Past projects 18
Outdoor Art Space and Europe Continent Study
Funded Jul 28, 2023Sending you a heartfelt thank you for your support of our Donors Choose project! I wanted to update you all and let you know all the fancy materials have been put to good use by the kiddos! We are so fortunate to be able to have community support to bring opportunities to the kids that they might not otherwise get! Thank you!
The books about Europe have all been a big hit! They are at the perfect reading level for the kids to easily read in one setting and capture the essence of the countries! The books have be especially helpful with kids who want to begin researching specific countries in Europe!
The easel is the perfect addition to our patio art studio! The weather is finally perfect enough for the kiddos to be out there! The easel is just the right height for the kids and it's super sturdy too, so it'll be around for awhile!
My favorite item by far to see the kiddos interact with has been the steel tongue drum! They are having so much fun with it! It came with a book of simple songs to play, which they love! They've also been making up and writing their own songs on the drum! The steel tongue drum been a really powerful break option for kiddos who are feeling overstimulated or overwhelmed! It's got such a nice calming and soothing effect!
Thank you again for your support of our Donors Choose project! Your donation made a big impact on our studio!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Strong Minds and Strong Bodies Through Yoga
Funded Jul 30, 2022Thank you so much for your donation towards our "Strong Minds and Strong Bodies Through Yoga" project! We received the donations towards the end of last school year. The children loved unboxing all the yoga mats and yoga blocks and organizing them into the woven baskets! From the moment the materials arrived the children were all abuzz with excitement to add yoga to our weekly schedule! Some children had lots of experience with yoga, some had dabbled in it and some were newbies! However all of the children had a little twinkle in their eye about the new possibility of yoga being added to our weeks!
This new school year, each of the elementary studios has consistently added yoga into our schedules at least one time per week as a whole class activities. Additionally, the children have yoga materials available as an independent choice activity every day, all day. Our weekly whole group yoga sessions take on a life of their own while being anchored in helping the children build confidence and resilience with a healthy mental and physical health practice. Some weeks the children lead our yoga sessions, some weeks we play a yoga Youtube, some weeks we spend some time on the mats with guided meditation or positive affirmations, some sessions a teacher or a guest teacher leads the yoga.
Our world seems to be spinning faster and faster as the years progress, requiring more and more resiliency in children at younger and younger ages. Being able to slow down a bit at our school and put mental health and physical well being as a priority for our students means a lot to us teachers! Thank you again donors for your support of this project and being a huge piece of our puzzle as we would not have been able to offer yoga in this capacity without your donations!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 28 other donors.What is a Refugee: Our Shared Humanity
Funded Mar 31, 2022Thank you so much for your support of this project! The children absolutely loved adding these books to their personal reading options! They dove right in reading and sharing these books with each other as soon as they arrived! An absolute favorite book from the bunch has been "Lost and Found Cat" which tells the true story of a refugee family who brought their family pet along on their journey to safety and how the cat got lost. It tells of all the people who came together to reunite the special cat with their family!
I can literally see the children's hearts opening wide as they read these books! Fortunately, the experience of being a refugee is completely foreign to my kiddos, however books offer such a great window into the experience of other humans. This exposure to a significant world even in kid-friendly books has been such a needed piece of building the incredible humans I aim to do!
Wishing you peace!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Learning in the Garden
Funded Mar 1, 2022Thank you Fiesta Bowl Charities for funding this project! With this project, I was fortunate enough to get to bring so many extra supplies and storage solutions to our existing garden area! The children loved unpacking all the new gear and learning about them! It is so nice to have a shed to store all our tools and supplies in! This will help us keep them around for much longer as they are protected from the sun! Plus it makes the space safer and tidier with everything tucked in it's place!
We make time at least twice a week as a class to spend time in the garden together taking care of maintenance. However, the children have unlimited access to this space on a daily basis! They take care of all the planting, watering, weeding and harvesting! Some children really show a huge interest in the natural world and spend extra time working in and observing the garden! All the kiddos take turns having the garden as their "job" and making sure it gets it's daily water!
Thank you very much Fiesta Bowl Charities for thinking of Arizona schools when it came time for you to donate - my students and I are very grateful for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Garden Tools
Funded Mar 1, 2022Thank you Fiesta Bowl Charities for funding this project! With this project, I was fortunate enough to get to bring so many extra supplies to our existing garden area! The children loved unpacking all the new tools and learning about them! It is so nice to have brand-new working tools and be able to toss the few hand-me-down tools we did have that were falling apart! The kiddos loved learning how to use the bike pump to pump up the wheel barrel tires! It is really helpful to be able to have kid-size tools too!
