Past projects 3
Keeping It Real: Nonfiction for the Riverview Reading Lounge
Funded Apr 30, 2018I never thought I'd even get 1 project funded this year. To know that all of you gave us a nonfiction section of our reading lounge so soon after you funded our reading lounge to start is something truly incredible. My staff, my students, and I are so humbled, grateful, and excited to show you how our classroom will transform.
With your donations, our classroom library and reading lounge is complete. Words cannot express how grateful we are. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tran
The Riverview Reading Lounge
Funded Apr 17, 2018Thank you.
My classroom staff and I were shocked at how quickly our Reading Lounge got funded and we are so thrilled to be able to give our students the leveled library they deserve. We have been talking all year about how much we wish we had a library with books sorted into levels for our kids to go to during independent reading time. Now, it will become a reality.
We hope you know that your gift to us will be the gift that keeps on giving, as students, for years to come, will get to enjoy their Riverview Reading Lounge. From all of us here in my classroom, thank you. You are all incredible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tran
Closing The Gap: Technology For Equal Access to Education
Funded Dec 1, 2016Firstly, I would like to extend a big, humongous thank you to each and every single one of you, from our 12 special education students, 5 paraprofessionals, and myself. Here in Class V03, we have been doing so, so much more ever since we got our tablets delivered to us. Without you, many of us would not have been able to learn nearly as much as we have this second half of the school year.
Many of the students in our class are multi-sensory learners. All of the students in our class have moderate-to-severe, or multiple disabilities that create challenges for them in their everyday lives, including in-class demands. We use technology in our classrooms as tools to help us communicate, to help us read better, and for modifications that some students may need in order to access the curriculum. For example, I modify texts for my students and I project them up on the board. I typically print out copies for them at varying text sizes, depending on the student. Now, students who need extreme modifications can access the text that we are reading through the new iPads.
In a world that is rapidly becoming digitally dependent, I also have been using these tablets as everyday tools for our students. Some of us use it to practice handwriting. Many of us have fine motor skill deficits, which make it challenging for us to hold pencils on our own. Practicing the motions of the letters with our fingers through the use of applications designed for fine motor skill development has given us more strength in our hands and a better understanding of how to formulate letters and numbers.
Others of us are using it to create academic and creative works. We recently did a project where our students adapted a Dr. Seuss book of their choosing and got to type it out or, in some cases, dictate it, to the tablets. The looks on their faces were incredible and when they finished, I cannot even begin to describe to you what it was like to hear them say, "Can I go show _________ my work? When will we get to show our parents?" In a world where these students have been told they cannot or they are not achieving to the level that is expected of them, seeing them blossom with the help of new technology, seeing them excited about writing and reading, having them ask me if it's time for math yet, is truly one of the greatest gifts that you all could have given to me.
Words cannot express enough how grateful I am to all of you and how much each of you has truly changed the way my students can access the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you - from the bottom of our hearts.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tran