Mrs. Marshall's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 14

• Give Us a Head Start With Basic Supplies

  Funded Oct 11, 2023

  Your gift of basic supplies to my classroom has taken a load off my parent partners who are unable to contribute some of the essentials that make the day-to-day operations of our learning environment go so much more smoothly. I am personally grateful because your donations have made it possible for me to direct some of my out-of-pocket expenses on other needed items for the classroom. Every student in my class is now able to utilize resources that are needed in the daily routines and learning experiences that occur in our class.

  The scholars were extremely excited when the packages arrived and tore into them eagerly to see what our donor partners had gifted to us. Having even the most basic supplies available makes an unbelievable difference in the lives of students and so your kind generosity demonstrates to my scholars that there are people who are willing to INVEST in them simply because they BELIEVE in them.

  The place value disks continue to provide opportunities for hands-on exploration and for developing conceptual understanding. The dry erase markers and sticky notes are used daily in our math workshops, enabling us to quickly assess understanding and make necessary corrections to misconceptions and computational errors.. Additionally we can now proudly display the completed math tasks on the printer paper that were requested in this project. We are truly grateful for all the items you helped to bring to our classroom by funding this project.

  Contributions such as yours help to encourage scholars that are economically and socially disadvantaged to adopt a growth mindset and disown the idea of the self-fulfilling prophesy that suggest that because they are economically disadvantaged, they will amount to nothing.

  Thank you for giving us a head start for school year 2023 -2024. We can now go from good to great because you have our backs!!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community & an Anonymous Partner and 7 other donors.

• Help Kindle Their Interest in Financial Literacy

  Funded Sep 17, 2023

  We asked, you listened AND you delivered. You gave us the resources we needed to get our financial literacy project underway, and it is with the utmost pleasure and gratitude that I extend my thanks once again and share with you the impact your support has given to my scholars now that we have completed the unit of lessons.

  The excitement on receiving the Kindle devices sparked a joyous response to the reading assignments that I included in my financial literacy lessons. At the onset of the project the students eagerly shared the devices with their group members, as they took turns reading aloud and listening to each other. This year with the influx of migrant students the Kindles were God sent learning tools because I was able to buy eBooks in Spanish to meet the needs of my Spanish speaking students and were easily able to include them in the lessons designed for this project.

  Throughout the entire unit, it was amazing to see the spirit of collaboration increase by leaps and bounds as the students engaged in activities centered around money matters including earning, saving, and investing money. There was no loud protest when reading assignments were given and I attribute this to the fact that reading together on a Kindle is much more fun than reading static passages individually. We were able to fully explore financial topics and engage in interactive learning activities which included creating lemonade stands and other business ventures. They gained fluency in adding and subtracting money, while engaging in the real-world skills of shopping for groceries, clothing, and electronics. During these series of lessons, the scholars utilized some of the skills we focused on that are relevant and useful in order to be educated consumers, such as locating prices of items they wished to purchase, using sales flyers, clipping coupons, applying discounts, paying with cash, (we used play money), and they also learned how to write a check and find the new balance in a check book.

  Best of all, these Kindle devices will be used continually to educate many more boys and girls over the years, helping them to develop useful skills and to engage in fascinating learning experiences made possible because of your generosity and support.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by Charles Schwab and 4 other donors.

• We Can See Clearly Now

  Funded Aug 15, 2023

  I am delighted to share an update with you about the large screen device that your donations helped to bring to our classroom and the impact it has made on our learning environment. Lesson delivery and understanding of the content is more accessible since we received the tablet. Whether the scholars are working individually, in centers, or in the station area that has been set up for the students who are challenged visually and have difficulty hearing, these students can now be seen smiling and working confidently along with the rest of their classmates who don't need an assistive device to enhance their learning.

  Prior to having access to this device that now helps them to better see and hear as information was shared with the whole class, those students wore confused and frustrated faces. It is such a joy to see their level of confidence soar because they are now able to see and hear what is being taught in real time, and they no longer have to wait for me to visit their station to explain what the rest of the class had already grasped.

  The capabilities of the device are tremendous. I was able to install an app which helps with translating whatever is said throughout the lesson into the native language of the learners so they can hear and understand what is being taught simultaneously with the English-speaking students. I am also happy to report that four out of the five learners who regularly use this tablet have received passing grades on each of the weekly assessments they have taken. I am confident that clarity and understanding will continue to improve for these learners.

  Once again, please accept our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for your contributions and support.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by The SONIC Foundation and 19 other donors.

• An iPad Can Lead to I Can

  Funded Nov 30, 2022

  Your gift of an iPad helped make music and learning take on a life of its own in our classroom. I am still amazed that the youngsters who signed up for our class band choose to remain in class to play the keyboard, guitars and drums, and rehearse with GarageBand over going outdoors or getting together with their friends in the assigned play areas for recess.

