Ms. Shafer's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 31

• Building English Skills Through Food & Culture Exchanges

  Funded Sep 15, 2022

  Your donation helped me pull off the unit of the year!

  We had so much fun learning about each other's cultures through oral history interviews, recipe collections and oral presentations.

  Food that was shared included pozole, pupusas, shepherd's pie, beaucatcher cake, steamed pork buns, eel rice and tres leche cake.

  We did not get our cookbook published -- but there is still hope! The 9th graders are going to do the food unit that the upperclassman did already. We may be able to end our year putting it all together. And, if not, students truly enjoyed the cultural exchanges made possible through your donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 7 other donors.

• Spice Up Our Reading & Relaxation Cafe

  Funded Sep 21, 2022

  "Revamp" was a vocabulary word this year and it was easy to teach by pointing out the bean bags and foam mats that helped give Room 52 a new look and new feel.

  My classroom is the envy of the school, in fact. Students want to be in my class -- even though they are not English learners!

  Thank you so very much for spicing up the room that students use to build their academic English skills. Silent Sustained Reading is a highlight of the week because any student who wants to use the bean bags is able to do so.

  Truly, this was one of the most successful Donors Choose projects I have ever had. It has made such a difference to the culture of this classroom.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and one other donor.

• Food for (Deep) Thought

  Funded Sep 21, 2022

  You have made a tough year easier with your generous donations toward our "Food for (Deep)Thought" project.

  My students enjoyed your snacks all of last semester, and I just gave out the last remaining snacks on Friday of last week. Students regularly enjoyed Chewy bars, popcorn, cookies and other treats. Sometimes the food was a reward; sometimes it was just because they asked. Sometimes students got a "second chance breakfast" with the oatmeal and fruit juices; other times they got a "second chance lunch" with mac-and-cheese cups and sparkling soda.

  Additionally, the snacks provided an incentive for some students who otherwise would have come late to class or missed it all together -- we are struggling with attendance schoolwide in the aftermath of the pandemic and remote learning.

  Most importantly, your donations have helped students realize that there is a community that cares about their well-being. Thank you so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Peterson Family and 2 other donors.

• Back to Basics in Room 52

  Funded Oct 26, 2022

  Your snacks have been an amazing help to us this year -- a group of students grabbed the last ones on Friday and said that snacks were an incentive to make it to class on time. In other words, that is a very powerful donation you made!

  Other students come regularly on time and just love knowing that they can get a boost from a Chewy bar or juice. They feel supported by their teacher and by the community they know who helped bring the snacks to them.

  I am grateful to you and to the Donors Choose organization for all you do to help some of our most vulnerable but promising young people!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and one other donor.

• Help Build a Reading and Relaxation Cafe!

  Funded Aug 10, 2022

  The bean bags more than anything else in this most recent funded project have transformed our classroom. Students come in at lunch and before to relax -- and often read. It gives me such a nice opportunity to get to know them on a different level.

  Furthermore, the bean bags add joy to our Silent Sustained Reading sessions, even if students occasionally fall asleep in such wonderfully comfortable chairs!

  In addition, the snacks and drinks have helped students get excited about being in what is too often seen as a remedial class or a punishment, even though I constantly tell students their second language is a tremendous asset.

  As we enter second semester and the snacks and drinks have started to run out, we are planning how to refill our cafe pantry. This time, students are learning how to write grant proposals to ask for help. Next time you see a grant request from "Ms. Shafer" it may indeed be one written by a student!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 5 other donors.

• Updating Our Bookshelf: Giving English Learners Books That Are Relevant

  Funded Oct 21, 2021

  It has been such a joy to see students picking up the books you funded throughout this school year during our Silent Sustained Reading! While the books by or about Asian/Pacific Islanders attract students with these heritages, they are not the only ones who have found the new books exciting. Indeed, a male student from Guatemala was engrossed in "All-American Muslim Girl" for much of first semester.

