Past projects 26
Relationships: Keeping in Touch!
Funded Oct 9, 2020The excitement of receiving the cheery postcards and the stamps, which appropriately say "love" means so much more during these stressful times of seclusion and distance learning for our school community. I immediately felt the connection between the kind donors and our school. I knew if I felt a connection, my students would begin feeling connected as a community again once they began receiving them.
The goal of sending the postcards was to bring a tangible connection back to our students and families that have been separated for the past eight months. Schedules, flyers, welcome letters, and classroom introductions have all been virtual. Virtual learning means distant. I wanted to bring a sense of community back to our school. Handwritten notes and messages bring back a sense of normalcy and "realness" to school. One parent described how happy her student was to finally receive something "real" from school, that was not an email.
This project is continuing to spread "love" as the stamps appropriately call out. Some of my students have never received mail addressed to them. They feel special and important when the focus in the world right now is to stay distant from everyone and not to interact with others. Children do not thrive this way. This project brings hope.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
A Goal Without a Plan"ner" Is Just a Dream!
Funded Dec 12, 2018These planners came at just the right time. Our marking period had just switched over, and it was an excellent time to teach a new habit. Another teacher and I worked the distribution of the planners into two days because we operate on an A and B day schedule. It similar to college schedules where you do not have the same course each day. Our students were expecting the planners because we had gotten them excited about the importance of organization weeks earlier. However, they were not expecting activities with it. I think they were expecting us to just hand it out to them because they are in high school. That was not the case.
The point of having our students use planners was to teach them how to become better organized. We have found that our students struggle with remembering to study for test, bring in class dues, and they suffer academically. Our freshman students could not remember which class they had on which days sometimes. For our students, who deal with chaos from neighborhood issues, home struggles etc, school should not be an added place of frustration and chaos.
We help them see the importance. We started with a large group activity. The students listed all the demands they have as students in general. They shared out. Then one person got up and played the student. The others in the circle "popped up" and played the demands/chaos and pulled at the student. The student had to try to keep them memorized and organized without writing them down; without a planner. They all could see that wasn't working. We split up into smaller groups in separate rooms and showed them how to use their new planners with their current classes. We also had a few students stop in from last year who did this show how they use a planner and not just adults telling them to use a planner. Each week we check in with students to see how they are adding to their planner to help improving their short term goals of academic success.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
This classroom project was brought to life by Someone Who Cares and 2 other donors.Essentials: Helping Build Self-Esteem and Hygiene.
Funded Feb 21, 2017Often, when we wake up, we go about our morning routine and never think twice about it. If we, do, its because we have too many choices to make. However, we have quite a few families that have to decide how far to space out showers, should I go to school because I may get bullied due to hygiene, or worst yet; do I steal the products I need.
These are the problems of many third world countries. Yet, inside the walls of my school, my children and their families face this situation on a daily basis. But when they look outside the school windows, there are million dollar condos people are buying. There are some things worth getting political about, but simple soap, lotion, deodorant and such should be a basic essential for us all.
Your donations were put to good use for our students who are displaced temporarily or suffered losses due to fire/eviction. We started with our girls groups. We were teaching them about self esteem and becoming a young lady and hygiene was a major topic. They were so thankful.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
This classroom project was brought to life by Life Essentials Supporters and 3 other donors.The Struggle: Staying Warm This Winter
Funded Dec 21, 2016We had so many students need winter coats this year. The issue arises when they are too humble, afraid, or embarrassed to take the coats. They would rather go cold. However, we have great adults in the building that were able to build relationships with students to allow students to accept help. The coats were the biggest assistance to students who were new to school and the students who were bouncing around from house to house with different family members and friends. They no longer had to wear multiple hoodies or borrow friends clothes. One particular student was acting out so much throughout the year and becoming verbally aggressive to adults and physically aggressive to students. She spent many visits with the assistant principal and school police. However, at "home" if you can call it that, she was in a bad position. She eventually came in one day in the winter and confided in the school police that she is cold all the time. We were shocked that this officer, that assists with discipline, would be the person this "tough" girl would finally admit to that she was cold.
