Past projects 10
Wiggling Away While Seated and Learning
Funded Jan 16, 2025Oh my gosh, thank you! I am so excited to have my students use these chairs to wiggle away while learning and you made this possible with your generous support.
My daughter used these types of stools in her elementary days and it positively impacted her in such a meaningful way and giving that experience to my students was made possible only through your support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 7 other donors.Wanted: Cursive Books!
Funded Oct 3, 2024I want to thank you sincerely for these cursive books for my students. I feel it is so important to learn to read and write in cursive, especially in today's technological world. Your generous gift allows them to practice on pencil and paper by tracing and that is training their hands and minds to read and write in cursive.
A huge shout out to the SONIC foundation for matching donations, without their support this project may not have been fully funded. The students have enjoyed reading the cursive jokes and riddles and trying them out on each other. Quite a few of them have been stumped but they are developing their sense of humor along with their cursive handwriting.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Foundation and 2 other donors.Supplementing and Wiggles!
Funded May 7, 2024Thank you again for the flexibility in supplementing my district's curriculum with fun activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. I have been able to update our morning seatwork with new materials. My students have had fun doing some more project based activities as well as novel studies such as "Wonder" thanks to your generous donation.
The wobble stools are ALWAYS in demand-in fact I am inspired to try to get a class set next thanks to your donation. The students gladly come to work with me or get quizzed or work with volunteers at the table with wobble stools helping keep them focused and moving.
Huge shout out to General Motors for their matching donation making this project achievable!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 4 other donors.4th Grade Visual and Performing Arts
Funded Jan 17, 2024I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping our classroom engage in visual and performing arts. The reader's theaters were a hit, the students went around the room practicing their parts while learning and gaining fluency (who knew-hahaha, wink wink). They had a blast tye-dying t-shirts with our school colors and then being able to wear them as a class, we are all human but unique!
On a more practical note the clip boards and the clip board holders kept us organized and students were able to use them when they were not at their desks, I envision more trips outside to be able to do our work. The microfibre cloths helped me keep our classroom clean and tidy. The colorful dry eraser markers enabled me to draw attention to lessons. The snacks were gobbled up by all the fourth graders while we were testing, they did their "berry" best on their tests and did great with encourage-mints!
The different mediums were great for them to explore-they even made their Father's Day gifts with the puzzle piece sets. We learned the hard way not to use acrylic paints on those, in the future we will be using markers-hahaha! Again, thank you so much for your generous donations.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
Comforting and Caring First Graders
Funded Oct 14, 2022I cannot express how excited the students were when they learned about all the projects they were going to be doing throughout the year as the supplies came rolling in thanks to you.
We started off by making spider cookies in October to go with "The Spider and the Fly" and in November we made our turkey cookies just in time for fall. Food art is becoming a thing in first grade thanks to you! They were most excited about making a school spirit tie dye shirt-they learned how to make three different styles and chose which ones they wanted then the rubberbanding and dying began. Because of your donations the entire school gets to see our first graders showing their spirit every week.
In December they learned how to make snowman soup and enjoy it with a good book and fuzzy socks during winter break. Throughout the months your snack donations provided much needed sustenance before tackling after school tutoring which is helping them close their achievement gaps and even extending learning for learners who are ready to go!
Please know that your kindness and generosity touches these children's lives in so many ways.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
Calming Art and School and Class Spirit
Funded Feb 26, 2022I am so thrilled to report to you that my students were absolutely delighted to receive all of the projects you funded! They had a blast making little no sew lap blankets so that during the winter time they were cozy while we had the doors open for ventilation and little pillows to take home. They learned how to make something useful and colorful!
The snacks went a long way to fueling them after school and during test days-they gobbled them all up and the variety was outstanding!
They learned to paint and used acrylics for the first time in class and made their grownups one of three different designs to give. They turned out truly amazing!
They used the colored pencils and multicultural colored pencils to add shade and nuances to bring their drawings to life.
