Past projects 6
Building their Future!
Funded May 8, 2019Thank you all for your generous donations. The rigor and expectations for my first graders is very challenging and can sometimes lead to frustrated students and an unhappy teacher. I am always looking for ways to balance the curriculum, make learning fun and lighten the mood in our classroom. Since receiving our materials through your donations, our building materials are the perfect addition to our math and engineering program. The materials have become a vital part of our classroom rotations. During math workshop I have a group of students working with technology, another working on independent work, a third working on engineering, creating, and problem solving. This allows me to work with my small group of students.. The students now say math is their favorite time of day and that their hard work in math will lead to the use of the Legos and other materials.
When receiving new donations, the students are always so excited and grateful for the new materials. They couldn't wait to get their hands on all of the colorful, fun stuff.
We are currently studying our American patriotic symbols. During our math rotations, the students are working on representing our symbols using the building materials. They are in the planning stages, exploring the best materials to use, searching for specific colors, and designing their projects. The teamwork and the communication are invaluable. This is all so exciting and I can't wait to see what the students continue to create.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 8 other donors.Creating Geniuses in First Grade
Funded May 6, 2019Thank you all so much for your generous donations. It is giving, thoughtful people like you that help improve my student’s education.
We are given the basic necessities to teach; paper, pencils, books, etc. Through your donations, my students will be able to work through technology in a fun, new way. The Osmo Genius Kits will be an exciting addition to our classroom learning. I can’t wait to receive the kits and get them into the hands of my little geniuses.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 2 other donors.Creating the Environment for Future Engineers, Architects and Artists !
Funded Aug 18, 2018Opening the packages received was like celebrating Christmas early! We opened up one package at a time, and I introduced each set of building materials each day. We integrated the building materials into our math centers. After our whole-group math lessons, I work with small groups of students to hone in on their specific challenges, and areas of need. Adding these activities has enhanced our math time immensely. We have an agreement, these activities will be part of the math rotations as long as they continue to work diligently at the Other centers during math time. The students are focused, work cooperatively and believe it or not, our class is quiet! These activities have also become our class favorites during inclement weather.
When my students first saw the materials they were excited and curious. They were not familiar with the materials we were donated. They have had complete free exploration with these materials, I have not given them ideas, examples, nor guidance. They initially created flat, one dimensional creations. Now, they are building 3-D formations. The discussions and teamwork while creating these formations is fascinating to hear and observe. You hear students coaching each other, encouraging each other and offering alternative ideas.
Now that they have become familiar with the materials, our next steps are to work towards creating various places in our communities. Our first project will be to plan our local community on paper. The task will be to identify the important businesses and services offered near our school. After drawing our community, our student groups will create their given buildings and workers for each location, such as health clinic, dental office, library, school, etc. After completing our community, the students will present their projects to visiting classes.
Future projects will be to recreate a zoo, an amusement park, a museum, and other ideas the students may come up with.
I have been amazed by the creativity, the curiosity and the joy being generated by these materials. We are grateful.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
This classroom project was brought to life by Craig Newmark Philanthropies and one other donor.Pick it! Wash it! EAT IT! (Tastings from Our Garden)
Funded Jun 1, 2018Thanks to your generosity our students, teachers, and garden educator are able to enjoy garden tastings weekly. Before we received our donation, we would have to harvest our fruits or vegetables, take them into the teacher's lounge, parent center, or classroom and wash our pickings. We would also have to find a space to cut up/prepare our fruits and vegetables for the tastings. This may not seem like a hardship or a disadvantage, but the students would always miss out on those steps (washing and cutting). Now, with our new garden workstation, we are able to do all of this right in our garden area!
The students were excited to see a new piece of equipment in the garden and they were most excited about using the sink to wash their hands outside (the simplest things bring these students joy).
Since the school year has just started, it will be a while before our garden is thriving once again. We plan on planting soon and caring for our garden weekly. Once there is growth, we will be harvesting and trying out the goods our garden has produced. Our students will be helping to wash and cut the pickings using our new sink/work station as we continue to learn about the importance of healthy eating and nutrition. Thanks once again.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
Documenting Our Journey Through First Grade
Funded May 24, 2018We returned to school only three short weeks ago. These first few weeks have gone by so quickly and from day one we have been working diligently. When we received the camera I opened up the box in front of the students and explained that very special people had contributed to our project. We were all so excited to set it up and focus on something fun! Nowadays most people take pictures with their phones and they aren't very familiar with regular cameras. For most of my students, this was the first time they had held a camera in their hands. They were nervous and unsure at first, but with time they will develop skills and confidence. We have not printed any of their photos yet. As they progress in their skills, I intend to print an 8x10 of their favorite shot and present it to them and their families as gifts.
After allowing them to handle the camera, we decided on our first photo project. We took pictures of our garden as it is now. We have a lot of work to do in our school garden; weeding, cleaning, watering, and planting. We will be taking pictures along the way. We will document the progress made in the garden with a project using technology, as we team up with a fifth grade class. The fifth grade teacher is focusing on photography, and she is showing the fifth graders how to upload pictures, edit, and produce a slide show with music. The fifth graders are working right alongside the first graders as they work to complete the project. Through the use of this technology, we are exposing our students to possible careers in photography, graphic arts, advertising, and other areas of technology.
We have only recently used the camera, but already it has created so much excitement in the classroom. The students are showing pride and ownership in the photos they have taken. They are looking forward to working with and learning from the older students. Thank you so much for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Arts Funder and 11 other donors.Tapping into Technology in Two Thousand Twelve
Funded Jan 25, 2012I am so grateful to all of the wonderful people who took the time to view our class project and donate to such a worthy cause. The computer we were using with our SmartBoard was old and outdated. Every time we had a program up and running it would run very slowly, every video clip we viewed would skip and stop abruptly. It was very frustrating to have such wonderful technology with an incompatible laptop.
With our new laptop computer we are able to access so many sites and resources quickly and efficiently. The students are able to learn from the interactive lessons without interruption. We are extremely happy with our new laptop.
I would like to extend an invitation to all of our parent donors to visit our classroom and see the amazing technology being used in our classroom .”
With gratitude,
Ms. Marrufo
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron and 32 other donors.