only a glimpse of what this book could become to my classroom. Reading & writing are so integral to young learners and this book provides my students with so many opportunities to reflect and dig deeper with their learning!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 3 other donors.Hidden Poetry Around Us
Funded May 5, 2021My kids RAVED about this book! I am so excited to get this one in the hands of ALL my new fifth graders this year. This was the perfect book in verse to teach my poetry unit! It also provided great discussion on differing perspectives that each of us have. A couple of reluctant readers chose this book and were able to dig deeper into literacy and poetry because this book was written in verse and students could read at a faster pace than most novels we use. The connections my students made with the struggles of the characters really made this a highly suggested book for my future students!
This year, my students will explore Poetry Month with the Hidden as their novel study book. We will become detectives and locate examples of figurative language, learn how to critically read and analyze a poem, and learn about imagery and descriptive writing with poetry!
In my classroom, reading is an integral part of our day. All lessons are connected not only to the novels we read together, but to the personal book selections students choose to explore. The more connections students can make between reading & writing...the more they learn and grow! This is a foundation of my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 2 other donors.