Past projects 38
A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place
Funded Sep 17, 2022Every year we invest in outdoor play equipment, only to have it lost, misplaced, or damaged by the elements. Thanks to your generous donation we now have sturdy, clear, functional containers to store our fun!
The containers to clearly label for easy access, organization, and clean-up. Our mobile carts make bringing out our musical instruments and water toys. We are fostering independence by making the students themselves responsible for the organization and clean up of outdoor equipment.
Again, thank you for your donation to fully fund this worthwhile project. You rock!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by Valhalla Foundation and 3 other donors.Safe Outdoor Play on the Hottest Days
Funded Sep 16, 2022Options, options, options! My Littles need things to do on hot days, with more days of extreme heat within our school day. Thanks to your generous donations, we have plenty to do. Everyday!
From collaborative play with building stars to constructing structures to house their dinosaurs and cars. To explore concepts of compacity and gravity through sand and water play. Countless opportunities to interact to use their newfound communication and conflict-resolution skills. All in a low-impact setting to keep cool on the hottest days.
With options during the hot days, we have less restlessness in the classroom since they are not deprived of outdoor "play" time. We also have fewer conflicts during outdoor play as many choices and options exist. There are enough choices and options to accommodate all students and their diverse interests and ability levels.
You made that happen! Your generosity has a direct impact on my students. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by Valhalla Foundation and 6 other donors.Supporting Pre-Writing Skills in Transitional Kindergarten
Funded Oct 11, 2022Developing pre-writing skills in a Transitional Kindergarten class can be challenging. We have a variety of developmental stages and home experiences. We are trying to meet the unique needs of students while providing rigor to extend their learning. Drawing is how young people tell stories before they become writers. The crayon sharpener will extend the life of our crayons and colored pencils. The dry-erase markers allow for letter formation practice without frustration. Thank you for your generous donation! Let the writing begin!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by Valhalla Foundation and 3 other donors.Helping You, Helping the World!
Funded Aug 31, 2022I am over the moon about our project being fully funded. Story time is special. The love of reading and books , in general, is fostered with a good read aloud. The books in our project tell stories that teach. The stories provide lessons in emotional regulation, character virtues and the importance of community service.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by The Allstate Foundation and 5 other donors.Social Distance Fun on the Playground
Funded Dec 31, 2021Do you remember recess? For many students is it by far the favorite part of the day. Kids need to move, play and explore outside of the classroom.
Keeping kids engaged in unstructured free play while maintaining social distancing was a challenge. With the lack of equipment and playground activity options it became impossible.
With the fully funded project we purchased new play equipment to give more choices during outdoor play. The mobile carts made taking our musical instrument conveint and manageable. Night and weekend storage with these mobile carts storage was safe and secured.
More choices led to less conflict in the playground and more fun for all. Thank you for supporting safe outdoor play for my TK students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 9 other donors.Play with Money Now, to Spend Wisely Later.
Funded Jan 10, 2022The concept of money is lost on kids. The understand it can buy them what they want. For most that is about as far as it goes. The concept of be self supporting, living on a budget and debt are concept are often taught too late.
We were ambitious in wanting to instill financial liters early. With our project with were able to open our student store. We create a economic system in our classroom, with its own currency. Students could earn class money by taking classroom jobs, task completion, making effort and good choices. Students learned to save and budget their money with our class ATM. They set up and ran the student store with prizes and toys to be purchased on Friday.
On a regular day the student store became the student market. Students play pretending to being store keepers, cashier and customers looking for the best bargains. This play prepares them to become savvy consumers.
Thank you again for your generous donation and supporting financial literacy in the classroom early education.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 8 other donors.Just for Me To be Germ Free
Funded Sep 15, 2021A Transitional Kindergarten looks different in a world with Covid. We did our best to include the best parts of a TK classroom while tirelessly working to keep students safe and healthy. Early Education is about exploration and using all our senses to learn about the world. It was important to provide each student with their own set of math and literacy manipulatives.
We needed a safe place to store and easily access these vital resources. Thanks to your generous donation, we now have large cubbies for each TK student. Students store their literacy and math tools in their individual cubbies. We use these cubbies daily. The littles love their space that is just their own. Access to their cubbie fosters independence and personal responsibility. Thank you so much for making this possible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
Safe and Secure: Ready to Use
Funded Apr 8, 2022Transitional Kindergarten is about creating meaningful experiences and exploration thru play. The littles need play options to make this happen. Yet, keeping our play equipment safe and secure when not in use is a challenge.
Thanks to your generous donation, our storage supplies and cabinets are on the way. I cannot thank you enough for making it happen.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose community & an Anonymous Partner and 7 other donors.More Independence, More Learning, Less Frustration
Funded Sep 30, 2020"I can do it by myself". These words are music to the ears of any early childhood educator. Fostering independence and minimizing learning frustration levels are among the best practices for teaching young children. As schools attempted to obtain developmentally appropriate technology, our proactive administration ordered touchscreen Chromebooks for our TK students. With the backlog of orders, we are still waiting. It is February.
This project provided each student a Kindle Fire for use at home and daycare. The Kindle Fire devices and childproof covers gave my families a developmentally appropriate resource to use in the interim. Thank goodness!
When teaching 4 and 5 year olds via a distance learning format, options are important. Some students have working parents. Parents who don't have the luxury of working at home. A Kindle Fire gave those children the independence to log into Zoom meetings on their own. Some students move throughout the day from daycare, to grandparents, to home again. For some, all in one day. The Kindle Fire gave them educational mobility. With one hand their Kindle Fire became an online school to take with them where ever they went. A mobile school in their little hand. For the child who still struggles with the mouse pad, the Kindle Fire provides opportunities to focus on learning without the frustration of manipulating a cursor on a screen.
For all children who need writing and additional pincer grasp practice to support literacy skills the Kindle Fire offers games, activities and options to perform online assignments with the stylus that mimics pencil paper writing.
These options made online instruction more accessible than ever before. Thank you for your generous donations. Your generosity made these options possible. I am grateful for your support of Early Childhood education and the developmental needs of my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 4 other donors.Hands-On to Get Our Math On!
Funded Aug 20, 2020The devastations of Covid-19 were not limited to outside our community. In fact, our small school community was hit hard. Still, the resilence of my students continues to amaze me. In addition, my parents, adhoc teachers at home, stepped up to meet the intense emotional and academic needs of their children without complaint.
Regardless, these circumstances do not the change the realities of teaching early childhood education. Young children need to touch, play and explore numbers to learn math effectively. In my classroom, we have the tools and models to work with.
This project provided every home with math tools to support number fluency and the development critical thinking skills. The tool kit included 2 colored ten frame counters with a ten frame tray, two sided magnets, number and number operation magnets, bead rekenreks and a tactile number line for each child.
Developing and building on conceptual knowledge, the thinking and ideas behind what they know, is privital to the mastery of critical thinking skills and number fluency. These tools allowed each student voice and choice in demonstrate their thinking and understanding of numbers and number concepts. Students show me in real time their reasoning and understanding, even misunderstanding. This allows me to offer immediate feedback, intervention and support when needed. This makes our online small group math sessions meaningful. They share and justify their thinking with peers and myself as a part of their problem solving process. It becomes interactive and their development level.
This all supports their learning. Parents have these tools at their fingers tips to model and support offline practice and exploration as well.
Through the chaos and devastation of covid-19 learning is happening. No one is more amazed than I am. Teaching 4 and 5 year old via a screen was not my plan nor forte. Yet, students and families continue to amaze me on a daily basis. I am so grateful. I am grateful to donors like you who made these tools available for each of my little learners. Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kelleher
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.