Past projects 15
Build Explore Learn with LEGOS
Funded Aug 31, 2019My students were so excited when the boxes of LEGOs were delivered to our classroom! They immediately dove right in and began the creative process of a prek student building and constructing together! The collaboration, communication, and cooperation is amazing to observe while the students construct elaborate scenes with the LEGOs. My students are able to explore shape, space, position, numeracy, cooperative building and teamwork all with these LEGO kits! It truly is amazing to listen to their language develop while role playing with their friends! After a farmer delivered us real eggs to incubate and hatch, my students role played 'being a farmer', growing the crops in the field they planted, collecting the eggs in the barn they built, and hauling the crops with the wagon! Creativity and imagination are the cornerstones of preschool learning, and they certainly were able to use these LEGOs to help foster this! By providing my students with these LEGO sets, they have had the opportunity to work collaboratively to build the many different LEGO scenes, take turns, share, properly use materials, AND develop many cognitive and language skills! I truly appreciate your generosity by providing my students with these wonderful materials!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 7 other donors.Scientists in the Making!
Funded Mar 27, 2018My students were so excited to open the boxes of science materials! They were even more excited to begin exploring and investigating with everything sent! They absolutely love looking through the view finders and seeing the up close photos of the many creatures in our world. They continually bring the view finders to me and say, "Mrs. Duffy! Mrs. Duffy! Look! Look!" with such excitement. The wind tunnel is the perfect size to have a group of 'scientists in the making' join in and predict whether the object they choose will be 'light enough or too heavy' to be blown around inside the wind tunnel cartridge. They cheer when they see the objects whirling and twirling around! One of the most exciting experiments was observing my students learn the concept of electricity and actually complete a circuit using the Light and Sound Touch Circuit first hand! As a few students held hands in a circle, we would predict if the Light and Sound Touch Circuit tube would light up and play music when it was added to the circle. We continued to add more and more students and watch in amazement as the circuit would be completed and the circuit tube would light up and sing! We ended up making a circuit with the entire class holding hands! It was so thrilling for everyone!
I am truly astonished to see my students develop their science thinking through all of these hands on experiments. I am so thankful that you helped to provide these materials for my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Orkin and 8 other donors.Peep, Peep! See Me Hatch!
Funded Aug 19, 2017For the past 21 days, my students have been learning about farm animals. They have not only learned about the different kinds of animals found on a typical farm, but they have experienced the hatching of chicks! With your generous donation that purchased an incubator, the boys and girls were actually able to see the baby chicks hatch out of the eggs and fluff out right before their eyes!
By having the incubator in our classroom, the boys and girls counted the chicken eggs as I put them in the incubator, and we then counted down each day afterward while learning about the stages of development. We not only had a 'count down' chart in our classroom, but one was sent home with each student so families could join in the excitement. As 'hatching day' approached, the excitement mounted with my students and families! Parents and siblings were able to join in the excitement by coming in to the classroom to see the chicks hatch too!
My students and families have not only had the amazing experience of observing new life, but they have been able to learn how to care for the chicks and observe how quickly they grow as well. This would not have been possible without your support in early childhood education and your generous donation!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 7 other donors.Van Goghs In Training In Pre-K!
Funded Mar 30, 2017Thank you so much for supporting my classroom art project!
My students were so incredibly excited when the box of art materials arrived. They could not wait to open the boxes and bags and get busy! Together, we unwrapped the art materials, sorted them into bins, labeled the bins, and began to create.
The boys and girls immediately began to discuss what they were creating with the various materials, explaining their thought process, and problem solving how to connect the pieces to form their boats, castles, and robots. I was amazed at their creativity! I was also very proud as a teacher to see my students so focused and relaxed as they were expressing their structures with one another.
Your generous gift has allowed my students to have a plethora of art materials to develop not only the creative process, but language, social, and fine motor skills as well. In addition, my classroom will have some materials to begin the next school year. We are all very grateful for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 4 other donors.Family Fun Fridays and Building!
Funded Dec 16, 2016My students were so incredibly excited when the new building materials arrived! The boys and girls could not wait for me to open the different kits and get started! We organized the gears, Mag Builders and K'Nex kits into containers, made signs for them, and began to create. When I explained to my students that 'they' could be the teacher with their parents and learn how to design, build, and solve problems together, they were even more ecstatic.
The groups of parents/grandparents that have participated in Family Fun Fridays have thoroughly enjoyed having such innovative materials to help guide their child in learning and exploring with. Together, parent-child teams have built vehicles using their imaginations and by following visual directions. Grandparent-child teams have engineered bridges using the blueprints of real-like bridges, making sure they included important elements to make the bridges strong together. Teams of parents and children have designed entire play lands together with the many gears and characters, all the while laughing and building relationships!