We make time at least twice a week as a class to spend time in the garden together taking care of maintenance. However, the children have unlimited access to this space on a daily basis! They take care of all the planting, watering, weeding and harvesting! Some children really show a huge interest in the natural world and spend extra time working in and observing the garden!
Thank you very much Fiesta Bowl Charities for thinking of Arizona schools when it came time for you to donate - my students and I are very grateful for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Art Heals the Soul
Funded Mar 9, 2022Giant thank you to the State of Arizona for being the BIG funder on this project! It felt like such a windfall to get money to spend on supplies that will help my kiddos recover from the unimaginable years of the pandemic! They loved unpacking the art materials and were dreaming up how to use the new supplies instantaneously! They were eager to put them away and restock our art materials. All of the materials from this project:construction paper, yarn and tie dye supplies has been shared with our whole school! Art truly does heal the soul and these materials have already made a lasting impact on the children at our school!
Way to go Arizona! Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
This classroom project was brought to life by Arizona Department of Education.Timeline of Life
Funded Sep 2, 2021Thank you so much for your donations toward the Timeline of Life! The children have been using it quite a lot since we got it back in October! The fabric timeline is even more durable than I thought it would be and it will definitely last for many years to come! The research cards that came with the timeline were absolutely perfect for the curiosity that followed the children's work with the timeline! They were able to zoom right over to the cards to find out the answers to the questions on the tip of their tongues. Many posters and research projects quickly ensued!
Overall, the studio has really cemented their understanding of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras through this timeline, the moveable animal/plant pieces and the research cards! One area of considerable interest was when they learned how many mass extinctions have occurred in Earth's history - many were surprised to learn there was more than just the one in the Mesozoic Era that made the dinosaurs become extinct. Such depth in their studies!
This timeline has produced an experience that the children would otherwise not have had! I am truly grateful for your support of our Donors Choose Project and the collective support of all of you!
Best wishes for a fabulous 2022!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Microscopes for Montessori Scientists
Funded May 4, 2021Thank you so much for your support with our Microscope project! The light microscope has been a great addition to our studio's biology studies. The children are able to use the microscope to explore their natural world. We also got some prepared slides with it, that have some really fabulous specimens all set for the children to view.
One of coolest things the children got to explore was a blade of grass. They were able to see the little barbs on the edges of the blade and get an eye-opening view of what makes our grass feel a little sticky when we sit in it! Another item that was a hit was when a student brought in a huge beetle carcass. They had to break it apart to view the various parts - but they were loving the ability to view the wings, the antennae, the legs and especially the eyes up close!
Thanks again for supporting our studio and giving these kiddos an experience they would not otherwise be able to have!
We are looking forward to many more experiences with our microscope!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 8 other donors.Diverse Books for Our Community
Funded Mar 25, 2021Thank you so much for your donation to help our school grow our book collection! These diverse books have most definitely become windows and mirrors for our children. The books are windows into the lives of humans all across the planet who may have different life experiences than the child who picks up the book. The books are also a mirror for the child who picks up a book that shows a life experience similar to themselves.
It is magical how books give children the opportunity to learn about the world through the pages and this new collection does just that! These books are beautiful!
The children and teachers at our school are able to check out these diverse books whenever they like in our Elementary library. Many of these books have already become read alouds in the classrooms and have lead to wonderful discussions about inclusion and accepting others.
Thank you again for supporting our vision of offering a diverse collection of books!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
Shade for Outdoor Environment
Funded Sep 30, 2020As you can imagine, 2020 has thrown us all for a loop! We have had to think outside-the-box and outside-the-classroom when children are on campus to keep them safe and happily learning! We are so lucky that our school has beautiful outdoor environments to use! The addition of these shade umbrellas has helped us extend the time that children can be outside to practically all day - even in our hot Arizona sun!
Getting the 20 umbrellas spread across campus was a fun day! Every single classroom benefitted as well as some common areas! It was a team effort getting them unpacked, built and installed! The neutral color blends in perfectly with our campus and adds another layer of beauty! The sturdy stands hold them in place perfectly!
Two of the Children House classrooms definitely needed the extra shade for their children to be outside during their work cycles as their patios are facing south and the Arizona sun can be brutal! The Elementary studios are using the umbrellas at little individual stations or our tables! The children have the opportunity to work beneath them day in and day out! A favorite activity of theirs is to spend lunch with a friend under them too!
Thank you so much for supporting us in this endeavor! We appreciate the Donors Choose community!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Jessica Foster
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 23 other donors.