  Having an iPad helped the students to develop more of an interest in rehearsing and practicing the pieces we were learning to play over and over and encouraged them to strive for perfecting those areas that needed to be worked on. Not only did these practice sessions help to improve their ability to play, but it also impacted their commitment to persevere in math which resulted in improved performance in everything we do in our classroom. The scholars also use the iPad to look at math videos on YouTube and to work on other assigned tasks.

  Another fantastic thing about this gift is that its impact does not remain only in our classroom! The entire school community gets to share in the musical experience that the scholars will share with the rest of the student body and their parents when they perform during our end of year assembly. My scholars have been using GarageBand, the preinstalled app on the iPad to experiment and create original pieces. We now have two groups of "musicians" that use the iPad to record themselves.

  Thanks to your generosity we have a tool that benefits the scholars in many, many ways. We are truly grateful for your help and support in enriching the learning experiences that we share from day to day.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 4 other donors.

• The Beat Goes On!

  Funded Sep 5, 2022

  I am delighted to update you on the wonderful things that's been happening in my classroom. Your donations have helped to add to the joy of learning. The instruments that were purchased for this project have helped to make remarkable changes to our learning environment and have actually improved the tone of our classroom and the overall learning environment. My scholars were totally thrilled when the instruments arrived, and that excitement never waned.

  My math classroom has been extended for use as a music room and our lunch period is now a time for my wonderful scholars to enthusiastically showcase their talents, playing guitar, Keyboard and singing and dancing. I now have a waiting list of students who want to participate in our band.

  The gifts from this project have also impacted the way the students have been able to grasp the concept of fractions. This year I have noticed that they can more readily identify and compare fractions because they can actually listen to the difference between a whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note. There is now less confusion for my struggling learners and so we were able to move through our fractions domain more quickly than I ever experienced with my challenged learners.

  We recently completed the midyear math diagnosis exam and most of my students made tremendous gains on the midyear test when compared to the beginning of year diagnostic test. Two of my English language learners made remarkable gains. One student increased by 44 points and the other showed a 56 points gain. Overall, the majority of the students improved dramatically. These remarkable increases give credence to the thought that math and music are the universal languages of the world.

  There are barely enough words to express my gratitude for your generous contributions and for making this project become a reality and bringing so much joy to my wonderful boys and girls. The gift of music is everlasting, and I will be eternally grateful to you all for making my classroom a place where children look forward to coming to explore, discover and learn.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by Spotify and 8 other donors.

• Buddying Up to Become Financially Literate

  Funded Aug 19, 2022

  Thank you once again for helping to make my idea for this project become a reality in my classroom and for being instrumental in providing precious moments of learning opportunities for my boys and girls. The students were delighted when the boxes with our resources were delivered to our classroom. Their excited faces and bright smiles when we opened the boxes containing the ATM machine and the other resources for the project were just the beginning indications of how eager they were to begin exploring the concept of being financially literate and that we would have loads of fun while learning important life skills. At first, our conversations in the periods designated for our financial literacy classes were stilted and somewhat awkward. However, those moments made me realize how vitally important it is to begin having conversations about money with our children as early as possible and served to validate my reasons for launching this project.

  Despite the awkward beginning, with every class conducted I began to notice growth and peaked interest from the scholars as they became acquainted with key vocabulary words and phrases centered around the concepts of being financially literate. The books, games, and activities that we use during class give my scholars glimpses into the world of money, bank accounts, saving and budgeting, providing insight into what it means to be an educated consumer. In fact, because of the real-world money games and other activities we have been interacting with in math class and the use of the resources purchased for this project, the scholars are demonstrating improved accuracy in adding and subtracting large numbers, and in solving multi-step word problems.

  For the end of unit project, the scholars were asked to develop a proposal promoting an imaginary catering business that they own to convince the administrative team to select their business to cater a Christmas party for the teachers and staff of our school. I am thrilled to share that every student enthusiastically engaged in creating their proposal and worked through the frustrating moments that ensued, fulfilling all requirements of the tasks including the mandate of having a Summary of Costs page. They also had an option to make a video presentation of their completed proposal. It was lovely to see them work collaboratively to complete their projects.

  Watching the kids productively struggle to make sense of mathematics and witnessing the development of their critical thinking skills as we engage in analyzing math problems on a daily basis and as we discuss scenarios about managing our households when faced with inflating prices and other cost of living expenses make me even more grateful for your generosity in helping to fund this project and bringing this opportunity into my classroom. Class discussions are now much richer and flow more freely as the scholars share and defend their opinions and justify their thinking. I am elated at how some of them are being more conscientious about using the tools and resources that we have in the classroom including using both sides of the pages in their notebooks and not discarding pencils that are still usable. They are now more careful about safeguarding their cardigans and other accessory items than they were when the school year had just begun.

  I am extremely excited about next steps for my students and their families as we continue learning about financial literacy. I have the good fortune of securing the assistance of one of the donors who offered to collaborate with me on this project and will conduct a financial literacy parent workshop to provide important information on establishing 529 college saving plan accounts as an investment in their child's education and future. Thank you once again for your invaluable help and generosity.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 5 other donors.

