Mr. Wolf's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 147

• Blow COVID Away With Air Circulation And Purifier!

  Funded Aug 12, 2020

  Last week was one of the handful of times I returned to my school building since it was shuttered in March 2020. Only a fraction of our students have returned to learn in person, while the majority still log in remotely. Of those coming into the building, all of the precautions for curbing the spread of COVID are in place: masks, reduced room capacities, social distancing, and to the extent possible, ventilation. The air purifier you donated last summer is a centerpiece of this effort.

  In the classroom I would normally call home, your donation hums away on days students are there, circulating air and filtering what is possible. I know that when I return and students are there in greater numbers, it will continue to protect us from COVID-19 and keep us safe from other kinds of air pollution - pollen, dust, other infectious organisms, and whatever else indoor air pollution can throw at us.

  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping my students and colleagues and I safe now and into the future.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 13 other donors.

• When the World Is Closed, a Pencil Opens a Door

  Funded May 29, 2020

  You know this has been a crazy, unprecedented year for schools. That is why you donated to my classroom in the midst of this pandemic. Back when you made your donation last summer, I had no idea exactly how crazy this year would be. In the 8 months of school, I have seen maybe a dozen of my 120 students in person. The majority of them have come to remote classes, but only a handful have felt comfortable enough to turn on their cameras. Under these conditions, it has been really difficult to keep connected.

  Something that has made a huge difference was being able to equip my distant students with learning supplies from your donation. At the start of my neuroscience class, I prepared an envelope with supplies for writing, drawing, and even conducting experiments like a homunculus tester. Each student received one. We've had remote lessons coloring parts of the nervous system and brain and writing notes on paper (a rarity in these days of google classroom!).

  I had no idea how I would get these supplies to my students at first. Thanks to the US Postal Service and you, they had a little more sense of normalcy and a little less isolation this year. You made a huge impact in this time of immense need. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping my students feel special and learn through this difficult time.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.

• Lights, Camera...Action Is At Home During Remote Learning

  Funded Sep 16, 2020

  As we approach the end of this unprecedented year, it is more than past time that I thank you for the camera and accessories you donated. Remote school this year has been challenging to say the least. Communicating with students, even seeing them, sometimes feels like an impossibility. One strategy that has had some success this year is using the technology we have on hand to tell stories about our lives and our work.

  Early in the year, the focus was on getting to know students and to help them get to know me. The GoPro camera was my lifeline. I don't have a great cell phone camera and have never been much of a videographer. What I found with this camera was that it was simple to set up and to record very high quality recordings. I recorded myself in my garden, at my remote classroom office (my bedroom) and with my own kids as we did the experiments students were then asked to do. In each of these cases, students saw their teacher, and were just a little more comfortable making their own recordings. It has not only been a window for both of us to see one another, but it has been an opportunity for students to share science with their families and share their experiences with their classmates.

  Thank you for making this difficult year just a little easier by giving me this camera. I hear it often that during this pandemic we are all in this together. In this case, I really felt it was so knowing that there are folks like you making pandemic life a bit easier for teachers and their students. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, be well, and stay safe.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose 20th Anniversary Fund and 7 other donors.

• School is Only Open If My Computer Can Load

  Funded Aug 11, 2020

  This last 4 months has felt like 4 years. I've reflected back on all of the things I have done since the day the computer you donated arrived. From the first day, I was able to put it to use doing things my old computer could not. This summer, we held a meeting with teachers, returning students, and new students, introducing the new students to our school for the first time, answering their questions, and learning a little bit about one another. With the new machine, I was able to host the meeting while monitoring participants at the same time on my old machine. It was a level of meeting control I have used in almost every class since, literally trying to be in 2 places at once.

  As the computer gently reminds me each week, I am averaging 8+ hours per day on this screen (and this is factoring in my self-imposed limits on weekends of a few hours per day, so on weekdays it is much more than 8). This computer has literally been a lifeline to my students. Nearly every interaction with them has been through this donation. I am running daily classes, individual meetings with students and sometimes parents, and all of my meetings with colleagues as we plan everyday like it is our first day of teaching.