  Another one of those books has turned into a full unit, which we will start this week. Originally, I had ordered just two copies of I Was Their American Dream through this Donor Choose project. But when I saw students enjoying the graphic novel so much, I decided to find funds to buy a class set. It is a novel that touches the hearts of students whose parents came to America before they were born to make a better life for them. It resonates with students with parents of two different cultures and with students whose parents divorced. It also helps two groups of my students -- Filipino and Muslim students -- feel more represented in our class because the writer/protagonist is a Filipina Egyptian American.

  This project has been a great success thanks to your generosity.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 3 other donors.

• Now on the Big Screen: Adventures in English Language Development

  Funded Aug 16, 2021

  I am really excited to have the 70 inch television to kick off 2022! (The television arrived in October, but the school district could not send anyone out to install it until after the New Year due to staff shortages!)

  Nevertheless, the students know about it and are excited that they will no longer have to deal with a temperamental projector that right now is not working.

  We will have the television installed just in time for our crunch month when the students prepare for the annual test that allows them to exit the English Learner program if they score high enough on the Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing exams. Test Prep will not be a boring drill if we can use exciting videos and Kahoot games off of the large screen TV.

  I will be happy to post more photos once the TV is installed. For now, I will have to just take photos of the TV still in its box in a very secure storage room in the school. I hope you understand. I thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Emerson Collective and 3 other donors.

• Expand Our Asian American Pacific Islander Titles for English Learners

  Funded Apr 1, 2021

  The excitement in my room for Silent Sustained Reading is stronger than ever this year, and that is thanks to your help in letting me offer students books that are meaningful to them. Students of Asian heritage are especially happy to see a bookshelf of new offerings that have stories that relate to them or to their ancestors.

  Currently, K.Z. is reading "American Panda," and is relating to the character who is struggling with her parents. "Some of the conflicts the character faced was when her mother was always on her business. It's like she's not having her privacy anymore," wrote K.Z. in her most recent reading journal.

  The book "I Was Their American Dream" that you purchased for our classroom is now a book that I am using for an entire unit. I sought donations from friends and family to get a class set after I previewed the book you donated and realized how much my students -- especially my students from the Philippines and from the Middle East -- would love the graphic novel by Filipina-Egyptian American Malaka Gharib. I cannot wait to see their writing and hear their discussions about this book.

  Thank you again for sharing love and books with my students.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

• Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Incentives for Active Participation

  Funded Mar 16, 2021

  This was one of the most effective projects for my students out of more than 20 I have completed through Donors Choose. And you made it possible!

  During our 15 months of 100% remote schooling, my English Learner students needed an incentive not just to get to class every day but to also turn on their cameras and participate. Knowing they could earn "Amazon dollars" toward a purchase of their choice worked. Our participation rate went up 25%.

  Students chose a huge range of prizes -- from computer cables to fake eyelashes. Although they will not be sending you thank you's individually due to Covid 19 obstacles, rest assured that they are grateful to you for brightening their difficult school year”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by A Northern California family and one other donor.

• Replenish Our Healthy Snack Rewards Store!

  Funded Dec 7, 2019

  I am writing to you just after giving each of my 3rd period a bag of pretzels to eat before they settled down to take the state writing exam for English Learners. They were so happy to get those snacks from you and to have a little boost before starting their fourth and final session of this four-day exam. Usually, they use the classroom cash they earn to buy snacks. So today's "free" snack was unexpected and very welcomed.

  Every day, your snacks brighten someone's day. The Welch's fruit gummies are the favorite. So much so, we've run out of them. I will be using a $50 credit I have from Donors Choose to replenish the Welch's fruit gummies to get us through the rest of the year. Luckily, they also love the pretzels and Kind bars, and we still have a good supply of those.

  We thank you so much for your generosity and warm heart.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shafer

  This classroom project was brought to life by Biz and Livia Stone and 3 other donors.