• We Are Coder Kids

  Funded Sep 23, 2021

  This school year was filled with challenges for our scholars, but your generous gift to my "We Are CODERKIDZ " project brought smiles and many moments of joys to my scholars when we opened the packages to reveal the robots we received because of your generous donation to our class. It was thrilling to be part of this amazing journey that was very new and exciting to my kiddos.

  Seeing the looks of joy and triumph as they learned to code made each moment of their struggle to create, troubleshoot and debug their coding projects certainly worthwhile. Time spent during our computer science classes is notably a favorite with our scholars. It is quite evident that each moment of the productive struggle experience as the students learned to create codes and to manipulate their robots have successfully impacted their critical thinking skills and their ability to work collaboratively. Coders were able to highlight their projects in our Fall STEM Showcase and are currently working on new projects for our June showcase. Thank you for bringing hands-on coding to my scholars, and for being a part of the village that help make a difference in the lives of our youngsters,”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.

• Chrome-Cornered Classroom

  Funded Aug 17, 2019

  I'm delighted to share with you the wonderful news of how your gift of 3 Chromebooks have impacted my classroom. As you may already know, most struggling readers do not look forward to reading a book on their own. However, with your generous help my boys and girls now look forward to DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) in our classroom. Now that we have these Chromebooks, scholars can listen to a story or passage that's read to them as they follow the text on the screen. Stories come alive on the screen and students become more acquainted with words that are unfamiliar to them.

  I am happy to report that not only do my youngsters look forward to reading more than ever before now that we have the Chromebooks, but their reading levels have also improved from September to the end of our first marking period which ended on November 5th.

  We are also able to use the Chromebooks for a variety of other learning activities in the Chrome Corner of our classroom. Thank you once again for your generosity and for helping to make learning fun and exciting.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and 10 other donors.

• Using all the Senses Just Makes Sense

  Funded Nov 27, 2018

  Thank you so much for the iPads and headphones. These new tools have added to the excitement of learning in my classroom. The iPads have allowed me to easily create customized videos of some of my lessons which are available for students who may need to review a concept that they may not have grasped during my delivery of the lesson. Tech tools such as the iPads are used to help each student learn at their own pace.

  The students are now excited that they can use the iPads and headphones to listen to books being read to them from our Math library. Reading in Math helps them to develop their reading skills and fluency and also helps them to become better at problem solving. The headphones allow them to engage in an activity of their choice without disturbing their classmates and to work individually. They are also excited about being able to work collaboratively with one or more of their classmates. The huge screen of the iPads are perfect for sharing and learning together. It's a joy to see my students huddled together practicing math skills or looking up definitions for our weekly math vocabulary socials.

  My two English language learners in my class and three others with IEP's are extremely excited

  when it's their turn to use the Ipads during Math Station time. Listening to the books from the Math Concept Readers are now more accessible to them as they no longer have to be confined to reading the paperback version from the classroom library. They are now able to hear how words that are difficult for them to pronounce sound. These students are also now able to review my videotaped lessons privately and as many times as they need.

  Thanks again for helping to give my students the tools that help make learning fun and that facilitate an entry point of learning for each of them as individual learners.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall

  This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and 8 other donors.

• Individual Desks Just Don't Add Up in Math Class

  Funded Jan 1, 2018

  I felt inspired to drastically change my classroom environment by moving from using individual desks to using round or clover shaped tables with the goal of getting my students to look at each other as they work together to develop strategies for effective problem solving. Within a few short days my project was funded and my inspiration became a reality thanks to you who have been like a guardian angel to my students and I.

  I was always convinced that in order to increase collaboration and build team spirit in classrooms that the setting and the environment must also be taken into consideration in addition to the other factors that affect student performance and their attitude about learning. I saw in my mind's eye a classroom with furniture that encouraged conversation based on the seating arrangement. However, with the constraints on budgets in our schools I didn't believe that I will ever see that dream come to life. Fortunately for my students and I, your generosity made my inspired idea become real.

  I am therefore deeply grateful for your support of my project which not only created a physical change in my classroom environment, but has helped to bring about a change in the mindset of my students about our mathematical learning experiences. The tables that you helped us to acquire not only adds to the beautiful layout of our classroom lab, but they also inspire a spirit of collaboration and camaraderie among the students. Scholars are now more prone to make eye contact with each other when working together and they seem more eager to attack math challenges. Additionally, sharing ideas during turn and talk time is now more spontaneous than ever before.

  Currently we are exploring fractions and volume and connecting them to real life situations. The students are fascinated that these concepts occur in our everyday life and are not simply confined to the pages of a textbook. By the middle of May, we will be working on some STEM projects as I seek to integrate science and engineering into our learning experiences before the end of this school year.

  Once again please accept my heartfelt thanks and do know that your generous gifts do make a difference.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Marshall