Past projects 104
Core Fitness!
Funded Dec 3, 2019Thank you so much for your generous donation. With your help, we acquired a dozen scooter boards. With the winter weather on the way, we introduced the scooter boards in our hallway, outside our classroom (our makeshift -indoor play space). With help from generous donors, I have created a variety of fun indoor gross motor activities for our 3 Pre K classes. The scooter boards are a great addition.
The scooter boards are a great workout. It is a great cardiovascular workout. It increases overall physical endurance. As well, it strengthens arms, legs and hands. And of course, let's not forget that it is fun. The children are working out. They are learning to share, take turns and be part of a social group.
Our next unit of study is transportation. Our scooter boards have wheels, a great segway into the new unit. What forms of transportation has you taken? Well, our pre k students ride tricycle & scooter boards!!
Thank you again for helping our students have the tools & experiences they needs for a great education in NYC.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 14 other donors.Let There Be Light
Funded Nov 20, 2019Just in time for the season of light, the light table arrived and is in use.
Children are naturally curious. We may have small hands, since we are in Pre K but we love to touch and learn through doing. The students were very excited with the new light table that arrived in class. They are using translucent toys such as magna tiles and other 3 dimensional translucent blocks to build. Our current unit is homes. The children are building different buildings /houses from their neighborhood. Many children live in tall apartment buildings. So our buildings are tall. It is amazing using the light table to see the colors so bright. It makes the building really exciting.
Now, it is December, the season of light. We are discussing different holidays & how many different cultures use lights in their celebrations.
The children will be using the light table to investigate & learn about different shapes (with the magna tiles & other translucent blocks ).
In 2 months, we will begin our unit on LIGHT. Then, we really investigate " What kinds of lights are around us?" "What is darkness?" "how does light helps us?" "What are shadows?" and " Why do we use light?" The light table will really enhance our learning.
By the way, the Students are so excited. While working at the light table, I was told by one child, that I am the best teacher in the world. It is a great feeling to be able to give the children the hands on materials that they need.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 24 other donors.Future Engineers & Architects
Funded Oct 26, 2019Thank you so much for your generous donations. With your help, our Pre K classroom has another variety of wooden blocks. The students are really excited with the hollow blocks and the colored transparent window blocks. I began to open the wooden blocks after school and I decided it would be more fun to let the children help me. Each hollow block was wrapped. The children had a great time unwrapping the blocks. When they completed unwrapping, they began to build with the new blocks. There was no stopping them. I immediately thought "I don't have enough blocks! I need to order more."
Well, things are working out since the students are learning to work cooperatively with one another while building different structures.
The students are exploring the world around them with different units of study. When we learn about our homes and communities, the new blocks will be an asset.
We will continue to teach the children to plan out their structures. Do they stand? Do they need more support? How can we do that? Through trial and error and communications, the children will advance.
Thank you for helping some of the youngest children in NYC.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by Neukom Family Foundation and 64 other donors.Future Scientists
Funded Sep 23, 2019The students, the Pre K staff (adults) & I were so excited with all the science center manipulatives & activities that we received from your generous donations. These items really enhanced our science center and our learning. The project was funded just in time for our second unit- Our 5 senses. This week we are learning about our sight. So, the science view masters can in really handy. There were 5 science view masters. Our Pre K class is using 3 and the other Pre K class is using the other 2. The children are learning about another tool to use with our eyes. Of course, the animals, birds and science pictures are amazing.
The 5 senses science center card game was really fun. 4 students can play at once. Each child gets 12 cards and needs to figure out which sense is needed, example: a picture of a vacuum - you hear it, a flower- you smell it.
My magnetic body is a bit hit. The children are learning about their senses and their body parts. Now, they are learning that they have parts inside their body that are really important.
Several of the other science items will be saved for later in the year. The set of real bugs discovery kit will be used when we study transformation & insects that go through changes.
The Human x-rays will be added to our science area when our explorations focus around "all about us"- learning about ourselves and our bodies. We will use the x rays, when our dramatic play area, becomes a doctors office .
We have 10 units of study and the science materials really enhance our Pre K classes. It is a pleasure sharing these items and rotating them with the other Pre K classes.
