Past projects 8
Fundamentals First: Empowering Students with Essentials
Funded Aug 15, 2024I am in awe of the swift response of the community with funding these impactful items for my kiddos. We will be starting our new year with the needed supplies to positively enhance the classroom environment for my students.
We are so excited to have the backdrop for the transformation of our classroom for the 5th grade poetry slam.
The set of Matilda books will complete the sets needed for our Roald Dahl author study.
I look forward to sending you updates and pictures! We are deeply grateful for your acts of kindness and support.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.Literacy Loves Company: Help Us Enhance Our Literature Circle Environment
Funded Nov 29, 2022The impact that the flexible seating that you helped provide has been enormous! We now have new reading stations with awesome beanbags and carpets. Since the new materials arrived, students come to class excited to grab their books and dive into reading! The literature circle initiative that I started last year has been such an amazing teaching strategy for my young readers. Students have their own copy of a book that they read within their groups. Each student has a different role in the group, for example, word wizard, literary leader, connector, summarizer, etc. By creating these welcoming learning spaces, I am able to foster a literacy based classroom where all of my students look enjoy reading. It is so rewarding seeing young students truly interacting with the literature. THANK YOU so much for helping shape the future through our young readers.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 5 other donors.Help Make My Students Swoon Over Toon Graphic Novels!
Funded Jan 20, 2022The donation of the various graphic novels has completely elevated the literacy instruction in my classroom. Students that showed little interest in reading have blossomed with the graphic novels. The comic book style layout immediately peaked their interests. The vivid, colorful pictures helped them comprehend the text. Since there were several sets in the package, the students were able to read the graphic novels for several months!
Since receiving the novels last school year, I have truly been able to measure the significant impact on their reading fluency and comprehension. Hesitant readers have become more confident because they are interested in the content that they are reading.
I truly believe that the first step in fostering a love of reading in a child is to provide them with material they are interested in. Through your donations, you helped me spark their love of reading.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by TOON Books and 7 other donors.Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead with My WF Wildcats!
Funded Mar 16, 2021Your donations have built such an incredible foundation for the S.T.E.A.M. initiative at our school. We have dove right into the Engineer Design Process-- ask, imagine, plan, create, test, improve, share.
By building models with the legos, students are better able to plan for their design. The diagrams of the different legos are so engaging for our students. They must use visualization and problem solving techniques to complete a specific build out of a model. My classroom has never been so quiet as it is during a Lego model build out. They are completely in each project.
The robots that we were able to purchase have been extremely impactful. Students are able to better understand the abstract concept of coding and apply it to their daily lives. After using the Sphero Bolt robots, students are constantly making connections to how coding is ever present in the real world.
Your gracious donations have helped us offset some of the learning loss that has accrued as a result of the pandemic. You have enabled our students to get back to hands on, problem based learning. This is a gift that will live on for many years to come.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by The Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 7 other donors.Math Games Make Learning Fun!
Funded Jan 12, 2020The extreme joy that this game has brought to my students is so hard to describe in words. I have used the game in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades, which impacts 15 classes! I let the students choose Shut the Box as an option instead of computer time. To my surprise, almost ALL of the students forgo their computer time to play this game with their friends. To see the students choose to interact with each other with an "old fashioned" game over technology is truly a breakthrough.
I must also mention how this game has impacted the overall environment of our classroom in such a positive way. The enthusiasm is contagious with the different teams excitedly exclaiming "Yes!", "Boom", "got it","one more to go" and "I win"! It is really incredible to see how a student's competitive nature helps them think critically without direct teaching from me. Many of my students never saw the relationship between addition and subtraction. Now that they are playing Shut the Box, they are mentally working out the math facts using both operations to decide which number they need on their board. This could never be accomplished through standard paper and pencil work. The best part is that over the years, these games will impact so many children because of you. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
Back to Basics
Funded Jul 31, 2019It is amazing to witness the huge impact basic supplies can have on a classroom. There are hundreds of students that pass through my door each day, so you can imagine how many germs that creates! My awesome student helpers have established a cleaning routine at the end of each day. We have all acknowledged the fact that the donated cleaning materials have made a difference in our classroom climate. The students are actively showing responsibility towards the maintenance of their learning environment. It has been such a joy to witness the incredible teamwork that has resurrected from the students' desire to make this active, energetic classroom function more smoothly.
