Past projects 10
Organization is Key!
Funded Feb 14, 2024Wow, to say that I am grateful would truly be an understatement. With your generosity we have been able to purchase under table wire storage for each of the students.
We are trying to organize our work space to give us room to grow in our learning. Our students have been able to put their binder, iPad, and keyboard in their storage bin to clear off their entire table to use for their work. This has helped my students move distractions so their work can be their number one focus.
My students were so excited the day that we got our materials. It came in 3 huge boxes and the kids were ecstatic to see it! We opened them up and started to put them together. My students were getting so excited they kept wanting the next one that was put together. Finally, once the bell rang I had to stop putting them together and the students were distraught. They wanted theirs. Once we finally got them all together they started filling them and using them. Excited with our organization and how much room we have now!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
Learning for All
Funded Nov 14, 2022I am so thankful for your donation to my classroom. This year has been a tough year at making sure that students are engaged in learning. Students are still getting used to being in the classroom full time, and students who were in Kindergarten during COVID are truly struggling with their focus. Having these materials for my classroom have been incredibly helpful.
This year has also been so incredibly challenging to for me as I have had to switch schools several times to make sure that our district has all the needs met. With your donors choose, I have been able to help children all over the community instead of just at one school.
I am incredibly grateful for your generosity to helping my students grow and learn.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 11 other donors.Hands On Learning
Funded Feb 10, 2022Thank you so much for the resources that you have provided my classroom. We were able to get several reading games to work on sight words, math games, math counters, and even nice shelves. The shelves helped give me all these supplies a place to go, while saving space. I am very thankful that you were willing to give us our generations contributions.
My students were so excited to see all of the games that we had gotten! They didn't realize that they were playing games that were actually helping them learn. I was so thankful and really saw a big impact in my students math facts. I also saw a lot of growth in my students on their sight words. We had students that went from not knowing any letters or letter sounds, to being able to read basic sight words.
Now that I have these materials I have been able to add some fun into our lessons with these games. I know that my students this school year will be using these materials daily. I greatly appreciate everything you have given to me and my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 4 other donors.New Job, New Supplies!
Funded Jul 12, 2021Thank you so much for your donations. I am so excited for all the things my students are able to do. I was able to use the hanging file folders to give each student a spot for their things. My students now each have their own "cubby" in my room. This helps keep the students organized and helps them feel more at home in my room. I was also very excited to get decor for the classroom so it doesn't look so bland. I also was very excited to have a nice pencil sharpener that works in my classroom.
My students continuously talked about how they feel so welcomed in our classroom. They talk about how it did not feel like this before. They also like to see their names and get excited that they feel comfortable in our room.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
This classroom project was brought to life by Clorox and 3 other donors.Series About Reading
Funded Oct 26, 2018Reading is something that several kids struggle with growing up. Most of the time this is because they can never get into a good book that encourages them to read. Graphic novels come in all shapes, sizes, and levels. These are books that most of my students are able to understand and find their love of reading.
In my classroom I highly encourage giving the students time to independent read. We start out each class by having a mini lesson that is about 10 minutes long. After that, we have a good portion of our time for students to independently reading and work on the skills that were just taught. During this time I am able to conference with the students and meet with them 1:1 to talk about their books. I am also able to pull small groups on their books to help with the skills that we are working on.
I have several students in my classroom that are not grade level when it comes to reading. I highly encourage each of my students to just read as much as they can. Practice makes perfect. These books really relate to those students who struggle at reading. A graphic novel does not look or feel like a "typical" book. They still have story line and plot that we can discuss, but students do not feel that they have to hate reading. I cannot express to you the change you have made in some of my students lives. They are finding a new love for reading that they did not always have. Thank you for your donation.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
Color My World with Reading
Funded Mar 27, 2018Thank you so much for the kindness and generosity of our book bins. I have been starting to prepare for next year and I always start with my classroom library!! I have loved being about to label my books by their level, put them into a nice clean/sturdy book bin, and be able to nicely label my book bin.
When we first got our new book bins, my students were stunned. Our custodian just kept bringing in more and more boxes. My students eyes just kept lighting up. Finally, once all of the boxes were in, I opened one set up for my students to see. They started clapping because they are ecstatic that they will no longer have the book bins break, scrap them, or hurt them in any way. They were also super excited when I told them my plan to label all of my books with a level. This helps my students to be able to track their levels and challenge themselves.
My next steps are simple. Next year I want my students to have a classroom library that will be well organized and easily accessible. I am so thankful for your contribution and cannot wait to continue building my classroom library up.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple and 6 other donors.Get Up and Get Moving!