My favorite part was the tie-dye t-shirts to show school spirit. They chose their design, implemented it, and got to wear the fruits of their labor every Friday to show their school pride so even if students couldn't afford a school shirt they had a class one they could wear.
Your impact was so meaningful as this was their last year in elementary before going onto middle school, again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
Catching Up in Applied Science
Funded Jan 1, 2022Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generous donation of science materials. The students were overwhelmed and thrilled with all the new materials they got to work with! Most students had never worked with a microscope before and were absolutely fascinated by what they could see with these little handheld ones. Combining actual experiences with what they were reading was icing on the cake so to speak. The slides of plant and animal cells brought our reading to life. Many had never seen, let alone made, a model before and the ability to actually see what a real 3D interactive model looked like gave them inspiration to make their own.
Seeing them creating and engineering towers, bridges, paper rockets, and more out of everyday materials after working with the kits was a great improvement. It is one thing to read about engineering marvels like complex machines and architecture and buildings/structures that had withstood centuries but to actually try to create that understanding of how things work and what it takes to build them with simple machines and building exercises gives them a greater appreciation of what has been done and can be done.
Our next steps are to continue to utilize these kits to deepen our understanding of our physical, life, and space sciences. We will be starting our unit on space at the end of May and cannot wait to try the planetarium projector-the oohs and ahhs will be very satisfying! Again, thank you for providing our students with these learning opportunities, without your support science would not be as "fun".”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
This classroom project was brought to life by Young Sheldon on CBS and 3 other donors.Comfort and Care
Funded Dec 15, 2021Thank you so much for your generosity in donating polar fleece, pillow stuffing, and snacks for our classroom. The students are not used to having doors and windows open all winter due to Covid-19 and no matter how much we give them friendly reminders to layer up they often forget and are always grateful for warm blankets. Many had never made their own blankets and pillows before and they loved keeping them on their laps, over their shoulders, and even over their heads (especially after new haircuts!).
The students did not know what to make of the polar fleece and stuffing when they first saw it but were excited once I explained the project. Even though they are 6th graders and getting ready to enter middle school the joy of creativity has never left them and they are still kids at heart snuggling into their blankets. It gave them the added comfort they needed as they transitioned back to in person learning.
Your generous contribution of the after school snacks helped students gain energy and push through staying that extra hour after school, they LOVED picking and choosing the snacks to start their little break before getting back to close those learning gaps.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
Make Rhythmic Music Happen
Funded Jan 1, 2021Thank you so much for your fabulous contribution of musical instruments to our 4th grade classroom! I can't tell you how excited they were to see the materials when they arrived last week. We have only been in person in small groups since April 15th but there was much excited banging and "ooh cool, listen to this!" exploring the instruments while they were safely distanced.
This is the first year they have been introduced to music with instruments and we have been using our hands, feet, and pencils until our materials arrived. They have been loving cardio desk drumming and I can't wait to hear it once they have their rhythm sticks!
Research shows how important music and art instruction is to brain learning and development. Your willingness to step forward and contribute to our classroom music program is greatly appreciated.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson
Just Do It-Sports Equipment Needed!
Funded Aug 11, 2019I cannot thank you enough for the physical education equipment for our 3rd grade students here at Michael J. Castori Elementary School in Sacramento! The bright shiny brand new colorful equipment wowed them! We started the year off teaching the students how to play kickball which was super fun with the over sized ball that came with the kit-they LOVED it! It amazed me that they had never played it before. It is fun seeing them play the game during recess because we taught all 100 of them how to play.
Our next unit was how to play soccer correctly, with close to 100 students all soccer balls were needed as we ran two skills clinics and 2 sets of scrimmages. I am glad I was able to watch my daughters play for years so I was able to use those same drills and scrimmage (teach while they play) tactics with the 3rd graders here-they love soccer even more than they love kickball! There is not a day that goes by that they do not play soccer at one of their recesses.
After that, we focused on four square and tag games. Again, I was surprised that they had not learned how to play four square and seeing the joy on their faces as they were able to play with their friends (we had four games going at once-crazy fun!) was priceless.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dawn Robinson