Past projects 49
First Graders Need Laminating Supplies for Fun Games!
Funded Dec 5, 2016First of all, thank you so much for supporting my classroom with these amazing materials! My students are so grateful to have games that are on an independent level for each child. With your help, I have been able to create games for my classroom that each child can use independently. Some children are working on digraphs, while other children have moved onto vowel digraphs and diphthongs... yet they're all playing similar games, with just different skills! They are loving that nobody has to feel "different" and that they can play games during phonics. My students love to be independent, but need a lot of guidance to get there. Thanks to your help, these games are all quite similar, yet leveled - so they can gain independence as they move up through the levels too! We really appreciate all of your help - thanks again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 4 other donors.Set Up STEM Bins for First Grade's Future Engineers!
Funded Dec 30, 2016Thank you so much for helping to fund our STEM bins! With your assistance, I was able to create cooperative STEM boxes for the students to create things with. My students use the STEM bins when they are done with morning work. They use them with a partner and some task cards, and are then tasked to build all sorts of items using only what's in their bin! If you walk into my room, you can see the kids problem solving how to build the Eiffel Tower using only index cards and tape! Another favorite of theirs is using Dixie cups to see if they can build a cup-filled pyramid. They love using the pipe cleaners and straws to help add dimension to their structures, and they have been working on building their names with Legos and dominoes as well. I believe it is important for the kids to get the experience of building and creating something out of unusual materials. The students' problem solving skills are soaring, and their partner work has really come a long way thanks to you!
I plan to keep using these bins next year, and to add more interesting materials. Thank you for giving my students the materials to be creative and work together! Getting this project started has been a dream for my classroom that I'm so grateful to have fulfilled!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
OSMO Technology Brings Learning to Life!
Funded Mar 29, 2016I am overjoyed at how much OSMO has helped my classroom, and I'm so excited to share it with you.
First of all, thank you SO MUCH for sending us these amazing resources! My classroom is full of students who could use assistance with working together in cooperative teams, strengthening of oral language skills, and visual reasoning work. OSMO lets them work on all of these skills, while thinking that they're just playing!
If you walked into my classroom right now, you'd see students learning how to be creative problem solvers. You would see my students practicing tangrams (manipulating shapes to make other shapes or objects), making words using letter tiles, and even making math problems and identifying numbers using number tiles. My kids think this is the BEST. They are so engaged, and willing to work with others to solve these problems. Thanks to you, my reluctant workers are not reluctant at ALL. I can rely on OSMO to help my students build words during phonics... especially since there are hints for them, when they just aren't getting the skill.
Thank you again for all of your help... you have made a serious difference in my classroom. This technology is a game changer!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 2 other donors.Firsties Need Leveled Texts for Literacy!
Funded Mar 11, 2016I have to start off by saying thank you for providing the most AMAZING book resource that my classroom has ever had the pleasure of owning! This project is providing my students with a leveled book cart, full of books that are at each student's level. These leveled texts are engaging, appropriate for the students, and easily found and switched for new books once the students are done reading them. Amazing!
One of the things we stress during reading, is the idea of choosing our own books. We teach lessons that show students how to tell if a book is "just right" for them. Even with all of that training, though, students need some assistance in making sure each book is "just right" for them. This leveled library cart has given me an easy way of tracking who is at which level. With the proper training, my students can now put away their old independent reading books and choose new books on their level, simply by the labeling system. What's better than that? I can actually answer that. Not only can my students choose and put away their own books appropriately, but my selection of books goes higher than second grade level - so all students in my class are able to choose from this selection of books!
My class and I recognize how fortunate we are to have these resources. We would like to thank you so much for our amazing books and book cart. I plan to continue using it for years to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and one other donor.First Graders Need Fun Phonics and Reading Centers!
Funded Mar 11, 2016My students absolutely LOVE folder games. Unfortunately, some of the games we had were no longer appropriate for my students when I recently moved from kindergarten to first grade. The students needed a challenge. I posted this project hoping to get some grade level-appropriate games for my students, and some guided reading tools that were on their level. Not only was I impressed, but my students were too!
Thanks to your generous donations, my students now have the ability to play games at any level, ranging from Pre-K to 3rd grade! The resources you provided are allowing my high students to be challenged. In addition, you are giving me the ability to work with students on critical reading comprehension skills, with seriously engaging tools.
My class is made up of students who learn through play. Some would argue that at this age, ALL students learn through play! You have just helped me merge play and grade-level skills. I couldn't be more thankful, and my students agree - you are the best!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 3 other donors.First Grade Kids Need Active Play Equipment to Get Moving!
Funded Sep 2, 2016When I got the news that our project had been funded, I was moved to tears. Thanks to you, my students have resources for a safe, productive recess that are giving them enriching experiences with their peers.
The first day I surprised my students with these resources, they squealed in delight. The supply of hula hoops, jump ropes, cones, beanbags, and the abundance of kickballs/basketballs was enough to send my students over the top with excitement! They immediately began working together to build obstacle courses, create games out of the hula hoops and beanbags, and arrange basketball teams. Trust me, this is a teacher DREAM! Using these play items creatively is bringing constructive movement and innovation back onto the playground. You are giving my students the opportunity to be creative and learn interpersonal skills, and I could not thank you any more.
