Past projects 11
Exploring Identities
Funded Sep 21, 2022I can't thank all of you enough for your generosity and donations. My students will be so excited when they get to use these materials throughout the year to explore their identities! I feel so fortunate to have such an amazing village of past/current student's families and friends that support me and my "children".”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.Social Justice for All
Funded Jun 24, 2021The teachers and staff at my school were so excited to receive The Cultivating Genius and Hear My Voice/Escucha mi voz: The Testimonies of Children books. Teachers have been using The Cultivating Genius to further the work we've doing around social justice, inclusivity, and equity in thinking about our units and lessons. Hear My Voice/Escucha mi voz: The Testimonies of Children book is being used as a read aloud across upper grade classrooms to continue this work with our students. These resources have supported both teachers, staff and students in our school continue and further our work around social justice, inclusivity, and equity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
Independent Writing Projects
Funded May 5, 2021Our 2nd graders last year had the best time brainstorming, planning, and creating their very own big books! Our students were so excited when we told them that they would each get their very own big book and would get to choose what kind of story they would want to go inside of it (narrative, informational, or opinion). Throughout the process of writing and illustrating their books our students took so much pride in their work. It was an amazing artifact that they each got to take home and share with their families and friends as well! Thank you all so much again for helping bring the joy of learning back into our classroom during such a challenging year!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 4 other donors.Engaging Read Alouds
Funded Oct 19, 2020What a school year it has been so far! With all of the challenges we have faced this school year, the books we received have supported so many of my students and have truly been the highlight of their learning. One of the biggest obstacles that many teachers, including myself, have struggled with during this time is student engagement and getting students excited about learning. Many of the books helped my student's practice skills to help them become better readers and writers. "The Rhyming Dust Bunnies" was a favorite. During read alouds students generated their own rhyming words and wrote their own versions of the Dust Bunny Rhyming book. To start off our writing All About unit, the books "Bee Bim Bop!" and "Pop Pop and Me and the Recipe" provided examples for students to think of food they make at home with their families. Also during our writing All About unit, my students became bee experts. My students were astonished by the book Give Bees a Chance, many of them learned in this book how bees are helpful. My students were very inquisitive about the bees and couldn't wait to learn more about the topic!
These read alouds have been so great for my students. My classroom community of teachers, students, and their families can't thank all of you enough for your generosity! Your thoughtfulness is overwhelming!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
Near, Far, Wherever They are…Learning Continues!
Funded Sep 13, 2020What a school year it has been so far! With all of the challenges we have faced this school year so far, these materials we received have supported students in our classroom and at home on their remote days. When NYC transitioned public schools to be remote for a few weeks in November or my class cohorts or pods have had to quarantine and be remote to due COVID exposure, our students had the materials to help them transition to being remote for longer periods of time. Our students and families feel so grateful for these materials. Many of these materials have helped our students who are transitioning on days to school or remote learning and students who are learning 100% remotely.
Some of our students have just completed their first full notebook with writing, reading and word work! The book baggies have helped our students stay organized in transporting their materials to and from school. My classroom community of teachers, students, and their families can't thank all of you enough!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
Materials Needed for Blended Learning
Funded Aug 2, 2020What a school year it has been so far! With all of the challenges we have faced this fall, these materials we received have supported students in our classroom and at home on their remote days. Many of the students and their families were so grateful when they saw all the materials they would be receiving! Many of these materials have helped our students who are transitioning on days to school or remote learning and students who are learning 100% remotely.
Some of our students have just completed their first full notebook with writing, reading and word work! Our students have been enjoying using their headphones as well to help them focus. The book baggies have helped our students stay organized in transporting their materials to and from school. My classroom community of teachers, students, and their families can't thank all of you enough!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
This classroom project was brought to life by EagleTree Capital and 2 other donors.Hungry for Series Books!
Funded Mar 30, 2017Our second graders from last year were so excited when the book cart filled with series books was revealed. Many of these students read and acted out their favorite parts of their books!
This fall, our new second graders were overjoyed when they saw the book cart filled with series books. Many of them were asking right away if they could pick out books for themselves to read!
We are using the books in our reading groups and book clubs to support literacy strategies such as retelling in sequential order, compare and contrast, identification of character traits/feelings, studying character's growth and development across a series and time.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 15 other donors.Starting the School Year Off Right!
Funded Jul 2, 2016Dear Donors,
I wish you all could have been flies on the walls the first week of school in my classroom. Many of the materials we received from this project were out on the first day. Others materials we received were introduced across the first week. The excitement and joy around our room as a teacher was amazing to see.
Our students were so excited to see an organized and engaging library for them to use! My co-teachers and myself were able to organize the library and classroom materials using all the bins and trays we received. We also set up a math, word work, and social studies centers using the bins as well. Our students have been able to independently access these centers when they need certain materials. I have never received an applause when introducing homework folders, but when we showed the students the lime green sturdy plastic folders that they would be using for homework cheers and applause filled the classroom. Our students have been treating these folders like treasures and I'm happy to say their completed homework has been coming back in as well! The blank notebooks we received are no longer blank-they are being filled with student's word work, ideas for writing, and thoughts about their books with the students beautiful (or soon to be beautiful) handwriting. The letter stamps and packs of letters have been a huge hit in helping our students with learning their sight words and practicing their reading skills. The social studies centers have been another hit. During choice time our students are begging to play with the Map My Town Game, which is allows them to practice reading directions and practice their map skills.
All of the materials we received have been so helpful in not only getting the school year off to a great start, but will continue to foster our students' independence, engagement, and learning throughout the school year! Thank you all again for generous donations. I feel so grateful to have support from all of you for my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
Get Hooked on Series Books
Funded Mar 14, 2016Today the 2nd grade teachers unveiled the book cart with the series books in it for our students! The cheers and the excitement in the rooms was contagious. One of the students gasped, "our letters worked!"
Before starting this project, our 2nd graders worked on an opinion writing unit. 2nd grade teachers encouraged our students to use the power of the pen to express to donors their need for more of their favorite series books and to support their opinion with reasons and examples. Now that our 2nd graders have experienced identifying a problem and taking an initiative to solve the problem, we hope that they will continue to do similar kinds of work both inside and outside of school.
The 2nd grade teachers and students are excited to get their hands on these series books for book clubs and guided reading. We ordered series books with diverse levels of readers in mind from level F to level M. Most of our students in the 2nd grade classrooms will be able to access the series books on the cart. With a little less than 3 months left of school year we hoping we can get every student to continue to grow as readers using these series books and to fall in love with reading! We're also excited to use these series books for the following school years as well!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 9 other donors.Get Hooked on Reading
Funded Jul 1, 2015When my students walked into our classroom in September (the old science room that was converted into a classroom) their eyes went right to the organized and colorful library. On the first day many of them were eager and asking when they could book shop! The bins that I was able to purchase allowed me to organize the classroom library in a thoughtful and appealing way to make all the students be excited for reading! When the students saw bins full of headphones they kept asking, "what are those for?" "when can we use them?" When my co-teachers and I explained to the students that the headphones would allow them to listen to audiobooks all the students cheered! When one group of students was listening to a more advanced level book Nate the Great on audiobooks with the headphones they felt so excited to be able to read a chapter book! Many of the students in my class are reluctant readers to build this amazing enthusiasm and momentum around literacy the first weeks of school have been amazing! Thank you all so much again! There aren't enough words to express how much your donations mean to me!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Sullivan