Past projects 7
Call to Adventure: The Hobbit!
Funded Dec 29, 2024You made it happen! Thank you so much for funding a class set of The Hobbit for my students to enjoy this winter. We will be examining the lessons character learn throughout their journeys, and who better to learn from than Bilbo Baggins!
Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
Happy New Year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
Classroom Basics for a Successful Year!
Funded Jun 22, 2023Your generosity has certainly spoiled my students and I! We wholeheartedly appreciate your donations. The money you provided has purchased basic school supplies which ensure we have everything we need to be successful this year. Thank you for support us and our classroom. The basic supplies will go a long way. You are the best!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 2 other donors.Making Connections - Stories of the Holocaust
Funded Nov 23, 2018I wanted to take a moment to thank you again for your generosity towards my classroom, and explain how your donation has helped to support my students over the last couple of years.
Each year we teach a high-interest memoir, Elie Wiesel's Night. This text engages our students quite well because they are enthralled by the topic. In order to help my students build their reading skills, it is beneficial to take advantage of this interest and keep the momentum going. This is where your donation has come in.
Independent reading is another requirement in our curriculum, but often it is hard for students to decide where to start. Once they have experienced Wiesel's memoir, I am able to suggest other texts on the topic, such as the Holocaust fictional texts your donations have provided.
Many of my students come into 9th grade behind in their reading abilities. By providing engaging texts for them to continue their reading practice, you are helping my students improve their reading abilities and prepare them for their future years in high school and beyond.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
Reading to Understand the Impacts of Following the Crowd
Funded Oct 6, 2022You did it! Your generosity is astounding! My classroom library will now be full of unique perspectives for my students to enjoy while increasing their literacy skills. We cannot wait to dive into these texts! Thank you for helping me foster a love of literature in my classroom. It truly means the world.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
Air Conditioning for Success!
Funded Jun 18, 2022You have helped our air conditioned dreams come true! With your generosity I will be able to provide a comfortable environment for my students to work in. This is going to enable them to focus more on the important work they are doing in my English 1 course.
My classroom has been unbearable in the past due to lack of an adequate cooling/heating system in the building, but funding an air conditioning unit on my own was not financially manageable for me. Thank you so much for your support - it means the world!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
Finding Our Voices - Writer's Notebooks
Funded Dec 3, 2017Do you consider yourself a writer? This is a question I ask my students at the beginning of each school year. The majority of my students, I'd venture to say as much as 90%, would say no. This is something I consider to be a real shame! I find that so much of the writing we do in school is focused on preparation for standardized testing. Although there is a great deal of value in teaching students how to formulate an effective argument, there is a lot more to being a writer than this. My students have used the materials that were funded by this project to explore other facets of what it means to be a writer, and most importantly, find their voices.
The attached photo of some of the student work that resulted from this project. We read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros this year, and explored her use of figurative language to strengthen the meaning of her story. Students then used their notebooks to practice using figurative language to convey meaning about their own lives. They then collaborated to describe their home and created posters to represent the different sections of the city in which we live.
Your generosity provided my students the materials they need to practice the art of writing. The pens, pencils, and notebooks allow them to develop their skills in getting what their voices down on paper. We do not use these notebooks to practice for standardized testing. We use these notebooks to explore our worlds, our ideas, and strengthen our message. The pads of poster paper give us space to collaborate, share ideas, and create a unified message.
Thank you for supporting my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
Tools for Success!
Funded Aug 25, 2016I am excited to share with you just how helpful your contributions to my classroom have been! The money that was donated was used to stock my English classroom for the year, and with a quarter of the year behind us, we have certainly put all of the supplies to good use! One of my favorites to have the students work with is the large post-it pads. Technology reigns supreme for these 21st-century learners, but I truly appreciate these moments to have them disconnect from technology, dig into a text, and share their analysis and ideas on the large post-it posters to share with the class. I try to incorporate a project of this kind once a unit, and we have used these posters to share of characterization work with short stories as well as to display the evidence we gather from text to support our arguments.
The day the supplies arrived was like Christmas morning! The students certainly shared my excitement to dig into the boxes that arrived in the first week of class. Their eyes were as wide as mine!
Aside from the post-it paper, we have taken advantage of the notebooks, folders, and writing utensils that your generous donations supplied. It is surprising just how excited a student can be to get a brand new composition book that is all their own. Students use these notebooks to keep their notes for the year; so far we have filled them with short story elements, writing guidelines, and poetry terms. This weekend they are studying hard from these notebooks to prepare for the poetry test they have this coming week. Next, we will be diving into epic poetry with The Odyssey!
There are not words to express just how valuable your thoughtful contributions have been and continue to be - thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Hoffman
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 10 other donors.