Thanks for supporting our classroom in NYC. I am humbled by your donations!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by Yellow Chair Foundation and 44 other donors.What's Up Doc?
Funded Jul 4, 2019Thank you for supporting our classroom. With your help, we were able to help get the dramatic play area into a fun pediatric doctor's office. The children (girls and boys) are able to imagine that they can be doctors and help the baby(dolls) get better. This opportunity will help them build their self esteem. As well, they can learn that they have choices. They can be doctors in the future, if that is the path that they choose.
We have several themes a year. With your help, we purchased many puzzles. The majority of them were puzzles with photos of real items, that related to our themes. We have animal & baby photo puzzles, fruit and vegetable puzzles too. The puzzles are close up photos, which are detailed. We are using a lot of language to enrich our vocabulary while trying to solve puzzles.
I was so happy to share some of these wonderful puzzles with the art teacher. What does she need puzzles for? Well, the art teacher teaches 4 different kindergarten classes during the week. The kindergarten children need play and exploration time too. The art teacher told me she needed more puzzles. I told her your in luck. The Donors Choose project was just funded! Sharing between the teachers is my way of paying it forward. It's for the children. Each class is part of a whole school. We depend on each other to make it work! Thank you for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 38 other donors.Color My World
Funded Jul 15, 2019Thank you so much for donating and helping this project reach its goal. It's amazing what a small box of color ink can do!
Last year, I was lucky enough to a project funded for a color ink printer. Now, I am even luckier to get extra ink to help us continue using the color printer. The color printer helps us in our classroom and the other 2 Pre k classrooms in our building. We need our rooms to be print and color rich.
What do we use the color printing for? Well, all of our toys are in bins. The children are learning to be independent and put their toys away. The color pictures are used on the bins in order to help us sort the toys properly.
The bulletin boards are used to make the hallways bright. It reflects what is going on in our classroom. The color printer & ink was used to make photo copies of the book covers, which decorate the bulletin boards. These are books that we are reading in our class. The children love reading Pete The Cat. They love seeing the pictures in the hallway. We take color photos of the children so that we can use them for our attendance chart & the feeling chart. These 2 charts are part of many ways we help the students become independent in the classroom.
In the future, we will print color photos of the students' participating in class activities. Once a week, we have parent engagement time. During this time, the students and parents are doing hands on activities together. It will be amazing to photograph & print the pictures in order to cherish these memories.
With your help, I am able to help the Pre K students in our Pre K program.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 20 other donors.Good Clean Fun!
Funded Jul 9, 2019Thank you for your support of our classroom project "Good, Clean Fun"! In the beginning of the school year, we bring out new crayons, new posters etc... It is important to have a clean and bright looking rug too.
Our special request was for a steam carpet cleaner to come into our classroom & give our one year old carpet a new life. The carpet cleaner came one week before the start of school. After he cleaned, he showed me all the dirt that came out of the rug. Wow, the rug was really filthy . But now, our class has a clean rug which is essential for the children.
Last year's class spent a lot of time on the rug. It gets naturally dirty. Dirt from our shoes, spills and of course from little hands which are full of germs. I am happy to say, that with your help and a match from Chlorox, the project was funded prior to the start of the school year. Yeah!!
The carpet IS the center of our classroom. It is the place where we have morning meetings, read alouds and math lessons. It is also the place where the children can use big blocks, the puppet theater & read with a friend or independently. As you can see, the incoming class is using the rug on a daily basis. The rug is our base. The children feel safe on the rug. I am pleased that the rug which was funded by Donors Choose, looks brand new because of your support to help fund the steam cleaning of our rug. (And no, our public school does not own a steam vacuum. So, all the other rugs in the building are not steam cleaned, just vacuumed. That gives me an idea. Maybe, the next project should be a steam carpet cleaner machine so that the whole building can benefit...”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by The Clorox Company and 39 other donors.Hatching Chicks in Brooklyn, NYC
Funded Jan 6, 2019Thank you for being patient. What an awesome experience!! Our project only began in June. The farmers from Quiver Farms came from Pennsylvania on a Wednesday. The farmers gave a presentation to the 3 Pre K classes (54 children). We learned about roosters & hens and the life cycle of the chicken. Farmer Tom was very patient asking and answering questions related to the egg experience. They discussed the bird family and we even did some movement while learning about chicken body parts (wings, beaks, etc...). They discussed the process of using the incubator to warm the eggs in leu of the mother hen. We watched Farmer Tom set up the incubator and the brooder box. The students were very excited.