  My students get to see the polish and the warts. They see the videos I have made, the presentations, the livestreamed broadcasts of our collaborative work, and the digital tools that have become such a centerpiece of our curriculum. It is safe to say that despite the stress and difficulty of these last several months (I can't believe it has only been 4, it feels like 400), this donation has been the key. As we continue remote learning for the immediate future, I want to thank you again for making this whole endeavor a little more bearable. I hope that sooner rather than later, I am using this computer in my classroom in a room full of students for many years to come. Stay safe, and stay healthy.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.

• Creating Multicultural Unity & Racial Equity Through Genetic Research

  Funded Sep 23, 2019

  It goes without saying that the school year that ended last month was unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Just weeks before I planned on using your donation to conduct real DNA experiments in my classroom, the unbelievable happened, and physical schools shuttered for the rest of the year. In my lab freezer lie still the reagents for this experiment. Part of the heartbreak of being apart from my students the final 3 months was that I could not share this amazing activity with them.

  Stuck at home during remote learning, I think I was able to bring the next best thing to students. In collaboration with our team's history teacher, we took students on a deep dive into race and institutional racism, doing what we could to apply the tools of science and history to help students decide what race really is.

  The result was anything but perfect. Students showed up intermittently, if at all, and the ones who did had difficulty adapting to an online world. Through all of the difficulty however, I feel like we made a difference in the way my students define race and how they looked at the protests and upheavals that rightfully took over the airwaves in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and too many others.

  As you can see from our online classes, students tested hypotheses about race using the traits we can see in one another, they challenged their assumptions about skin color, and learned the scientific basis of that trait. By the end, students were creating their own inspirational poetry and presentations about race - how it impacts them, and how they believe we can live a better future where the inequities of institutional racism are met head on.

  When we return to school, I plan to continue this work, and I know that the reagents you sent us are there to further enrich the conversations we will have as my students and I strive for a more perfect world. Thank you, and please stay safe.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

• Headphones For Listening To Our Voices Grow

  Funded Mar 2, 2020

  It's a really strange feeling to write to you now in the midst of a global pandemic, but somehow it is stranger that I have not been in my classroom or seen my students in over 2 months. I never could have imagined, as I'm sure is the case for most of us, that anything could disrupt the welcome routine of going to school and learning along with my students each day.

  Right before schools closed, we received the headphones you donated. We only got to use them a few times before school closed for good, and they still are sitting, I hope, in my classroom. The feeling around the room when students got to use these new headphones was kind of like that feeling at Christmas or your birthday when you feel good just because someone thought of you. Before these headphones arrived, we had a mishmash of headphones being shared across 3 classrooms. Many pairs barely worked or were broken, and were extremely worn. When students got to put on a new bright blue or yellow pair you donated, they had a look of gratitude, but also pride. Pride that with the right tool, they didn't have to root around looking for a working pair, or resign themselves to listening to the tinny, quiet speakers on our computers. Pride that they could get to work right away, and be more productive in their learning than they had been before. You made that happen.

  When we return, having a pair of headphones for every student is going to be critical to maintaining distancing and breaking the chain of transmission of this virus. To me, it is a clear case that true equity and fairness comes when the most vulnerable are given what they need to find their own success, and in this case, preserve their health.

  Thank you for making my classroom a fairer, healthier, and more colorful place.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by A group of anonymous donors and one other donor.

• Birds, Books, and Students Without Borders

  Funded Oct 2, 2019

  Wow, I never thought I'd be sending this letter now under these circumstances. We are now 2 months into distance learning, and it's breaking my heart to not be with my students in person. Before schools closed, we had done quite a bit this year to learn about birds. One of our most important tools were the field guides you donated to our classroom. With them, students connected with the birds of their home countries, taught one another about these species, and used them as inspiration for engineering their own bird beaks. Having books about birds from all over the world drew in my students, all immigrants. They were intrigued to learn about species from their own country, and in many cases, eager to teach me about birds they found.

