Past projects 52
Learning English Through Classic Games
Funded Dec 31, 2008Wow! Thank you very much for your generous donation to my classroom - it will be a great way to start off the school year after the holiday break!
Most of my second grade students speak English as their second language and these games will allow them to practice their English skills and have fun at the same time! I will incorporate the word games into our daily language arts centers!
My students who complete their homework each day and their center work also get 20 minutes of free time at the end of the day on Friday - it's called Fun Friday! :) Typically the students play math or science based games but now they will also be able to play these word games!
Thank you so much for your donation to my classroom! It is so important to have the students engaged, interested and excited in what they are learning about! Thanks for helping to make that more possible in my classroom!
Thanks!
Kari J”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
I Can Read in English and Spanish!
Funded Nov 13, 2008Thank you so very much for your kind and generous donation to my classroom through DonorsChoose.org. I teach the 2nd grade and one-half of my 26 students are identified as English Language Learners.
They are very eager to learn to read in English and Spanish! If they have a solid literacy foundation in one language it will help them to develop a strong literacy background to build from.
My students will love and enjoy these books! We have a small selection of Bilingual books in our classroom and the students often gravitate over there and read to each other.
My students struggle with reading but they really love it and your generous donation of new books to our classroom will help keep them engaged and learning to read even more fluently!
Thank you very much!!!
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Basic School Supplies Needed!
Funded Nov 8, 2008Wow! Thank you so VERY much for your generous donation to my classroom! The materials and basic school supplies you have purchased for my students are necessary for their education! Some of the materials - such as the multi-cultural crayons and construction paper will be used for engaging hands-on activities to make learning exciting for my students!
Honestly, on Friday I was looking at the supply of pencils left in the cabinet and wondering how we would make it past the next week for pencils! The electric pencil sharpeners also came at the perfect time because ours broke last week.
I (and the students!) will be so excited to have the three-ring binders to use for their Writer's Workshop portfolios so that they can showcase their best pieces of writing! We have already written letters to pen pals, descriptive paragraphs about friendly monsters, class books about communities and helping each other and acrostic name poems. All of the students currently have their work stored in a paper folder - but they will be so proud to be able to flip through their writing portfolios to easily re-read their past writing or share with friends and parents!
Not to mention the pens, paper, scissors and Kleenex (as we enter cold season!) you have provided for my classroom. I cannot thank you enough for your generous donation! Having the basic school supplies is essential for education and some of the "extra" art materials you have provided will allow me to create engaging and hands-on lessons for my students!
Thank you so very much.
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
We Can Read Chapter Books Too!
Funded Nov 6, 2008What a fabulous e-mail to receive! Thank you SO much for funding my proposal to purchase books that are interesting and exciting chapter books for my students who struggle with reading!
This is very exciting. I have 13 students in my classroom who are identified as English Language Learners and they really struggle with reading. However, they don't just want to read picture books - they want to read chapter books like their friends! I have very few chapter books in my classroom library that are written at the kindergarten or first grade level - and all of the books that you have just funded for my classroom are at those levels! I suggested one of these rare books to one of my students last week and she was so excited that she could read a chapter book she asked me today if she could take it home again to read. I, of course, said yes!
Your donation will make my students so excited and encourage them to read! I really appreciate your extremely generous donation!
Thank you very much,
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Fotos For Fundraising!
Funded Oct 17, 2008Wow! Thank you very much for your generous donation to my 2nd grade classroom! We are studying our community in social studies right now! This week the art teacher and I are planning to collaborate by teaching the students to use the disposable cameras that were donated to us by another great organization funded by Kodak. Then the students, art teacher and I will take a walking field trip around the school neighborhood to take photos of interesting and typical things we see in our school neighborhood.
After the photos are developed, the next step is to use ALL of the fabulous supplies you funded to make the cards or postcards! The students can cut and glue photos onto the fronts of the cards. If they are feeling creative maybe they will write a simple: "Hello!" or "Just wanted to say hi!" I have done a similar project with two other classes and it went over really well!
Many of my students didn't have the money for basic school supplies such as pencils, paper and folders, so some of the money we raise will go for basic supplies. Then I will let the students vote on what they would like to buy with the rest of the money. One year it was a fishtank and another year it was art supplies.
The kids are really creative and I know they will be eager to participate in this project! Without even realizing that they are learning so much, you will be helping my students learn about social studies as we tour the neighborhood and science and technology when we discuss the photos and put them into a digital photo album!
Thank you so much for you generous donation to our 2nd grade classroom”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Writer's Workshop For Students With Diverse Needs
Funded Oct 5, 2008Wow! Thank you so very much for your generous donation to my classroom! I really appreciate you funding my proposal for supplies for my students to use during our daily Writer's Workshop.
The supplies include materials such as pens, pencils, lined paper, journals, writing folders and materials for publishing their finished writing pieces such as lined paper with room for illustrations and "fancy" stationary letterhead!