If only the donors could see the amount of students that walk in the building when its raining, snowing, code blue etc with nothing on but a hoodie. They have walked to school early in the morning when the temperature is at its coldest or stood outside on a windy corner waiting for SEPTA. Its almost second nature to ask a student "where is your coat" not realizing that they wish they had one.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
Warmth Shouldn't Be a Luxury: Students Need Winter Coats
Funded Dec 11, 2015Warming hearts and bodies
My students are not shy, on average. They ask to borrow pencils, pens, and even personal cell phone at times. However, when it comes to asking for the things they genuinely need, such as a winter coat, they often do not ask or deny needing one. They would rather not come to school or stand in the cold with a short sleeve shirt on in the dead of winter.
Its astounding that students don't want us to see them as vulnerable. Asking for help with a winter coat leaves them vulnerable. Everyone has a winter coat, right? They assume that they are the only ones without a winter coat or the only ones that have a share a winter coat with siblings. Therefore, it took the entire school community to uncover which students were in desperate need of winter coats. We were surprised when students denied needing a coat, yet the windchill was in the teens and they didn't even have a hooded sweatshirt. He tried to convince us that he doesn't feel cold or pain. Then when we finally had a male speak to him one on one and convince him that he needed the coat, he asked us to call home so his mom didn't think he stole the coat.
Its stories like those that warm our hearts as educators. As donors, you help warm students' bodies while warming our hearts. We try hard each day to provide students with everything they need to make school a safe and welcoming place. But we would not be able to do it without the support of donors who open their hearts to our students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 6 other donors.The Basics! We Need Bookbags and Supplies for School Success
Funded Dec 19, 2015The back to school shopping list used to be an exciting time of year for me. The list got longer and more expensive, but my parents always made sure I had the basics for school each year. They understood that by having the necessary school supplied, they were setting me on the right path for success that school year.
My students come from all over the city and most do not come to school with the items we consider basic. Each year, we as staff, try to find money out of our pockets to supply students with pens, pencils, paper, folders, notebooks, and bookbags. We can not buy enough supplies for students as it is beyond our personal means. This donation has helped so many students. I have stapled countless bookbags this year that were hand me downs from siblings or giving grocery store bags just so students could carry their things. I was never at first, wondering if students would be embarrassed. I shouldn't have been. Students were so grateful to have a bookbag and folders. You would have thought they had won something.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
This classroom project was brought to life by American InterContinental University and one other donor.Help Prepare Our Young Women of Tomorrow, Today!
Funded Dec 24, 2015The Women of Tomorrow
It was such a privilege to receive supplies for my students in the Women of Tomorrow group. These young ladies meet once a month to discuss the issues that effect them. There isn't a specified curriculum that is meant to fit one type of student. The students benefit from the mentors guiding them through succeeding and achieving in high school. Our mentors understand that my students may face different challenges each and every day that the "normal" high school student may not experience.
Before the students received the planners, I had to remind the students each session when and where we were going to meet. This may not sound like work at first glance. However, it involved looking up each students schedule, determining whether it is and A or B school day, making sure one of the 4th floor rooms was available, creating hall passes, distributing hall passes to advisors, and posting a meeting reminder. Therefore, scheduling and planning for our meetings could take close to 1-2 hours if I wasn't interrupted. Academic planners allowed the students to write in the times and dates of all of our meetings. We could plan events and students can remember.
Academic planners were a blessing in addition to planning meetings because students were not accustomed to writing down their homework and test due dates. The students in the Women of Tomorrow are 9th and 10th graders. They are new to high school and the demands. They didn't realize prior that writing down assignments, planning ahead for test and quizzes, and learning time management have a profound impact on high school success.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haynes
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill and 4 other donors.