Past projects 52
Krafty Bilingual Kindergarteners
Funded May 27, 2010Thank you! Muchas gracias! My students and I really appreciate your generous donation to our classroom!
I wrote the proposal and it was funded last year when I taught Kindergarten. With the start of this 2010 - 2011 school year, I am now the primary Special Ed teacher and work with students in 1st through 4th grades. Unfortunately, due to the budget our elementary school lost our art teacher - so your donation of art supplies is even more appreciated and enjoyed!!!
Being the primary Special Ed teacher has allowed me to engage students in all the primary grades with hands-on art projects! :)
The students have used the multi-cultural paper to make self-portraits and introduce themselves to their peers.
We also used fancy paper during writing to create invitations for open house - this was an exciting and authentic writing experience for the students!
Last week we read about Johnny Appleseed and then used red and green tissue paper to make apples with a brown chenille stick worm with googly eyes!
Just this past Friday we used the picture frames, colored sticks and stick on shapes to make personal photo frames to display our class members on our October bulletin board!
My students LOVE all of the wonderful art supplies you have purchased for our classroom and I really appreciate that you have allowed art to continue to be an important part of our curriculum!
THank you SO SO very much!
Kari Jo Bank Wagner”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Write On! Wipe Off! Word Work for ESL Kindergartners!
Funded Mar 26, 2010Hello! Thank you so very much for donating to my Kindergarten classroom! My Kindergarteners absolutely LOVE the whiteboards and dry erase markers you purchased for them!
They were so excited to have a new whiteboard for each of them! Amd the colored dry erase markers were a huge hit!
We have used the whiteboards to practice reading, writing and math skills. One side of the whiteboard has primary writing lines printed on it and the other side is all blank white.
My Kindergarteners love to practice writing words "the first grade way" on the lined side! We use the blank side to practice drawing shapes and writing simple addition and subtraction facts. The whiteboards have also been popular during center time when the Kindergarteners like to pretend they are writing report cards! :) Your generous gift to my Kindergarteners is well used and much appreciated! Thank you so so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Pictionaries, Puzzles and Posters Oh My!
Funded Mar 16, 2010Hi! Thank you so very much for your generous donation to my Kindergarten classroom! I have 34 students and the majority are learning English as their second language and predominantly speak espanol in their homes.
My Kindergarteners were SO excited to receive the Spanish floor puzzles, pictionaries in English and Spanish and the English/Spanish posters and labels for items in the room!
The floor puzzles are an especially big hit during center time! I hear the students saying the animals, colors and numbers in both English and Spanish and they are extremely excited each and every time they complete a puzzle!
The students have also enjoyed cutting the English and Spanish labels and labeling the items in our classroom!
Finally, the pictionaries are an invaluable resource! I can't thank you enough for these! During reading and writing time the students are all over the room with the pictionaries. They love copying words out of them or flipping through the pages and trying to read the English or Spanish words.
Thank you so very much for providing my students with materials that improve both their English and Spanish skills! And keep them interested and engaged in learning!
Thanks again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Energizing Exercise for ESL Kindergarteners
Funded Mar 11, 2010Thank you SO much for your generous donation to my Kindergarten classroom through donorschoose.org. You purchased so many great games and gym equipment for my Kindergarteners! We have opened and used the dodge balls, hula hoops, ribbon twirlers, egg and spoon race game, parachute, jump ropes, bean bags and sidewalk chalk over the past week!
Our school does not have a playground or play area nor do we have recess in our school. So it has been especially great this week to have these materials for the students to play, exercise and learn to cooperate with!
I uploaded some photos to the donorschoose.org website, but what you can't hear in the photos is the kids cheering each other on and helping each other. They especially love to cheer for each other during the egg and spoon race game!
Today the weather was also nice enough that we were able to play on the sidewalk in front of the school. We do not have a playground area or recess so this was a great morning break for the Kindergarteners!
Thank you very much for providing my students with games that will allow them to exercise, build social skills and express some of their energy!
Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Where Are We?! Maps for Bilingual Kindergarteners!
Funded Feb 11, 2010Thank you SO very much for your generous donations to my Kindergarten classroom! We opened all of the materials you purchased for us this afternoon. I wish you could have been here to see how excited the students were!
Even though we are only in Kindergarten we are learning about the seven continents, our country, state and city! The kids were so excited to see the two giant maps of America and the world! There was lots of ooh-ing and aah-ing as we have been using a tiny world poster that is difficult for all 34 students to see at once.
The write-on wipe-off maps of the world and America were also a huge hit! We were able to use dry erase markers to circle our state and city.
Thank you also for the giant world floor puzzle and map books. The floor puzzle was an especially big hit during center time - great for cooperation skills and geography skills!
Thank you again for providing materials that keep my Kindergarteners engaged and actively learning about geography!
Thanks! Sincerely, Mrs. W”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
This classroom project was brought to life by The Pershing Square Foundation and one other donor.Math Centers for Bilingual Kindergarteners!
Funded Feb 15, 2010Thank you! Thanks to each of you for your generous support of mathematics education in my Kindergarten classroom! I really appreciate the math materials your donations provided - my students really needed them.
The materials already arrived! We opened the boxes on Monday as a whole class and talked about donations. The students were so excited to see the balances, measuring cups, clocks, calendars, puzzles and the cash register was a huge hit!
