Past projects 114
Making Sense Of The World Around Us
Funded Aug 1, 2017Thank you very much for the beautiful cultural outfits and the amazing feelings and multicultural books. The kids love the dramatic play clothes, they love dressing up in the beautiful outfits from around the world. They realize they're different and they appreciate how beautiful they are. I explained to them that people in other countries wear Saris, Kaftans, Kimonos, Tunics, Enaguas, Rebozos etc. The children were excited to dress up and try on all the different outfits. We now have a variety of dress up clothes for the students to have in the indoor and outdoor interest areas.
I read the book What I Like About Me to my students and then extended the lesson by having the children draw a self portrait and tell me what they like the most about themselves. They shared the following responses: "I like my hair.", "I like my nose", "I like my eyes and hair." The children had the opportunity to appreciate themselves and express it, fostering a healthy self esteem.
I've been reading books to my students from the Moods and Emotions Book Set and have given the students the opportunity to express themselves as far as what makes them feel happy, sad, angry, scared and proud. We've been talking with my students about it being okay to have those different kinds of feelings and discussing appropriate ways to express them without hurting anyone's feelings. The children have shared their experiences of what makes them feel the different emotions, one student said they felt scared when "Mommy said goodnight and turned off the light." When I asked one of my students if she ever felt angry, she said "A little bit but not a lot, when my dog wants to sleep with me on my crib." When I asked the students to share ideas of how we can help a person who is feeling scared, one of them said, "We can hold their hand and rub their chest." It's truly exciting to see that by participating in listening to these books and sharing their experiences my students are developing empathy and regard towards others and recognizing their own feelings and learning ways to regulate themselves when they feel them.
Thank you for providing these wonderful instructional materials, they're making the difference in the life of my students by helping them learn how to respond to other people's emotions and learning different ways to manage their own emotions. My students are developing wonderful skills for their emotional well being.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and one other donor.Interrelating Science And The Arts
Funded Jul 28, 2017I can't thank you enough for the difference you are making in the life of my young student's education. With these wonderful wildlife animal puppets, my students are being exposed to animals they had no previous knowledge of. My students are being exposed for the very first time to animal names and facts and believe me when I say they're in complete awe and excited to be engaging with the animal puppets. I've been sharing with my students many facts about the animal's habitat, food choice, whether they're nocturnal or diurnal and many adjectives to describe them. The following are some examples of the wildlife animal facts my students have learned: "The snowy owl eats lemmings and fish.", "The red fox likes to eat eggs.", "The red fox has ears, he eats rabbits.", "The snowy owl flies and gets something to eat.".
Thank you for providing my students with these amazing resources, my hope is that a love of the natural world will grow within my students and that it stays in them as they grow up.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by Tom's of Maine and 2 other donors.Celebrating Diversity!
Funded Jun 30, 2017Thank you so much for these wonderful instructional materials, with these resources, you are providing my students an optimum learning environment.
The children are enjoying using the activity scarves during large group music and movement time. They come together on the carpet and use the scarves while dancing to various kinds of multicultural music. By dancing together and creating their unique dance movements with the activity scarves my students are learning about themselves and others, fostering self worth and appreciation of others.
To promote social and emotional development, I read Dr. Seuss' book My Many Colored Days, a book that covers a range of moods and emotions. I extended the story by discussing with my students the different kinds of emotions and feelings we can all experience throughout the day. I had them describe their feelings in color, the following are some of their examples. "Happy brown day because I love my brother!", Happy red because my friend always plays with me.", "I'm feeling a little mad today, my color is red, I'm mad because Giovanni is not here to play with me.", "Happy pink because I play with my friend.", "Angry yellow color because I want to go to the park."
Thank you for your support in early childhood education, all of these wonderful resources are helping my students gain the confidence and knowledge they need to realize their full potential.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and one other donor.Literature Is a Powerful Vehicle to Make a Difference
Funded Jun 30, 2017Thank you for the wonderful tolerance themed instructional materials you have very generously given to my students. After reading the book I Have A Dream Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My students and I discussed all of the wonderful things Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wished and dreamed would come true, things such as "Acceptance that All people are created equal", "That all people would be able to sit together at the table and eat together as brothers and sisters", "That all people can see and appreciate the great things his children accomplished", "His dream that boys and girls will join hands as brothers and sisters", "His dream of there being peace in the world", "His dream that everyone work together", "His dream that all people can join in song together". After our class discussion, I gave my students the opportunity to think of something they would like to happen, I had them to tell me their dream, what did they wish for? The following are some of their answers "My dream is to be a doctor", "My dream is I will be a teacher", " My dream is my mom give me a surprise", "My dream is to go to the zoo with my mom, my brother and daddy", "My dream is to get a watermelon", My dream is being a firefighter", "My dream is a race with my brother", "My dream is singing", "My dream is that me and my sister play a game".
