Past projects 7
Bellies Full and Focused to Learn!
Funded Mar 5, 2024Thank you so very much for making this project possible. I wanted to give my students comfort by providing snacks when they were hungry and sensory items to help with anxiety and stress they often experience during the school day.
The students especially loved the variety of snacks, since many of them are picky eaters.
They enjoyed the sensory pads to finger-write letters when reviewing our letter sounds. The students got the opportunity to choose which pads they wished to use, which was an added element of fun!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
Capturing Young Readers
Funded Dec 5, 2022My students have thoroughly enjoyed reading these new books. They especially liked reading a new spin on a classic fairy tale that most have heard as children. We were able to then do a nice compare and contrast between the two titles.
We did not have any mystery genres in our collection, so the addition of "the Great Greene Heist" was a great book for my classroom. This book also incorporates some politics, which my students could do text-to-self connections since many of them ran for Student Council this year for the first time.
Thank you so much for your contribution to our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
The Sixth Grade Sleuths
Funded Dec 31, 2022My students have thoroughly enjoyed reading through the Cold Case Files. I haven't seen them so excited to read all year! They are going back and re-reading documents, being exposed to multiple forms of text: suspect interviews, police reports, newspaper articles, and much more!
The students were able to select their groups of 3-5. They will be working on this case for 4-5 class periods. They are given a singular objective, once they have proved the groups theory on that particular objective, they get to move on to the next objective.
Thank you so much for giving them the opportunity to participate in these activities!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
An Adventure Awaits In the Pages of a Book
Funded Jan 1, 2022My students absolutely loved reading "The Adventure's of Captain Underpants". This was an excellent, full-color book that my lower-level reading students were excited to read each day! Most of our chapter books have very limited, if any pictures. I feel that the addition of the illustrations increased the desire to read for my students who are struggling readers.
It was rewarding when I was able to see the excitement and anticipation for reading on the faces of my students who have struggled and who did not ever enjoy reading. Thank you so much for helping me change some of my students attitudes about reading.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
Beyond Our Mountains
Funded Feb 14, 2021I want to extend a heart-felt thank you for your generosity! My students have enjoyed the colorful pages of these weekly magazines. They get excited flipping through the pages to see what is inside. Each volume has interactive activities they can participate with their tablet, quizzes, thought-provoking articles, and one even had a play!
My biggest goal each year is to help each student find something they enjoy reading.
The addition of these magazines has enhanced the engagement level of my students and have helped a few of them discover they like reading the articles.
Thank you again for your kindness!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
Explore the World Through the Pages of a Book!
Funded Dec 23, 2020My students have loved reading "Among the Hidden". They used the skill of making predictions, inferencing, context clues and analyzed the point of view. All of these skills will be assessed on the state assessment at the end of the year. Due to remote learning many of my students have not been participating daily, so this provided a wonderful opportunity to review.
Our students had been on the blended learning model since September and returned to five days a week in January. At that time, we began this novel. It was nice to have all the students in the classroom and being able to discuss the chapters as we were reading them.
I had several students who have ordered the second book in this series; I love to introduce my students to the first book in a series for this very reason! The book hooks them and they get the desire to read more on their own, which is always the goal!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen
This classroom project was brought to life by FamilyAlbum and 8 other donors.High Interest Nonfiction Texts in Autism Classroom
Funded Nov 19, 2014My students were so excited to have new materials in the classroom. They were able to read nonfiction texts that were interesting to them. In the past, the non-fiction selections were boring to them and did not keep them engaged. The new materials were written about places and things the students were interested in.
The students are using the resources in addition to the text required in their general education classroom. This additional practice with nonfiction will hopefully boost their vocabulary, real-world knowledge, and help prepare them for testing season.
The students have shown growth in comprehension. They have had a 10% increase in their tests since I have implemented the new resources. This may sound small, but any growth is a huge benefit for my students. The students have also shown some improvements in their ability to determine important details in the text.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gilfilen