Mr. Schultz's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 62

• Gross Motor Fun in the Classroom

  Funded Sep 14, 2015

  Your donation has made a huge impact on my classroom. We only have gym scheduled twice a week and often the weather prevents us from getting recess time, so my students often don't get gross motor time. As you can see from the photos, the equipment you provided eliminates these issues and my students are able to have gross motor play every day. This has helped with physical development as well increasing focus and academic growth. The trampoline is an especially popular item and I have seen my students' jumping skills improve greatly; some of my students were unable to jump prior to using the trampoline.

  Balance and ball skills have also improved for all the students. Initially, when we introduced the basketball and hoop, the students would just go to the net and drop the ball in. Now they are able to throw the ball from a short distance and increasingly shoot the ball into the hoop. Some of my students are now independently able to walk across the balance beam while others are walking across with less support. The outdoor balls are also very popular and have helped to improve ball skills and social skills (many of the students choose to throw a ball back and forth with a partner for a few turns).

  Finally, my students are better able to attend and focus because they get all their excess energy out. This translates into increasing academic skills as my students are better able to focus on their work. There are so many skills that have increased because of your donation and I've only been able to touch upon a few of them in this impact letter. Thanks for your generosity.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• A Puzzling Project

  Funded Aug 16, 2015

  Thank you for all for your generous donations. Many of my students were outgrowing our current set of puzzles and they have found the donated puzzles much more challenging. The puzzles have helped to enhance many of the skills that we are working on in the classroom. They have helped to increase visual performance, fine-motor and problem solving skills.

  Additionally, they have helped to increase the students' ability to attend and focus - this is an extremely important piece of the learning process. Speech & language is an area of focus in my classroom and all of the puzzles have colorful pictures that help with labeling and conversational skills, as well as receptive language skills. Thank you for all you have done for my students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• Science is Cool

  Funded May 21, 2015

  Thank you for your awesome donation! My students have had so much fun exploring the science resources that you provided. My students often choose to use these resources during table time and during choice time and they are using their senses to gather, explore and interpret information. The science toys have helped my students to sit and focus which is difficult for any three-year old, especially atypical learners. More importantly, the resources have the children talking more and asking questions. They are not only using language to request the materials but they are using language to ask questions such as "What is this?" or "Why does it do that?" This is a great use of language skills and is an important part of scientific thinking. My next goal is to have the students make predictions about what they think will happen using all of these wonderful materials.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• An iPad for Every Student

  Funded Jan 25, 2015

  Thank you for donating to my classroom. I know from personal experience that the right resources can make a tremendous impact on a classroom. I have been very fortunate to have several projects funded through Donor's Choose and these donations have all helped my students increase achievement in all developmental domains.

  The iPad that you provided has helped me come closer to my goal of an iPad for every student in my classroom. The iPad is an extremely popular resource and it is helpful in supplementing academic, speech & language and and social goals which are an important part of our curriculum. The students have been playing literacy and math games to increase skills such as phonemic awareness and counting with one-to-one correspondence. There are also many applications that help to increase receptive and expressive language. My students often choose to play next to each other with iPads and they will play the same game, helping one another, speaking to each other, sharing and taking turns. I have only touched upon a few of the benefits of your donation and words can not sufficiently express my gratitude. Thank You!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• The World at Our Fingertips

  Funded Jan 1, 2015

  Thank you for your awesome donation. The iPad you donated is an extremely popular resource that my students often request during 'choice time'. My students often sit next to each other while using their iPads and choose to play the same academic games. Recently they have been choosing to play games such as 'Stack the States' and 'Presidents vs. Aliens'. Not only has this helped to increase their skills in the social studies domain, but it has helped to improve their social interactions and speech & language skills. My students will help one another identify states and label presidents and they are able to enjoy a shared experience of their choosing. It seems counterintuitive, but the iPads have helped the students to organically and independently form deeper friendships. There have been many other benefits such as increasing math skills such as counting with one-to-one correspondence and increasing literacy skills like phonemic awareness and sight word identification. The list of benefits goes on and on! Thanks again.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• A Library Every Student Will Love

