Past projects 146
Banishing the Pandemic Bug With Bugs!
Funded Jul 20, 2021It's safe to say that I am the happiest I have ever been as a teacher. As traumatic as the pandemic was - teaching remotely stripped away all the things I love about being a teacher - it gave me perspective about what it is I love about being in the classroom.
The last several weeks, my students have become behavioral scientists by using the arthropods and kits you donated. But, more importantly they have become more curious, braver, and more collaborative with one another. They are gelling as a group through the shared experience of meeting, using, and caring for these organisms. It's been a ton of fun hearing them ask "can I bring the millipedes to my table now?" and "can I bring the bessbugs home?"
They are growing in front of my eyes, learning language, but also learning to care for other forms of life. As a biology teacher who wants to raise citizen stewards of the earth, this is all I can ask for! Thank you for making it all possible with your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective.Remote Learning Bugs Me. Bugs Will Bring Us Together!
Funded Jul 20, 2021It's safe to say that I am the happiest I have ever been as a teacher. As traumatic as the pandemic was - teaching remotely stripped away all the things I love about being a teacher - it gave me perspective about what it is I love about being in the classroom.
The last several weeks, my students have become behavioral scientists by using the arthropods and kits you donated. But, more importantly they have become more curious, braver, and more collaborative with one another. They are gelling as a group through the shared experience of meeting, using, and caring for these organisms. It's been a ton of fun hearing them ask "can I bring the millipedes to my table now?" and "can I bring the bessbugs home?"
They are growing in front of my eyes, learning language, but also learning to care for other forms of life. As a biology teacher who wants to raise citizen stewards of the earth, this is all I can ask for! Thank you for making it all possible with your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and one other donor.Are You Sitting? No? Then Build a Bench!
Funded Jul 20, 2021What a first week back. For the first time in 18 months, I started to feel whole again trying to place names to faces rather than staring at names with no faces. It has been fun to watch our new community gel these past few days, watch who raises hands, who instinctively helps their classmates, and watch shy students start to emerge from their shell.
The bench kits you donated made for an amazing day on Friday when all of this came together. I got to see students who love working with their hands, I watched students take charge of a project, I watched who wants to be the photographer, and I saw who needed breaks and who powered through. It's overwhelming frankly to get to know 70 students like this - it's like drinking from a firehose! But it is invigorating, it's a challenge, and it's all happening as they are becoming a community with one another.
The messages on their benches echo the community principles of our school at the same time they practiced them - collaboration, creativity, advocating for equity, leading, and persevering. Students were eager to show what they could do, and wow, did they do it! We now have personalized benches that represent our school and our students, a need in our yard that will be getting used daily for as long as we can hold classes outside.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this amazing return happen. My students, my school, and I are forever grateful!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective.Remembrance Benches: After This Year, We Need A Seat.
Funded May 17, 2021What a first week back. For the first time in 18 months, I started to feel whole again trying to place names to faces rather than staring at names with no faces. It has been fun to watch our new community gel these past few days, watch who raises hands, who instinctively helps their classmates, and watch shy students start to emerge from their shell.
The bench kits you donated made for an amazing day on Friday when all of this came together. I got to see students who love working with their hands, I watched students take charge of a project, I watched who wants to be the photographer, and I saw who needed breaks and who powered through. It's overwhelming frankly to get to know 70 students like this - it's like drinking from a firehose! But it is invigorating, it's a challenge, and it's all happening as they are becoming a community with one another.
The messages on their benches echo the community principles of our school at the same time they practiced them - collaboration, creativity, advocating for equity, leading, and persevering. Students were eager to show what they could do, and wow, did they do it! We now have personalized benches that represent our school and our students, a need in our yard that will be getting used daily for as long as we can hold classes outside.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this amazing return happen. My students, my school, and I are forever grateful!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 2 other donors.Freshen The Classroom With Living Plants!
Funded Jul 20, 2021Three days! My students and I have been back in person now for three days, and it feels like I've been born again. The last 18 months of talking to blank boxes on screens feels like a nightmare I just woke from. These three days of in person learning, I have been seeing (masked) faces, sitting and laughing with students and they have likewise gotten to know one another. I was delighted to get your donation yesterday. I gave each group a box or two and asked them to unpack the plants. They wanted to know, why are these here? I told them - because they are beautiful, and do you like them?The answers were overwhelmingly yes. Returning to a classroom space has been special, now made even more so by these plants. Thank you for giving us a beautiful fresh start to a new year by making our space more welcoming and healthy.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective.Masks To Slow COVID Can Show Off Our Personalities, Too!
Funded Jul 21, 2020Thank you so much for the masks and tie dye kits. This year was a fully virtual one for me and all of my students. We never met as a class in person. I'm welcoming of the news that now it looks like with more vaccinations for myself and my students and their families, and a lower infection rate, we will be together again at last in September. The materials you donated are sitting safely in my classroom, and it is on my list of the first activities I am planning for the fall. I think masks and COVID will still be with us for a while, so it will still be as relevant then as it would have this past year. I look forward to taking photos and sharing with you when we finally get the chance to do this fun activity. Please remain safe yourself, and thank you again for your support of my students in this extraordinarily difficult time.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Wolf
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 8 other donors.Blow COVID Away With Air Circulation And Purifier!
Funded Aug 12, 2020Last 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, 2020You 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, 2020As 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, 2020This 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.