Past projects 29
Gearing Up for a Great Year!
Funded Aug 22, 2018Thank you so much for supporting our classroom! I so appreciate having these great new materials to start our school year!
The new chairs are great quality and I was able to remove some of the broken and not as safe chairs from our room. The students move the chairs around often and use them to work all over our classroom!
The touchscreen chromebook is the favorite computer in our classroom! It combines the ease of the iPad with the use of the internet in a way that is so much easier for both my students and I to manage. They are always hoping they get that one! We use the computers and daily for students to practice reading on Raz-Kids. It has especially been helpful for my new student that just joined our class and doesn't speak English.
The students love the noise canceling headphones and I do find that many of them can get so much more work done when they are wearing them. It is so great to see how they are learning to advocate for their learning and understand themselves.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.Caterpillars to Butterflies
Funded Apr 19, 2018Wow! Thank you so much for your quick and generous donations! This project was completed very fast which is amazing because it allowed us to get our caterpillars for this year.
Our caterpillars have already arrived and my students are loving getting to observe them! We are writing in journals every other day to observe their changes and growth. Many of the students have never experienced something like this before and are so excited. The caterpillars are getting bigger and fatter every day.
Today we used the life cycle pieces to work in small groups and figure out the different life cycles. It was a great hands on activity and everyone enjoyed taking turns to try to put the pieces in order. Next year we will be able to incorporate this into our teaching with the entire first grade.
We are also excited to read the books and learn more about butterflies as we wait for them to change.
Finally, the weather kit is going to make our weather unit even more engaging.
This project is making science come to life in my classroom.
Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
This classroom project was brought to life by Orkin and 6 other donors.1st Grade Tech & Books
Funded Dec 20, 2017Thank you so much for helping with our Donors Choose project. It is wonderful as a teacher to be able to select extra things I know my students will enjoy and have a way to be able to get them for our classroom.
The Chromebook was a wonderful addition to our classroom. In my class students use Chromebooks to go on Raz Kids which is a reading website/app. On Raz Kids students are reading books that are at their specific level and answering comprehension questions. This is a great way for them to be more engaged in their reading. Every student has an assigned day when they are able to use Raz Kids. We also use the Chromebook to go on Prodigy which is an online math program where students compete against others in a wizarding world by answering specific math questions. They love to use both of these sites and even choose to go on them in their free time!
The books that we got through this project were all books I selected because they match with a reading or writing unit we have. My students love Writing Workshop and it's amazing when I can have books for them that are the same genre as the books we are writing in class. They see these stories and know that they could some day be an author!
Finally the teacher textbooks are just what I needed to help plan specific differentiated lessons for my students. They have lesson suggestions and small group ideas for all levels of learners.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
Chromebooks in the Classroom: Engaging First Grade Readers with Technology
Funded Aug 24, 2017Wow! Thank you so much for your generous donations. It was amazing to get this project funded so quickly and before school started. My first graders were able to start using these materials the first week of school!
I have set up accounts for all of my students on Raz-Kids and they are really enjoying using it. It's a great way to keep them engaged and reading longer. It's been really wonderful for my students that are reading below grade level and need some extra help to keep reading longer. When they are not working with me they can use Raz-Kids to still get the support they need. Every week we pick a Raz-Kids Reader of the Week and celebrate their work on Raz-Kids both at school and at home!
The Chromebooks are also a huge part of our classroom now. The students know how to set them up, use them, and store them. I did catch a few trying to use them like iPads or touchscreens! We have been using the Chromebooks for Raz-Kids and Prodigy so students are working on books and problems at their level. They even choose Chromebooks during free time and want to do math and reading!
Thank you so much for helping get these amazing resources into my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
Flexible Spaces for 1st Graders
Funded May 25, 2017Thank you so much for the generous donations! All seven of our first grade classrooms are now prepared to try out many new things in the Fall.
We are excited about all of the new seating options. All of our classrooms now have options for flexible seating. We now have options for students to work at small tables on the rug and standing desks. These options allow students to have a more private work space that fits their needs. The wobble stools, bouncy bands, and cushion seats will allow students to get out some energy while still staying focused on their work.
Thanks so much for your donations!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
Calming Spaces and Engaging Toys
Funded Mar 29, 2017Wow! These new items have totally rejuvenated my classroom!
The Calm Down Cube has been amazing for helping students to settle down, refocus, and take a break. They love having a place to go and take a break.
The wobbly stools have been a really fun addition to our classroom and I am already considering getting more. They are really helpful for the students that have LOTS of energy! The students are also taking turns sharing the stools and making plans as to who is using them throughout the day. They have really taken ownership of the new materials.
It's had to say what is their favorite but when I opened the Lakeshore box with all of the Play Workshop items they were beyond excited. The vet center is a huge hit and is encouraging imaginative play. Today at the restaurant center they were creating menus, plates, and food from construction paper to serve at their restaurant. The MagnaTiles are such a fun way to build and the creations they have been making are huge. They have been using the MagnaTiles to sort animals like in a zoo - which even ties into our science unit!
Thank you so much for your generous donations! We are loving them and using them DAILY!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 3 other donors.1st Grade Technology Stars!
Funded Aug 25, 2016Thank you so much for your very generous donations! My first graders are benefiting from the new technology on a daily basis!
One of their favorite class jobs is to be the Class DJ. That student gets to pick the songs that we listen to during our Quiet Time right after lunch and recess. It's a calm down time and we are loving the music that we were able to purchase. We have music from the Brooklyn Duo and The Vitamin String Quartet. They know the lyrics but the songs are instrumental versions. The iPod and iTunes gift card have made this possible.
A BIG favorite in our class is iPads. The additional iPad was added to the iPads we already have and now six students can be on iPads at a time. We even use an app called Math Duel where two students challenge each other so we can have twelve students at a time on iPads!
Thank you so much for helping to add this amazing new technology to our classroom!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.2nd Grade Technology Experts!
Funded Aug 24, 2015Thank you for your generous donation to my students and our classroom. This year my school is working to include more technology in classrooms to try to keep up with the amount of technology students are using outside of school. With these iPads and games my students have been able to use technology in fun and educational ways. They are excited to do the work and even choose to play the Math games during their Choice Time!
I have been using the iPads to support students mostly in Math and Reading. I have a new student this year who came to our school reading at a Kindergarten level at the beginning of 2nd grade. She is very far behind her classmates and needs a different type of Reading instruction than the rest of the students in my class. Using the iPad allows her to practice letter sounds and basic Reading strategies in an exciting way. The privacy of her work on the iPad is also very important. The other students don't know that she is practicing letter sounds while they are reading chapter books. She independently uses two different apps one which helps her with letter sounds and another that shows her sight words. The sight word app shows her a word and gives her time to read it before reading it to her. She is already making progress and I know the use of iPads has greatly influenced that!
Our class does Math Stations at least two times a week and every week the student's favorite stations are SmartBoard to play one of the Lakeshore games we received and iPads to practice their Math skills on iPads. The Lakeshore games encourage them to work together and some of the iPad games are two player. So they are using technology and also continuing to practice social skills with their peers. I update the App options as we change Math units. This allows some students to work on the current unit and others to work on past units that they struggled with.
Finally the iPads are a great resource for early finishers. Students are motivated to finish their work early in order to work on the iPads. It is a great reward and they are still doing work!
Thank you for your donation it is impacting my students' learning daily!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci
Help Improve Our Classroom Technology
Funded Apr 25, 2012This is just a small token of our gratitude! Thank you so much for your donations to my classroom. The wonderful thing about these resources is that they have been amazing for my students this year and will continue to be used for the rest of my teaching career!
The pencil sharpener that I was able to order is so amazing. It sounds like something so small and unimportant but let me assure you it is not!! Having a quick and quiet pencil sharpener makes it easier to get pencils sharpened before the students arrive each day and during lessons or work time.
Also, the two SmartBoard games are wonderful. My students even choose to do the Math station games during recess time! The Calendar Math game is something that we use every day. There are so may activities that we can do relating to the date and my students enjoy all of them! These SmartBoard games encourage them to review skills they might not have succeeded in, practice what they are learning, and even venture forward to things we have not yet learned.
Thank you so much for your donations. The money you donated will help me as I prepared for my 2nd year of teaching and help students for many years!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bucci