These family experiences at school have truly been inspirational and heartwarming for me to observe. I am pretty certain that all of the families that have come for Family Fun Fridays and building, will be back for more! As a teacher, my goal is to make sure my families feel welcome in my classroom and provide meaningful experiences with their child to facilitate academic success.
Thank you for helping to make this possible!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 9 other donors.Ready-Set-Let's Keep Moving Inside!
Funded Aug 10, 2016Dear Donors,
The boys and girls in my classroom were so extremely excited to open the generous gifts for our room that you provided! They literally were 'jumping for joy' on the natural elements carpets when we unrolled them. Some of my students immediately noticed the letters on one of our new carpets and said, "The letters look like sticks!". My goal was to "bring the outdoors inside" during inclement weather, and the boys and girls noticed and loved them!
The natural area carpets have been providing comfortable learning areas to move, build, read, and even develop a deeper appreciation for the natural world. We use the carpets and large blocks everyday for active exploration during center time. The boys and girls not only utilize the carpets for active exploration, but the carpets provide a comfortable area for exercising through Yoga.
The students learn body awareness, strength, endurance, the alphabet, and peer-to-peer relationships through the many activities that occur on the natural elements carpets. We are so fortunate to have the many supporters of early childhood education who provided these materials for us! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Target and one other donor.iCan With iBook!
Funded Feb 10, 2015Hatching chicks in my classroom is always such an exciting event for my students every year. With the knowledge I gained from being trained in iBook Author, I was able to provide my students with the story component on the iPad! They had the first-hand experience of hatching chicks and learning about the farm, and then they were able to experience the writing component through writing an iBook! The students were then able to share their excitement and knowledge with their parents.
All of these content and technology connections were possible with the training you helped to provide me. One of the most important components to the iBook Author training is being able to provide the iBook on my classroom web sight to enable parents and students to read future iBooks together! School and home connections are imperative to student learning!
Thank you, again, for your generous donation and helping me to provide a foundation for my students to become proficient readers and by reinforcing concepts through technology!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Unlocking Numbers ~ With Financial Literacy!
Funded Feb 3, 2015My students were so excited when we opened the Financial Literacy materials that they couldn't wait to begin the counting and learning! These new materials definitely developed an interests in counting with them.
Many of the games encourage my students to count objects and identify the numerals to match the quantity. They are even learning basic addition with some of the games! The materials are not only developmentally appropriate for young learners, but the games have many different levels of learning available for the many different level of learners in my classroom. This enables all the students to participate in all of the games and materials at their own level of development.
Giving my young learners exciting materials to learn and explore how shapes fit together, create new structures and inventions, and learn how numbers are important in our environment will build a strong foundation for mathematical concepts. My students will be able to move on to kindergarten with the skills necessary to be successful!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. and 8 other donors.Skunks, Raccoons, And Bears, Oh My! - Teach For The Planet
Funded Oct 22, 2014When my students helped open the boxes full of the forest animal puppets and the habitat materials, they were filled with excitement! They literally could not wait to start using them. My students immediately placed the animal puppets on their hands and began 'having the animals talk'! We labeled a container with the habitat materials along with forest books and placed them in the block learning center for the boys and girls to begin building forest animal habitats.
Since the materials have come, my students have read many books to learn about nature, forest animals, and how we need to care for the environment these animals live in. The boys and girls have developed language skills by retelling several stories using the puppets as props.
Through these experiences, the boys and girls in my class have had many hands-on opportunities to foster an appreciation for nature and the environment. I now hope that my students will have a better appreciation for our planet!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and 4 other donors.Counting And Measuring In The Garden
Funded May 28, 2014I can't thank you enough for supporting my little gardeners with your generous donation! Thank you for providing my students with these exciting materials to investigate and learn about gardens and the critters that live in the gardens. The materials have allowed them hands on learning experiences of their world! The counting materials not only have allowed my students to build their math skills, but my students are learning about the foods and insects we find in our garden. They are learning to count and measure with colorful and inviting food and insect manipulatives that they love to use! My students also pretend that they are scientists using the magnifying glasses with the real insect and plant specimens, comparing and counting each specimen! Again, thank you so much for allowing my students the opportunity to develop an awareness of nature including gardening, foods from the gardens, and the insects that we might see in the gardens.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Duffy
This classroom project was brought to life by Lakeshore Learning and 7 other donors.