Our playground is not large, and we have trouble holding 120 students during our first grade recess. Thanks to you, our entire grade level - all 120 students! - is going to be getting use out of these recess toys for years to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by Target and 6 other donors.iLearn So Much with iPads - Part 2!
Funded Dec 2, 2015THANK YOU so much for helping my class and sending a new iPad into our classroom! With the addition of our new iPad, my students will now have access to iPads even when our school-issued iPads are being used for standardized testing. This is invaluable for so many reasons, but especially because my students are using research-based learning programs that are interrupted during our testing period. Although our new iPad doesn't make up for the 4 that we lose, it DOES allow me to get one extra student interacting with technology. For some, this will make all the difference!
My students have been doing amazingly well with their reading this year. Although I credit several different methods of teaching, I also credit the fact that Donors Choose has allowed my children the opportunity to use technology in reading and math EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. My students are getting in time to play math games that target their learning needs, and they are reading books that are on their independent level. In addition, I can now assign children who need some extra help in a particular subject, a book or game to match the skill they need to practice. Because these kids are getting use of technology every day, they are practicing these skills every day as well!
One app that my kids are loving is Epic. This is an app that actually makes available thousands of high-interest, readable books for my students... and they can choose what they would prefer to read about! One little girl chose to read about fairy tales, sports, and animals. Another little boy chose history, world events, and sports. Each time these kids log in, there are books tailored to their liking - and the students are so engaged, they can't help but fall in love with reading! I am currently reading Flat Stanley to the class, simply because they listened to the audio book on Epic and fell in love with the character. Isn't that perfect? Every teacher wants his/her students to fall in love with reading!
Thank you so much for the opportunity to bring these resources to our classroom! We greatly appreciate your help - without you, my students know we wouldn't have these amazing opportunities!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
First Grade Writers Love Binding Their Books!
Funded Aug 31, 2015My students were SUPER excited to learn that they were going to be making books! In the past, we made our books by using paper, stapling it together, and making a nice cover. This time, I showed the students our new book binding machine, explained how we would be turning our writing into a portfolio, and demonstrated for the students what we'd be doing. They were BEYOND excited!
So far, we have created Christmas presents for our parents using this machine. I had the students create a calendar page for each month of 2016, then we used the binding machine to bind the calendars together for the families. They loved their gifts!
Currently, we are working on our nonfiction unit. We are writing reports about the weather, and creating lots of nonfiction graphs about the weather, air, and sun. We will be turning these into amazing weather books also! Once we are done, we are going to make a class nonfiction book about every type of weather we learned about. My students are very excited to finally complete this and present it to our school librarian (it's a surprise!).
With this new book binding machine, my students are learning how to create. This machine is allowing me the opportunity to, as a teacher, create exciting tasks and get students interested in making and creating books. Thank you so much for the opportunity to add such an awesome resource to our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com FY15 and 4 other donors.iLearn So Much With iPads!
Funded Aug 11, 2015First of all, thank you SO MUCH for providing this iPad for our classroom! The addition of this resource into our room means so much to the learning experiences of my students. The addition of just this one resource now means that every child in my classroom can use either an iPad or computer to access learning programs, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. How amazing!
At home, technology is used for work and play. In school, my students learn through play! Our newest app, Epic, is a huge hit in the classroom. My students have access to books that span a range of topics, and they can choose to read about whatever they might be interested in. They now have access to many books that are appropriate, high-interest, and on their own levels. This adds up to amazing achievement, and my students eagerly await their turns on technology throughout the day.
In addition to adding to their reading achievement, my students spend math time working on Dreambox, a program which assesses students and then places them on games that work on skills that might need improvement. The kids LOVE this program, but before we received our new iPad, there were not enough to go around - so they did not get to use these programs each day. Now, my students spend 15 minutes on Dreambox every day - more than enough time to practice a skill!
In March, our students will begin taking standardized assessments, which means the iPads are removed from our classrooms and become "testing iPads". Unfortunately, we don't get them back for a couple of months, due to the amount of students who need them for testing. With your help, we now have our own class iPads that will stay in the room throughout this time period - something I appreciate so much! Having this technology at our fingertips is part of the reason my students have been making amazing gains, and I am so glad not to lose that during testing season!
My class knows that without donors like you, we would not have these amazing resources. We are so thankful to you for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
Send This Teacher to Summer School!
Funded Feb 21, 2015First, thank you so much for your assistance in sending me to summer school! It was the best possible experience, for a number of reasons. In my opinion, you can add as many materials as you want to the classroom - they may not change the actual teaching! By sending me to summer school, I received a wealth of information on how to change my classroom to fit the needs of many, varied learners. I learned how to create effective centers, how to work smarter, not harder, and how to develop a writing journal with my students. I learned strategies to teach writing in a way that addresses teaching one skill at a time, so students are not overwhelmed. As much training as we get - this was such a helpful workshop to attend! I feel like spending three days with like-minded teachers, who are practicing the same things as I am, was invaluable. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow into a better educator!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Inzitari
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.