Funded Oct 3, 2017Thank you so much for donating to our classroom! We are so excited to be able to have recess equipment for our students. This will help our students stay out of trouble and have something to do while playing. We got an entire Recess Pack. This pack included things we did not have before. It included 2 footballs, 2 basketballs, 1 soccer ball, 1 volleyball, 2 kickball's, 1 baseball bat, 4 baseball bases, 6 jump ropes, and 2 ropes for roping off fields.
My students were absolutely ecstatic when the gigantic box came into our classroom, my student cheered. They have never been more excited. I was so excited to get out the equipment, get it ready, and have them use it at recess. Everyday, I have students come in before school even starts to ask if they could borrow a basketball, football, or anything else. I have found that the students are not getting into to arguments for multiple reasons. One of the reasons there were a lot of fights in the past, is because one student would bring a basketball for the whole grade to share. Now there are plenty of basketballs and courts for the students to use. As you may have guessed by now, basketball and football are our most used. They play daily if not multiple times a day.
Some of the next steps for our classroom is learning how to be appropriate while playing these games. We tend to get a little competitive while playing so we have been focusing on sportsmanship, and how to walk away when angry. These are good conversations that we can have during our circle time. Circle time, is when we get together as a class and discuss current topics that are going on in our lives. One of the things we talk about is sportsmanship and being respectful to everyone. Thank you so much for your donation. You have no idea the impact that it has made on my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
Standing Ovation for Learning
Funded Sep 1, 2016Standing desks have been one of the greatest things to ever happen to my classroom. When we first received them all students wanted to use them all the time. We had to create a schedule due to the high demand of the desks. The other 5th grade classroom had standing desks already. When my students saw these standing desks they asked, "Are these finally for us?"
Now that we have our schedule and we know when it is appropriate to use the desks students are excelling. I have students that struggle during certain independent times, such as reading, math, and writing. During these times my standing desks are always full. It helps the students be able to move around and also work. I have had students go from several behavior problems at the beginning of the year to almost no behavior problems now. This is because their behaviors were not being on task during work time. When students get bored, they act up!
Being able to cut down on those behaviors during work time has not only helped out those students, but my entire class. When a student is using the boredom behaviors, it is disrupting my entire class. Since we have had the standing desks I no longer have those disruptions, which means I have all students focusing on their work during work time. It is Parent-Teacher Conference time of the year and happily I am able to report that all students are growing in all of the subjects!
We cannot thank you enough for your generous donation to our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
This classroom project was brought to life by Target and one other donor.Bluetooth Keyboards
Funded Feb 11, 2016I cannot express how thankful I am to you for making this opportunity for my students true. My students have never learned how to type properly even though it is a standard that our state requires. In our classroom, each student has the opportunity to work with an iPad. We use our iPads daily for several different tasks. Most of these tasks include typing. It continues to take more time that we have allotted just for my students to be typing their assignments. My students are now able to type their papers, do research, and create presentations.
With these bluetooth keyboards my students are most excited at the fact that they feel more mature. I continually tell them there is rarely a career these days were you do not have to type. Every time my students do their typing lessons I always hear at least one person say "I feel like I am in college." For my students this is a big sign. Most of my students never even think about going to college. They now feel with this learning this skill that they can accomplish anything.
I have several students who have vocally said that they feel much more confident in their typing skills. Students now are using their keyboards correctly instead of the "hunt and peck" method. Our typing skills are increasing which means now we have more time to focus on the content of the subject rather than, "can I get this typed fast enough." I cannot thank you enough. You have made a bigger impact in this world than I can put into to words.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer
Promotion Trip 2015
Funded Nov 4, 2014Receiving enough funds for our promotion trip at the end of the year was a huge relief. A vast majority of my students have never been anywhere but Springfield. When my students heard that we were going on a trip to Chicago they were ecstatic. They did not know how to act. The medieval times is a time that several of my students have never heard of. They has since then learned about the medieval times was about.
Most of my Students have never left Springfield. Recently I had the opportunity to go with 2 of my students on a reward lunch to a Mexican restaurant. Both of my students were telling me how they have never been to a Mexican restaurant before. They were telling me that the only time they had Mexican food was when their guardian was making it for them. It was so rewarding to know that I was able to take these young children out and help them learn about a different culture that is in America.
These children work so hard everyday and they deserve something that is going to change their lives. They deserve to be able to go out and learn about different cities, cultures, and our history. This will be the only field trip we get to take this year and I cannot wait to see the look on their face when we first walk into that medieval times castle. Thank you so much for your support. We could not have done this without you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Lauer