Past projects 3
More Than Just a Game: Practicing Yoga at School
Funded Aug 2, 2023We are very grateful for your wonderful donation of yoga mats to our class. My students were super excited when the mats arrived. I had not told them about the mats and when the boxes arrived, we opened them together. Needless to say, there were many excited faces.
We are using the mats to exercise and do calming/relaxing exercises.
The goal is to continue using the mats for students to be able to relax, become more flexible and strong and be more calm and relaxes in the classroom
as well as enjoy the time spent together. There are plenty of laughs when one of us doesn't quite have the flexibility to do something.....YET!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Medina
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 10 other donors.Yoga Mats for Home and School
Funded Nov 10, 2021Thank you for your most kind donation. My students and I practice yoga 1-2 times per week for a total of 60 minutes. When I initially told them about the yoga mats, my students were super excited, but as the mats slowly arrived (low supply as a result of Covid) they became more ecstatic! They are loving practicing yoga and actually prefer to do yoga than to go play kickball when given the choice, which really surprised me because my students LOVE to play kickball. Thank you for contributing to my students' relaxation!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Medina
This classroom project was brought to life by Daily Harvest and 5 other donors.iPads for Inquisitive Emergent Third Grade Readers
Funded Dec 5, 2015Thank you very much for your generous donations. Without your support my project would definitely not have become a reality. My students have been using the iPads and headphones since the middle of January when we returned from winter break. As stated on my project proposal, I signed my class up for a reading program called Raz-kids which they absolutely love and use in class for a minimum of 30 minutes each daily. My students love using Raz-kids and are more motivated to read than ever. Even students who have the technology at home but don't normally use it to work on school related stuff are using Raz-kids at home. Although I spoke with all parent about Raz-kids and informed them that the students each had an account that they could use at home, I must admit, that it kind of surprised me to find out how many students were actually using it at home.
My students love earning points by doing a good job on reading comprehension questions after every story they read so they can "buy stuff" at the "store." Not all my students have access to technology at home, so I let them (whoever wants to) come in to use the iPads during recess and lunch. During their free time, they can use other educational programs, such as Big Seed (math) and St Math (a math support program which my school pays for) just to name a few class favorites. They can also learn to do research with my assistance. Needless to say, I always have plenty of volunteers who give up their playtime to come use the iPads. They take turns using the ipads and they keep track of who's next on their own. They have their rotations already in place so there are no classroom interruptions.
The stories that my students are reading on Raz-kids support third grade standards within social studies, science and Language Arts. We were reading a Harriet Tubman biography for literature circles. We spent about a month reading and discussing the book. At the same time, my students read some stories on Raz-Kids about Harriet Tubman, the Civil War, and the Underground Railroad. Their excitement over reading our book was undeniable. The exposure to the stories with similar content on Raz-kids definitely made a difference to the richness of classroom discussions. My students are starting to be more confident when they speak and share ideas during academic discussions. I have noticed they are using vocabulary from the stories to express their ideas more often. Although they have not been using Raz-Kids for too long, I already see the differences in their reading skills. Students at all reading levels have shown growth. What I value the most is the confidence with which my students express themselves about their reading abilities now. A couple of my lowest readers went from always telling me that "I can't read" to "I can read now," "Look, I'm better at my reading. Can I show you." That is priceless!!! Thank you once again. Your generosity is making a difference in ourclassroom daily.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Medina