Ms. Livingstone's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 405

• Puzzle Power! Collaboration in the Classroom

  Funded Jan 6, 2018

  Our new puzzles arrived earlier this week, and the card table came today. Thank you so much!

  My students immediately began working together to open the packages and set up the table. They selected one of the bird puzzles to assemble and immediately began using the puzzle sorting trays to work in pairs on different birds.

  This was a week with three days of standardized testing. A half hour spent on a puzzle was just what we needed, and it would not have been possible without your help.

  Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

• Marvelous Math Goes to Middle School

  Funded Dec 12, 2017

  Our new math resources have arrived. Thank you so much!

  We had a modified schedule with some very long class periods today to accommodate standardized testing for one grade level. My 8th graders were very excited to unpack the boxes of math materials and open them up. We tried working with the angle measurement kit and the volume exploration kit right away.

  Thank you so much for providing us with exciting new materials to share with our families. My students are looking forward to doing a little math instruction at home.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by Overdeck Family Foundation and Simons Foundation and 5 other donors.

• Tales and Scales: Learning about Fish

  Funded Nov 30, 2017

  Thanks to your generous donations, we had Fish Centers today!

  Students worked alone and with partners to identify fish, create idea maps, solve fish puzzles, illustrate fish text, and match fish illustrations to text about fish. We had a great time! Fishing for Sight Words, although designed for much younger kids, was a big hit. With the little tissue paper fish bobbing from the ceiling above, we had a wonderful time using the fish books and other resources you provided to practice reading and writing.

  Thank you for your support. Your generous gift is helping older new readers learn how books open doors to all kinds of new information.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 8 other donors.

• The Art of Math: Sketching Our Thinking

  Funded Nov 8, 2017

  Our new laptops and markers have arrived! Thank you so much for your generosity.

  We are working away at combining like terms and adding variables with negative coefficients. The new markers are coming in very handy as we work on our individual boards to solve math problems from Khan Academy.

  Having two different colors makes it possible for students to more clearly follow the math reasoning of others as they learn new approaches to math. We are able to more clearly indicate steps within our problem solving.

  The computers are also a valuable addition to our classroom. We will be able to invite several more students to work in our classroom.

  Thank you again for your gift.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 3 other donors.

• Books to Read, Books to Own!

  Funded Oct 18, 2017

  Thank you so much for funding class sets of three easy chapter books for my middle school Limited English Proficient students.

  My students are newcomers to this country, many with very limited formal schooling and a great deal of trauma in their past. We recently read The Boxcar Children with audio support and lots of reenactment to build understanding. It was so touching to watch these kids, many who have survived years of war and refugee camps, connect so effortlessly with the story of four self-sufficient New England children living in a world where hard work and kindness can solve any problem. Experiencing escape reading for the first time is surely an important step in becoming an avid reader even if it doesn't relate directly to a tested Language Arts objective!

  I wanted to build on this experience by reading other simple chapter books together. Your donation provided us with copies of three more books, and we are already part of the way through the first one. Once again, these students, from a variety of backgrounds, have been acting out pivotal scenes and identifying with the characters. They are building basic literacy skills and developing English proficiency by talking and reading and writing.

  Thank you again for your generosity.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 2 other donors.

• Blue Jay Point Park II: Nature and Art

  Funded Oct 8, 2017

  No, we haven't gone camping yet, but our fishing rods arrived today, and my students just could not wait to try them out!

  The principal was out of the building, so we slipped outside to the little decorative fish pond in our courtyard and did a little quick "fishing" without hooks. Thank you so much for providing my students with their own fishing equipment!

  We usually have a fishing demonstration on the site of our camping field trip, but this year, with our own equipment, we can have an initial one on campus and arrive at the lake ready to cast our baited hooks right into the water.

  Thank you so much for your generous support! Your gift is introducing young teens to a healthy and fun activity they will enjoy for their entire lives.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 8 other donors.

• Time to Read: A Weekly Magazine

  Funded Aug 28, 2017

  Thank you so much for providing my students with the newsmagazine TIME For Kids.

  My students are at the very beginning of the process of learning English, and some are learning to read for the first time in any language. Although most of the text is too difficult for my students to read---yet!---they are greatly enjoying talking about the photos and reading the headlines.

  Today students had a lot of fun translating sign language into English.

  Thank you again for your generosity. Every resource put into these students' hands helps them get closer to becoming strong readers.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 4 other donors.

• Peace: We're Getting There!

  Funded Sep 16, 2017

  Our flags supporting tolerance and peaceful coexistence have arrived and students installed them in our hallway this morning. Thank you for making it possible for us to brighten our hallway with a little visual support for religious tolerance.

  We're having a lot of fun identifying all the symbols on the flags. I don't think there is anyone in our building who could identify them all without help! It is nice, though, for students to be learning that there are many different religions in this world, all deserving of respect and acceptance.

  Our new reading program is also on the way. We can't wait to get started with it!

  Thank you again for your support.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 5 other donors.

• Flash and Dazzle: A Neon Sign!

  Funded Aug 24, 2017

  Thank you so much for providing us with an eye-catching neon sign for posting objectives for students in the English as a Second Language program at our urban middle school.

  A very friendly carpenter came into the building and hung the sign in the hallway between two ESL classrooms last week. We have been experimenting with the special markers and different flash settings to find the most appealing look for our sign. We have already posted---and mastered---our very first program-wide objective.

  Thank you so much for your generous help.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 7 other donors.

• Our Peaceful Classroom: Cooperative Groups

  Funded Jul 18, 2017

  Our new seating has arrived, and my students love it! We have pillows, we have mats, we have folding chairs, and we have, above all, the lightweight orange ottoman which can easily move to any spot in the room. Flexible seating is a hit in our classroom!

  Thank you so much for making this possible. We will be able to configure groups in all kinds of new ways so that students who prefer working low on the ground, seated on buckwheat cushions around a coffee table can do so, and those who prefer working stretched out with their heads on pillows are also able to do so.

  Thank you again for your gift.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Livingstone

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 4 other donors.