I also, had the opportunity to read the book Good People Everywhere by Lynea Gillen, a story to help children become mindful of the caring people in their world. After reading the book my students were given the opportunity to share their stories of showing kindness to family and friends. The following are some examples of what they shared with me "I helped my mom cook food", "I was helping my brother clean up toys", "I helped my mom cook donuts", "I was helping my mom clean up the toys", "Outside I helped my friend because she hurt her eye", "I helped my friend clean up the Lego's", "I helped my friend clean up the toys".
The book Everybody Cooks Rice is the story of a sister looking for her brother at dinnertime. Each family she visits while looking for her brother invites her in for a taste of what they are cooking...Yes everybody cooks rice and everybody eats rice, we all share that commonality. To further engage my students in the awareness of other cultures, I decided to engage them in a cooking activity of making Chinese fried rice, the kids loved it! They had the opportunity to help me measure the ingredients and mix them together. They also, had the experience of eating the rice with chop-sticks, which was very amusing for them and enlightening. Most of the children had never eaten Chinese friend rice or eaten with chop sticks before, so this was truly a wonderful and new experience for them.
With all of my heart a million times thank you for providing these wonderful multicultural books for my students to learn and grow in tolerance and appreciation of Other's, culture, customs, dreams, and traditions.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and one other donor.Protecting Animals And Their Habitats
Funded Jun 30, 2017Above all, let me start by saying a million times thank you. I'm so thankful for the blessing of having in my hands such wonderful instructional materials for my little ones. The impact these materials are making in the life of my young students is truly amazing! The children are being exposed to concepts that are of great importance such as our planet, wildlife habitat conservation, endangered animals, rain forest, oceans, seasons and weather. Thanks to the Science Stories Paperback Library my students have had the opportunity to engage in listening to stories with a meaningful message that inculcate appreciation of our Earth, wildlife, habitats and overall environmental science. After reading the book Our Earth by Anne Rockwell and This is Our Earth by Laura Lee Benson my students had the opportunity to share what they learned about our planet Earth. The following are examples of their responses, "Lizards live in the desert." "Volcanoes in the ocean grow to big islands." Lizards live in the desert, little flowers grow on the cactus." "Whales, rainbow fish, turtles, octopus live in the ocean." "Monkeys and birds live in the rain forest." "Lizards and birds live in the rain forest." "Animals live in planet Earth." "Volcanoes have lava." "The dinosaurs go to planet Earth." "Whales live in planet Earth." "Planet Earth is beautiful." "The polar bears in the ice."
The Life Science Picture puzzles have been a great educational learning tool for my little ones. Not only are my students benefiting from acquiring physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills but they're also becoming knowledgeable by learning about grasslands, ocean animals, the name of the parts of a plant, the frog life cycle, the woods, life cycle of an apple tree, desert animals, parts of an ant, life cycle of a butterfly and parts of a spider.
With the materials from the Read About Science Learning Center - Animals Kit my students had the opportunity to listen to me read the book Animal disguises. They learned about camouflage and how the weather affects these animals. They learned that some animal's coat color changes to match their habitat. They learned that the Snowshoe hare and Arctic fox are animals who's coat changes with the seasons. After reading the book I asked a question from one of the activity mats in the kit to the children, "Why are polar bears white?" The following are some of their responses, "The polar bears have to sneak up to the seals.", "Because they live in the snow.", "Because they don't want the Arctic fox to eat them." "Because polar bears have to hunt." Overall, the children learned a lot from engaging with this kit, they learned about Arctic animals, their habitat and camouflage.
Thank you for providing these informative and engaging materials to my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by Tom's of Maine and one other donor.Sorting By Color, Shape And Size!