  Funded Dec 20, 2014

  Thank you for your wonderful donation - you gave my students many reasons to continue their love of reading. No classroom is complete without an amazing and developmentally appropriate library. The resources you have provided have helped to increase skills in many developmental domains. Several of my students have emergent verbal skills and the picture books have helped them increase their ability to label pictures and common items in their environment. This in turn has increased their social interactions as they are better able to interact with peers and adults. My more advanced students are now able to identify more letters and their corresponding sounds. A few of my students are even reading sight words and sentences with known words. Furthermore, they have demonstrated comprehension of what they've read by verbally answering questions about the text. Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• Floor Play is an Important Part of Our Day

  Funded Dec 13, 2014

  Thank you so much for your amazing donation. As you can see from the photos, my students love the resources you have provided. This is my fifteenth year teaching early learners and I can say that this year floor play is more popular than it has ever been. Every day, my students request to use cars and trains during choice time. With all the resources that you provided, floor play has become a very successful learning experience for my students. The children are no longer trying to take highly preferred toys from their friends since there are plenty of highly preferred toys to be shared by all the students. Interpersonal skills have increased as the kids are playing in the same area while engaging in similar activities and they are increasingly sharing toys, speaking to one another and building together. The resources you have provided are helping my students form friendships with one another, which is especially difficult for students who are atypical learners. They are also engaging in pretend play with increasing frequency when provided with adults models. In addition to social gains, the resources have helped increase speech & language skills such as requesting items and labeling objects for peers and adults. The benefits of your donation go far beyond what I have mentioned here and words cannot fully express my gratitude. Thank you!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

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

• Tech for Tots Part IV

  Funded Jul 17, 2014

  Thank you for your amazing donation to my classroom. It is my goal to obtain an iPad for every student in my class. Technology is an excellent tool in enhancing the educational experience of every child and it is a tool that all of my students are able to use independently. Every child in my classroom has demonstrated interest in technology and it has helped greatly in supplementing the educational experience of my students, for example, one child was unable to trace letters using more traditional methods but he was able to trace using the iPad. Now the student has transferred this ability to trace using pencil and paper.

  The iPad has helped to increase skills for all students in many developmental domains. It has helped with speech & language skills such as requesting and a myriad of academic skills such as literacy and math skills. It seems counterintuitive that an iPad can increase social skills but I often see a student using this technology side-by-side with other students and engaging in verbal exchanges or helping one another come up with the correct answer.

  Thank you for helping my students grow by providing this awesome resource. My class is one step closer to reaching my goal of an iPad for every student.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

• Sensory Play Helps Us Learn

  Funded Aug 24, 2014

  As you can see, the resources you provided to my students have had an immediate and positive impact on their education. The whole group is working next to each other, attending to the task at hand, while sharing the resources and engaging in conversation. Academic skills have improved as students are able to 'feel' letters and numbers and gain a deeper understanding of phonemic awareness and number identification. One student who did not yet know her letter sounds is now able to label all of her letter sounds. Another student is now identifying many of his numbers and colors. Most importantly, my students are enjoying learning. Thank you for all you have done for my students and classroom.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

  This classroom project was brought to life by Play-Doh and 3 other donors.

• Tech for Tots Part 2

  Funded Apr 6, 2014

  Thank you for your amazing contribution to my students. Although they are young, they have become incredibly tech savvy and the additional iPad has helped to foster growth in several developmental domains. Incredibly, it has helped to increase social skills because the students sit side-by-side one another and often play the same academic games on the classroom iPad's. They often help one another find the correct answer and they often talk to one another as they work at their iPad's on instructional applications. In addition, it has helped with classroom management as there are now enough iPad's that the students all get a turn if they choose.

  Today was our prek 'graduation' ceremony and the iPad was instrumental in bringing the performance alive. We were able to project what the students were able to accomplish and the families were amazed. One student traced and this was a skill the family didn't know he was able to perform. The other students took turns identifying the presidents and the entire school was stunned at the skills such early learners were able to perform. Words cannot express my gratitude.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Schultz

  This classroom project was brought to life by 100 Women in Hedge Funds and 4 other donors.