In addition to the cleaning supplies, the Back to Basics project has provided soft tissues which have been a vital commodity in the classroom with our sniffly youngsters. I must also note the huge appreciation the students have for the 'special' hand sanitizer that was purchased through the donations by Donor's Choose. The students are eager to use the lavender and tea tree essential oil sanitizer whenever they have a chance; seeing that they are typically exposed to the harsh alcohol based sanitizers. I must also inform you of the fact that I have dodged the dreaded cold and flu bug so far this year! I usually have some sort of sickness by the end of August, so it's amazing to see the difference in my own health at school this year. Since my health is directly related to the health of the students, I know that these vital resources have kept our students present, in school, maximizing their learning potential.
I am excited to share how much fun we have been having with the neon poster board, stickers, markers, and crayons that were donated this year. The students and I have been busy making math centered games and hands on activities for all of the grade levels in the math lab. The math games allow students to practice their math concepts repeatedly through interactive, hands on learning. Math games are also a great alternative to paper and pencil learning because the students have the freedom to implement multiple strategies to solve a mathematical problem. It is amazing to see my students that typically struggle with math light up when a new game or center is introduced. The hands on, visual nature of the activities allow students to make a physical connection to an abstract concept.
We cannot thank our donors enough for helping to make each of our days in the classroom brighter. Thank you for helping the math lab at Windsor Forest Elementary continue to positively influence our future mathematicians.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Yellow Chair Foundation and 7 other donors.Math Creation Stations
Funded Aug 22, 2018The materials that my students received through Donors Choose has made an enormous impact in my math classroom. For example, my first grade students were able to do a project that focused on shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Normally, this project is abstract and students struggle with the idea of adding up the cost of their items. When I gave the students their bank of $25 with the play money, they were so excited! Not only did they successfully complete the project, they were able to relate this math concept to the real world. It amazes me to see how such a small thing like play money will ignite a passion in learning for our students.
Another amazing project that we were able to complete involves the kindergarten shape unit. Typically, students do not have access to manipulatives that they can feel and touch while they are learning. Shapes are usually learned by completing a worksheet with the picture of the shape. With the help of the magnetic shapes and the tangram manipulatives, students were able to create 3D models and beautiful designs with their shapes. It was so rewarding to see their faces light up when they figured out that one shape could be made up of other shapes. They also enjoyed counting the edges and vertices by actually running the fingers across the tangrams. Having taught this unit with and without manipulatives, I can see that students have a deeper understanding when they have models to help them investigate and explore the properties of the different shapes.
My central focus is to prepare my students for the real world through building, investigating, and exploring. Students should not be confined to learning through worksheets and textbooks. My hope is that through Donors Choose, I can continue to foster a learning environment that helps students become creative and innovative adults. We must work together to help our future generation think outside of the box. We are eternally grateful to you all for helping us achieve this goal. It truly takes a village.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 13 other donors.Number Talk Nook!
Funded Jul 19, 2017Words cannot express how grateful we are for your donations. The supplies that were delivered to us has made a monumental difference in how our class functions on a daily basis.
First and foremost, student behavior issues have drastically decreased. The optional working spaces from the bean bags and the large rug have allowed students to separate themselves from distractions. I have seen such an amazing increase in the quality of their work.
Secondly, the sheer joy on all of the students faces when they walked in the room and saw the brightly colored rug and bean bag chairs was absolutely priceless. It seems that simply looking at those items puts everyone in a better mood.
In addition, my older students get to use their own whiteboards for their math computation thanks to the expo markers that were purchased through Donors Choose. All of this meaningful practice on the whiteboards has greatly improved their computation in multiplication and division, which is the foundation of all of their mathematic standards.
I want you all to know that your donations have directly impacted 647 students here at Windsor Forest Elementary. We are so thankful for your kind hearts and generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 13 other donors.