Funded Jun 25, 2017I'm first and foremost thankful that you've provided me with the instructional materials I need to provide quality education to all of my students, to help ensure a better and possible future for them. The California preschool learning foundations in mathematics covers five main developmental strands, one of them is classification. Thanks to your generosity the students now have materials such as the sea animal counters to sort by color and shape. They've used the shape sorting center to classify a variety of shapes such as ovals, squares, triangles and circles. With the My First Sorting Bears Set my youngest students have been able to sort the bears by various attributes such as color, shape and size. As an academic challenge I've exposed my older students to geometric shapes because they already know their basic shapes, so my older students have shown a lot of interest for the shape match-ups puzzles because it challenges them to put together 2-D shapes and 3-D forms. My preschool students love learning, these new materials have heightened their interest and fondness for math, thank you so much we truly were in great need for these instructional materials. Thank you for investing in early childhood education.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and one other donor.The Importance of Conservation For Future Generations
Funded Jun 7, 2017Thank you for the wonderful Environmental Science collection of books you have bestowed to my preschool students, they truly are very informational. I read the books A Tree Is Nice, We're Roaming in the Rainforest An Amazon Adventure and Rain Forest Animals to my students and the objective was a week long tree study to learn about the benefits of trees. The children learned about the animals that live in trees and the importance of preserving their habitat. They learned about the fruits that grow on tress which provide food to people and animals as well. The children also, learned that trees purify/clean the air we breath and therefor the importance of planting trees to maintain forestation. The children had the opportunity to plant a tree seed, they truly enjoyed participating in collecting seeds from oranges and apples. The children learned that trees provide shade for people as well as animals and they also learned that trees help keep our homes cool therefor helping us save energy and pollution emissions from power plants. My students also, had the opportunity to do observational drawings and botanical images, which is something I had never done before and was inspired to do so during this tree study, the pictures my student drew are amazingly beautiful, I have them displayed in one of my classroom bulletin boards. I'm certain my students grew in environmental science awareness, I assessed their understanding through engaging them in open ended questions and the following are some of their response examples, they said "Trees grow big and have many butterflies", "Birds eat fruits from trees.", "This is a banana tree, if they don't have bananas monkeys won't have anything to eat.", "Monkeys and birds live in trees.", "Kids climb on trees, apples grow on trees, monkeys,parrots, snakes and sloths live in trees.". Again, thank you for providing my students with the instructional materials they need to learn and grow in knowledge.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by Tom's of Maine and one other donor.Teaching Math With Manipulatives
Funded Jun 10, 2017Thank you for providing these wonderful math materials to my preschool students. They are helping me heighten the quality of early childhood education of my students. The mastery of math starts early in life, with these math materials my little ones are exploring and experimenting with math concepts such as patterning, classifying, counting and measuring. Thanks to these materials math time has now become one of my students favorite times of the day. The children are engaging with lots of hands-on activities making math fun. The kids have had the opportunity to make patterns with the Crystal Blocks and structures of various sizes with the 3-D Magnet Builders. With the Learn to count picture puzzles my little ones have had the opportunity to engage with number identification, counting and number sense math activities. The number puzzle pieces has given my students the opportunity to count the objects that represent the number, handling the pieces has given them the opportunity to make math real as they count and put together the number puzzles. With the Translucent Numbers my students have been engaging in number sequencing and number identification activities. The book One Is A Snail, Ten Is A Crab Big Book allowed me to blend literacy with math instruction, as I read the story I engaged my students in counting and identifying the numbers on each page, they really liked the story and especially participating. Thank you for your donation, with these materials I will be able to teach the children early math concepts which will help them be prepared for math achievement in the elementary school level.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
The Art Of Creating!
Funded Jun 3, 2017Thank you for helping me integrate creative arts in my classroom, it has all been possible thanks to your wonderful donation. Something powerful has started in my classroom with all of these art materials, the children are engaged with art materials that are heightening their critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, inquiry and dialogue skills. Currently, we are doing a Pet Study in my classroom, with the kwik stix tempera painters and the Lakeshore Jumbo Colored Pencils the children have been drawing pictures of aggressive, domesticated, nocturnal and wild animals. They have also, drawn pictures of their pets and engaged in many questions pertaining to the study of pets such as, how they take care of their pet, what they feed their pet and what their pet looks like. With these tools the children have been able to draw beautiful, bright colored pictures.
The Three Little Pigs Puppet Set has been a great success, the children are engaged and building language, collaboration and confidence skills all while participating in these dramatization activities.
Thank you for improving the quality of life of my students and for contributing to their education with these precious gifts, they appreciate it and are having so much fun engaging with them.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by H&M and one other donor.Let's Take Care Of Our Earth!
Funded May 31, 2017Remarkable things are happening in my classroom with the environmental science instructional materials, my students are having fun while learning about the importance of taking care of our planet and animals. The Growing Things Theme Box had 10 different kinds of seeds and several gardening tools for the children to engage with. My students had the opportunity to plant corn, tomatoes, sunflower, carrot, marigold, pumpkin and relish seeds, they were so excited to fill the pots with the soil and put the seeds in the dirt. They have now learned about the plant life cycle, what plants need to grow and the important role bees play in pollination. They've had the opportunity to listen to several books from the Growing Things Theme Book Library Set and they have participated in class discussions regarding "What plants need to grow", "How to care for plants", "How to grow a vegetable garden" and "How trees help purify our air" .
I put the Animals Up Close Puzzle Set in the Science center and the kids love engaging with them, they're bright beautiful pictures of different animals. The children have had the opportunity to learn the names of the animals and their habitat. One of my little ones favorite materials from this project has been the Soft and Squeezy Ocean Animals Set, I put the animals in my outdoor water table for the children to play with them during outdoor learning centers time. It is so rewarding to teach the children the animal names because as surprising as it may sound many children don't know the name of these ocean creatures, it is precisely why I ordered these materials, so that the children can learn that there are many beautiful creatures in the ocean that need our protection by not littering and keeping our oceans clean for them.
Thanks to your generosity, every day my students have access to wonderful activities! Thank you for helping plant the seed of environmental awareness in my students through these fantastic instructional materials. Forever thankful.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Betancourt
This classroom project was brought to life by Tom's of Maine and one other donor.