Past projects 6
Starfish & My Fabulous Self
Funded Mar 19, 2025Thank you for your donation and helping us to get books into our classrooms. The book that you helped us be able to read this year is called Starfish by Lisa Fipps. This book deals with so many topics that are important to middle school students. Some examples are: bullying, body image, family issues, losing a friend, making a friend, speaking with a therapist, conditional vs unconditional love, learning to find your voice, being small vs taking up space, and so many more.
The biggest topic that we have explored with this book is bullying. There are so many examples in this book of reasons why people get bullied and who does the bullying. The main character, Ellie, gets bullied by kids at school and by her own family members about her weight. Another boy (who bullies her himself) is bullied for being low-income. The family who lives next door to the main character are bullied for being immigrants.
At our school over the last year or so, we have seen an uptick in students who are going through similar issues. As a team, we wanted to address these issues head on. One of the lessons we used to help address the theme of bullying is to pair the book with a nonfiction text. We had students go to the website https://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/facts and read facts from the government about bullying. Then we compared what is listed with the journey our main character has been put through. Many of our students identified with this journey and shared personal stories of ways they have gone through these same struggles and it was a powerful moment to be able to see under the iceberg of our classmates' lives.
Another lesson we used to address the theme of body image was partnering the book with the Dove Self-Esteem project which includes videos and stories of people who have had trouble with being happy with the way they look because people have bullied them about it or because of the way the media portrays beauty. Some students took this to heart and really started to evaluate what is seen as beautiful and noticing the beauty in everyday things.
This book is a novel in verse and so many of our students have never read a book formatted this way. Teaching with this book has helped us to be able to incorporate lessons about poetry and figurative language in a new way that students were excited about.
Your donation helped to bring two class sets of this novel to our school. Because this book covers heavy themes, we have decided as a team to read it whole class. This means that each student has a copy of the book and we take turns reading each poem. We have created discussion questions in advance to help students think critically about these topics and also provide space for them to work through the story. We have had some very rich discussions indeed!
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for donating and helping all of these lessons be possible.
LMAAC 5th and 6th Grade Teachers”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
Digging Holes with Louis Sachar
Funded Apr 29, 2025I am always at a loss for words when it comes to our community & of parents, caregivers, and supporters. Thank you so much for your support, it means so much to us and our students! We appreciate all that you do for our school, and we will put these books to good use.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
Break Some More Ankles with The Crossover
Funded Apr 25, 2025Wow!
I'm always blown-away by the support that we get from our parents and community. Thank you so much for supporting our 8th grade ELA teachers and our amazing students.
Our students are going to enjoy this book so much. It will be a highlight that leads into the end of their middle school journey.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
Inside the Outsiders: The World Through Ponyboy's Eyes
Funded Jun 6, 2024Reading in our 8th grade English classes is a fun and enriching activity. Our students will read The Outsiders and find themselves immersed in a world that is similar, and yet also different from their own. The scenarios and characters allow them to think critically and to examine the different themes of the story in depth.
Our students are always so excited to get to read The Outsiders. They read the book, have discussions with their peers, take assessments and do assignments. But at the end, they look forward to our Outsiders dance, where they get to dress up and have fun!
Thank you so much for your donation to our Inside the Outsiders project! We appreciate your help in getting great books into the hands and minds of our students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
This classroom project was brought to life by The Compassion Project and 5 other donors.Break Some Ankles with the Crossover
Funded Mar 30, 2023Our 8th grade students are enjoying poetry more than ever with the Crossover!
As soon as the students heard they were going to start a poetry unit, the groans and moans started. I heard everything from "I hate poetry" to "it's so boring" circulating through our students. The majority of our students thought that poetry sounded boring and tedious, and they weren't looking forward to it.
Then they started reading and I haven't heard a complaint since. They are engaged and reading a book that introduces poetry in a way that mirrors 8th grade life for so many of our students.
Our 8th graders are going to enjoy this award-winning book for years to come. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 2 other donors.Creative Makes for Some Funky Cats!
Funded Nov 15, 2021It is so much fun seeing our students walk into their maker space and get excited and motivated. Their faces light up as they start exploring and get an idea of what they want to create.
I've already had several students start new sewing projects. One already knows how to sew, and is just enjoying trying new projects at school. The other has never sewn before and is learning how to use the machine.
I have another student that spends a lot of time in the library, but is very hard to motivate. Before the area was even finished he found the set of Snap Circuits and immediately started creating elaborate circuits from his own imagination. He didn't even use the directions, it was just natural to him! He changed in front of my eyes from an unmotivated teen with no clear direction, to a hard working maker with a love for electrical circuits!
I get to see these students transform in front of my eyes! Thank you so much for the opportunity. These supplies will make a difference for so many Wildcats, and it wouldn't have been possible without your generous support!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Meckstroth
This classroom project was brought to life by San Diego Gas & Electric and 5 other donors.