  Now that travel is so restricted due to the pandemic, it seems silly to think that a few months ago, these field guides were are portal to a wider world. In retrospect, it was a magical experience to show my students how birds connect them to one another, their home countries, and to their new home.

  Thank you for giving us the gift of these field guides, which I expect will be a fixture in my classroom and my students memories for years to come. When we finally get back to our classroom, I know they will be waiting there to transport us and connect us to far away places, to wildlife, and to one another.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by Carnegie Corporation of New York and 4 other donors.

• Learning About Rainforests In the Rainforest!

  Funded May 6, 2019

  It's been a couple of months now since I returned from my experience at the Morpho Institute Alumni Conference in Peru, but the impact has not lessened in all of that time. I am deeply grateful for your help in attending this transformative week in the Amazon. It is hard to highlight all of the ways in which this helped me as an educator and as a person. On the first full day there, I was honored to present a proposal for documenting the cumulative knowledge and experiences of the many people who make this place so special. I introduced the idea of an Amazon StoryCorps project where interviews of the people who visit, those who work in the Amazon, and those who call it home, can be archived and shared. In a place where the human impact of policies for logging, farming, and mining exploitation can be hard to document, my hope for introducing this project is that everyone who is interested in the Amazon can hear from the people who live there and depend on its natural resources for survival. It was fitting that only a few days after that, I was given the opportunity to visit a village where entrepreneurial individuals are trying to create a sustainable industry of honey cultivation using the native stingless bee species of the rainforest. These men and women have amazing stories to tell, and I was able to record them telling these stories! It is just one small part of why this place is so important - by putting a face and a voice to it, I hope my students and the larger world can think twice before allowing it to be lost to fire or chainsaws.

  All of this was in addition to the amazing biodiversity and birds I was able to see during my week there. I'm so grateful as a biologist and as a teacher that I can have an experience like this and share it with my students. We are focusing on birds in our class this fall, and the goal is for students to create their own research and proposals for preserving the habitats critical for bird populations. My trip to the Amazon is a way for them to see this not an academic exercise, but rather something very real and connected to us. I was given the opportunity to do something real to protect the rainforest when you sent me to Peru, and now I am using it to inspire and teach my students to also take action. Thank you for your generosity and your belief in me to make the most of this trip.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 3 other donors.

• One Pencil Bag For A Whole Year Of Learning

  Funded Jul 12, 2019

  We're a bit of a ways into the school year right now, and I can say your donations have made a huge difference. Students are prepared and ready to learn every class because they have the pencils, pens, and other essentials that they need. When I say "Good morning," everyone is able to get started right away, cutting down on wasted time. One student remarked how surprised he was that we provided so many things they would need at the start of the year, and how he felt like our school was helping his family by saving them money he would otherwise have to spend on supplies. You've made our year so much better by putting all of my students on a level playing field and getting them ready to learn. Thank you!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

• Planter Boxes Will Grow More Than Plants

  Funded Nov 27, 2018

  The tools and materials you donated to build planter boxes have been put to excellent use. 2 weeks ago, our school had its first ever "Opening Project." We mixed students and teachers from all grade levels and teams to tackle one issue in our community. My project, naturally, was "Greening our School." We set up shop in the school yard with lumber and soil, and began cutting, hammering, drilling, and painting until we had created 4 large outdoor planters, and almost 40 indoor boxes decorated with positive messages about diversity, art, and our creative community. It was an exhausting, but exhilarating and ultimately successful 2 days. It was possible because you donated so much of the materials we used. I look forward to more projects in the future where students can once again take the lead on building a better future for our school and themselves.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Wolf

  This classroom project was brought to life by Samsung and one other donor.