The students began to look at the eggs every hour to see if anything was happening. Nothing happened over the first 3 school days. When we came in on Monday, we checked the incubator. Nothing was cracking . On Tuesday, two eggs were beginning to hatch. When they completed hatching, the chicks were so tired. We left them alone until the next morning. The next day, we sat in a circle and transferred the chicks into the brooding box. We followed the farmers directions and guided the chicks to find the water & food to drink & eat. The students were so excited. They were talking & asking questions! There was such loud chirping too. Throughout the day, the children stopped by the brooding box to watch the 2 chicks eat & drink. The children stopped by the incubator too. We still had 10 eggs that did not hatch. We were disappointed. We waited a few more days, and still we only had 2 eggs hatch. It was disappointing, but we enjoying observing the 2 chirping chicks. We even got to hold them.
The students began observing, discussing, conversing all about chicks and eggs. Instead of playing with toys, the students were taking turns, observing the chicks in the incubator. The chicks stayed in the incubator until the afternoon in order to dry their feathers.
Now the students are asking questions and being inquisitive about birds. For many students who are English language learners, (new to the country), the hands on experience with the language is so important.
I had students saying: Is this a penguin? Oh, look at the fur on the chick. (We discussed what covering birds have), Is this a mammal? etc... The students will remember this experience for a long time.
It will have an impact by having students be more inquisitive and do research to answer questions that they asked me: Why is there a light on in the brooder box? Why do the eggs need to be warm? Will the chicks fly out of the brooder box? Can chickens fly? Why or why not? Are chickens carnivores?
For me, as a teacher... This has been an experience that I wanted to do with my students for a long time, but didn't have the funding. Now, it is something that I will look forward to doing every year thanks to Donors Choose. Once again, thank you for your support of our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
Hot Off the Press
Funded Feb 14, 2019Thank you so much for participating and donating towards this project. With your help, my classroom now has a color printer. It is so important to have technology in our classroom. Having a printer in my classroom is bringing me into the 21 century! Now I am able to print up weekly newsletters to parents on the printer. It saves me precious time of running around the school to the shared printer (which only makes black & white copies).
The other day, I was missing one copy of a homework sheet. I remembered that I had a printer in my classroom. I made the extra copy without stress. That gave me more time to be in the classroom with my students.
My students are excited to build with blocks. After spending time on their constructions, no one wants to take the structures apart. Sometimes we save the structures. But, we can only keep them for up to a week. We need the pieces to build different structures. So one way to remember the structures is to take pictures of them. Now with the new color printer, we can print up the photos!
With the color printer, we can send color photos home. This is a great way to connect the parents with the students in our school.
In Pre K , we need to have a lot of photographs and images in order to build vocabulary. Our word wall is based on pictures. With the new color printer in the room, I am able to create a colorful word wall for the students. Our new unit is water. Our first chart is : Where can we find water? Our vocabulary words include: waterfall, pond, ocean, river, shower, faucet, etc... The students are really remembering the vocabulary words, since we can print up colorful pictures.
Thank you for being part of the Donor's Choose community.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and 22 other donors.On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!
Funded Feb 28, 2019I am humbled that so many of you donated to our classroom. What a great day. This project was funded by parents from my class and a match from ESPN. It is wonderful that each of you made a donation to help On Your Mark, Get Set, Go. Our new equipment arrived! The students were so excited to see all boxes. It took cooperation on our part to put the tricycle, tractors together. Thankfully, we have a very handy educational assistant on the Grade. Thank you Ms. M.
It is great that we can use the tricycles indoors and outdoors. The 3 tricycles were on the wish list because we had 2 in school. One tricycle broke. With your help, we were able to add 3 new tricycles.
The exercise helps us develop our muscles and coordination. But is also helps us focus when we need to learn. The students can sit still longer for a story/read aloud after using exercise equipment.
Thank you for being part of the Donors Choose community. You are part of the village, that is taking responsibility in the future of the children. Thank you for making the world a better place.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B
This classroom project was brought to life by ESPN and 5 other donors.