We are already six weeks into our school year and my students, even though almost half of them are still considered English Language Learners, love Writer's Workshop! We have already written acrostic name poems, intro paragraphs about ourselves and sealed them into a 2nd grade time capsule, invitations to the principal for a classroom project and illustrated descriptions of organisms for science.
The materials you have provided will help keep them motivated and writing! This week we are going to be writing our first letters to our pen pals in Texas and I know they will be ecstatic to have fancy paper to write on very soon.
Thank you so much for your kind and generous donation! It is crucial to education that students are engaged with and excited about what they are learning. Thank you for helping to engage my students with writing.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Family Make and Take Activities!
Funded Oct 2, 2008Thank you so much for funding my "Make and Take" proposal! This is so generous of you! You will help my students become stronger readers by ensuring they have the proper supplies to practice at home too!
I am hoping to be able to show some of my parents how to make language games that build student vocabulary and comprehension skills, so that they can play these games at home with their children!
I have also ordered extra materials to be able to introduce new word games during out language art centers time to keep the students engaged and active in their learning.
The students already know and love these simple games such as puzzle flashcards and a craft stick game called BANG!, but now they will be able to teach their families and play at home!
Thank you so much for providing my classroom with this wonderful opportunity! I appreciate it more than you many know!
Thank you,
Kar”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Coffee Time with Student Newspapers!
Funded Aug 25, 2008Thank you SO much! Wow - I really appreciate your generous donation to my classroom!
This upcoming school year I am anticipating about 30 second graders - most of whom speak English as a Second Language and several students with special needs - in my classroom.
The student newspapers that are written at various levels of reading difficulty will make reading the news engaging and enjoyable for all of my students! These newspapers will help my struggling readers and challenge my advanced readers!
I am also very excited to have coffee mugs for the students! I know that they will LOVE reading the newspaper and enjoying a mug of water, juice or hot chocolate!
Finally, theses materials will not only encourage my students to read but will also inspire them to publish their own classroom newsletter!
Your thoughtful donation to my classroom will have my students enjoying both reading and writing! I hope you fully understand how important and meaningful your donation is!
Thank you very much for your generosity. I (and my students!) truly appreciate it.
Thank you,
Kari J”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Printing Student Masterpieces in Color!
Funded Jun 16, 2008WOW! Thank you so very much for your generous donation to my classroom! I am very excited to have my proposal for my students to print their masterpieces in color funded!
Although the current 2007-2008 school year has ended, I know that DonorsChoose will ship the materials and they will be waiting for my new third graders at the beginning of next year. What an exciting way to start off the school year!
I have been teaching at our charter school in Chicago for three years now and will be teaching the 3rd grade again next year, I know that the 2nd graders moving up next year will be very excited to have a color printer in our classroom!
This will be a fabulous way to kick off the new school year because, since our student population is so diverse, we always start off the new school year by writing poems about ourselves, families and cultural backgrounds! Think how exciting your donation of a color printer will make this for my students! I will be able to use my personal digital camera to take photos of the students that they can add to their poems! They will be able to type and print their poems and we can use the folders to bind them into our first class-made book for our library!
Thank you so very much for your generous donation to my classroom, students and your support of education! It is crucial to have students interested and engaged in what they are learning and your donation will actively support this.
Thank you again so very much!
Kari Jo Bank W
3rd Grade Teacher
Chicag”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner
Passport to Japan!
Funded Apr 1, 2008Wow! Thank you so very much for your generous donation to my classroom!
I teach 18 students in a general education classroom. My students have very diverse backgrounds and come from Nigeria, Bosnia, Mexico, Pakistan, Jamaica and Morocco. Eight of my students are identified as English Language Learners, several of my students receive special education services and two are diagnosed with ADHD, so there are a lot of special needs within my classroom.
Soon we will start our school-wide social studies curriculum that involves an in-depth study of a contintent. This semester my students will be studying the country of Japan! The books you have supplied to my classroom will form th primary resources that my students use to research and learn about the wonderful country of Japan! The books I have ordered are on a wide range of reading levels - so each of my students will be able to read and learn about Japan at their own level! Keeping students interested and engaged in learning is largely about providing them with matericals that they can read on their own! So thank you! My students will find the books so motivating!
Our class will also break into small groups and each group will choose a topic such as culture, geography, history or economy and study and create a hands-on project about this topic. We will then invite other classes from the school into our classroom to learn about Japan from us! This is one of our favorite days of the school year because my students are the experts on another country!
I can't say it enough - thank you so VERY much for your kind and generous donation to my classroom and students! The will learn so much by having books written at their reading level and I know that the books will be shared with their kindergarten reading buddies at school and taken home to be read to family and friends.
THanks you again, I really appreciate it!
Kari Jo Bank ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Wagner