Instead of our usual centers we had all-math centers on Monday afternoon. The students had free choice of centers and you should have seen them - sharing, exploring and learning basic math concepts while having fun.
Thank you so much. You have made my responsibility of teaching math skills to my Kindergarteners so much easier because they love these hands-on activities.
Thanks again! I truly appreciate it!
Thank you!~”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Sharing School Supplies!
Funded Aug 31, 2009Thank you so much for your generous donation to my Kindergarteners! The supplies and art materials you purchased are well used!
The folders have been given to each student so that they can keep their current writing papers organized. I hope you enjoy the pictures of them writing and drawing in their journals! I allow my students to write with the golf pencils, markers and colored pencils you purchased and this encourages and engages them in writing. Which means they are writing more - thanks to you!
I also used the large file box and file folders to organize a writing portfolio for each student that demonstrates how their writing is progressing over the school year. The scissors, glue sticks and paper punches have been used for numerous cut and paste activities.
Finally, thank you so much for the multicultural colored markers. My Kindergarteners are a diverse group and they were so excited to have such a variety of colors to choose from when we write and color about ourselves.
I cannot thank you enough for your generous donation! You have provided supplies and materials for my students that have already provided hours of engaged and enjoyable learning for them.
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Mrs. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Let's Go To Japan!
Funded Jan 8, 2009Thank you very much for your generous donation to my classroom! My students and I are in the beginning stages of our Exploring Japan unit and the resources you have provided have heightened their interest and kept them actively involved!
I divided the unit into five categories - history, government, economy, culture and geography and allowed the students to pick which group he or she wanted to be in! The groups have sorted, pasted and labeled pictures onto posters about their topic. The next step is to further research and create an interactive game (such as a quiz show!) to present their topic to the class.
Earlier this week the students finished large-poster size 3D maps of Japan with some of the art supplies you provided! There are glittery blue Pacific Oceans, small islands made out of beans and Mt. Fuji is represented by large tissue paper peaks!
We have also watched the movie and read the book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Tomorrow we will be using the origami paper and books to create our own origami - although I do not know if we will make 1,000.
It is also wonderful that I spent two years living in Japan, so I was able to bring a kimono, Japanese tea ceremony pieces, traditional fans, flags, chopsticks and other items into class for the students to explore. Then they were able to research more about the items using the books you purchased and the Internet! Thank you!
I believe the students interest in all aspects of Japan will allow me to continue planning and going deep into the content the students learn about Japan!
Thank you SO much for providing our classroom the resources to keep my students excited and eager to learn about topics such as economy that most 2nd graders find dull! I really appreciate your dedication to education and allowing my students to be engaged in what they are learning! ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Hey! I Can Read Chapter Books Too!
Funded Feb 8, 2009February 26th, 2009
Dear Doretti Family,
Thank you so very much for you generous donation to my classroom through www.donorschoose.org – my students have really enjoyed and benefited from the "Reading Buddy" chapter books your donation provided!
I have 27 second graders and the majority speak English as their second language and Spanish as their native language. Having additional easy-to-read books in our classroom library is so important! Many of my students, even though they are in the 2nd grade, are just beginning to learn to read in English and read at a Kindergarten or 1st grade level. However, they don't want to read "baby" books! The books that you provided to my classroom are perfect for these students! They look just like chapter books but have only one or two simple sentences per page. ALL of my students loved these books!
One of the best characteristics of your donation to my classroom is that the books all came in pairs or sets of three. This has allowed my students to be reading buddies and read together. Students who are stronger readers can act as tutors and read the book aloud first, while the tutee listens and then gets to read aloud. This builds reading fluency and comprehension skills and the students have FUN gaining these important skills!
I wish you could have seen the excitement on their faces when we opened the box of books! I hope their excitement shows in the pictures (most of the pictures were taken by the students themselves!) I also included some student book reviews that they wrote about the books that you donated!
Thank you so much for engaging my students in the joy of reading! I appreciate it so much! It is so important, to me as an educator, that I have the resources necessary to teach all of my students how to read and how to LOVE reading! I appreciate your generous donation so very much!
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Mrs. W
2nd Grade Inclusion Teacher”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Making Self-Management Fun!
Funded Dec 22, 2008Wow! Thank you very much for funding this generous proposal for my classroom! The items in the proposal will help reinforce appropriate and positive behavior from my students!
Currently, they are self-monitoring their own behavior during Writer's Workshop. Let me explain a bit here! During Writer's Workshop the 25 2nd graders in my room are allowed to move about the room, work on the floor, the rug, sit anywhere comfortable with a pillow, work with a cooperative group or work independently. This cooperative and independent work time allows me the opportunity to meet with small groups or individual students. To guide the rest of the class in self-monitoring each student has a chart of five smiley/sad faces. Five random times during Writer's Workshop I ring a bell and if the students were writing, helping a friend write or getting writing supplies they earn a smiley face. If they earn a pre-set goal of smiley faces they get to go to the prize box at the end of the day and choose a prize!
Some of your generous donation will go into this prize box! Other prizes and stickers you donated I like to pass out as rewards to students who have turned in their homework everyday for a week or recognize a struggling student who has put forth her best effort on an assignment!
My students will really appreciate the items you have funded to help reinforce their positive behavior, make learning more engaging and exciting for them and reinforce when they make appropriate behavioral choices in the classroom. Thank you so much for your support of education and your support for educators! I truly appreciate it!
Thanks again!
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner