Past projects 11
Computers For The Library!
Funded Nov 25, 2024Thank you again! I am so sorry to miss the deadline! Things have been very crazy at school the last few weeks.
Let me take this time to just say a huge THANK YOU for your donation! Check out the photos and you can see our kids so happy to be doing research on Langston Hughes and maps for Black History Month.
It is so important to have functioning computers in the library that are easy for kids to access to do their curious research and have all their amazing questions answered. As we are also a French Dual Language school, the kids now have another resource to help them learn and study in their second language.
We love the equipment! These 2 HP all-in-ones were very affordable, and are fast and responsive!
Richland Avenue Elementary School values your donation because, as I said in the opening letter, it has gotten harder after COVID to get funding for technology. Your donation has gone such a long way to making a huge impact for the technological needs at our school.
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
Et Maintenant, en Francais!
Funded Mar 17, 2023Thanks for coming through again for our class!
Language acquisition is a very complicated thing, and it requires access to all learning modalities. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are all important, but a visual arts component makes it even more well-rounded.
With your help, our kids can create beautiful drawings and projects using creative images and the French language. When learning is fun, so much more growth can happen. You can see in the pictures how excited the kids are to have access to the supplies they need to succeed.
Our kids are also brilliant engineers. For them, building is fun, but it is also growing neural pathways in their brains, expanding their 3-dimensional spatial awareness, and refining their problem solving and engineering skills.
Thank you again so much for making our classroom a place where our kids can learn French and thrive.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
Keeping First Graders Busy and Happy!
Funded Mar 8, 2023Having all these great supplies in our room has put smiles on kids' faces! Brains are working on creative problem-solving and three-dimensional thinking. Hearts are expressing themselves. The kids are so happy to have everything they need, and I am so grateful for all of your generous donations.
The kids love the magnets! They are such great builders, and having more magnets lets them plan bigger projects and there are enough magnets to share so that has reduced arguments! Having colored paper to draw and create artwork helps us express all the great ideas we have inside.
The kids who like to work quietly really appreciate the headphones. We have some kids who forget their snacks so it is so helpful to have emergency snacks for them.
The students were so excited when we opened all the boxes, it was like a party! Thank you again for making our year very special. We couldn't have done it without you!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
Rock, Paper, Scissors! (Ok, No Rocks)
Funded Oct 24, 2019It's hard to explain how important it is to have supplies on hand in a primary classroom. As I've said before if you've donated to other projects, the worst feeling is telling a kid "No, we're out of that." By using Donors Choose and getting your very generous donations, I don't ever have to say that. There is always something to cut and something to cut with, something to draw on and something to draw with, something to glue together and plenty of glue to stick it, all because of you!
A supplied classroom is a happy, productive classroom. You would be amazed by some of the things my kids create, and it's only because I don't have to say no to them or be stingy with supplies. Happy holidays to all of you!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
Crayons That Look Like Us!
Funded Sep 2, 2019It's important that kids from all different background feel welcome in my class. Having the multicultural crayons and markers helps our kids draw pictures that look like themselves. This is in line with the current movement in education to make classrooms and schools more culturally responsive.
Before we got these art supplies, we only had white, black, and some shades of brown. These markers and crayons include so many other hues - pinks and tans and beiges and more.
We also bought some more bouncy chairs with this project because we always need more and from time to time they tend to get holes in them and have to be replaced.
Thank you so much for your generosity. You made a difference in my class!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
This classroom project was brought to life by The Clorox Company and one other donor.Time's Up!
Funded Sep 15, 2019It is so important to practice fluency. Having these timers really helps us out! We'll be using these to read in teams and practice how many words we can read in 1 minute. The kids will be able to do this as a student-driven center once they get the routine down. The timers will also be available to kids who want to time themselves when reading independently.
The kids really like the headphones. We tend to get very loud and verbal in our class because I encourage productive social dialogue. The headphones help kids who think it's too loud in the room.
It's always great to add more bouncy chairs to our flexible seating plan, especially because they get a hole in them and have to replaced from time to time.
Thank you so much for your donation!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
Have a Seat!
Funded Feb 15, 2019My students were so excited to get all this new stuff! We has just gotten back from a field trip. When we left in the morning, our classroom looked like it does every day. But when we got back, there were boxes everywhere! Since we were all so excited, we started opening the boxes right then and there even though we only had a couple of minutes of school left. The kids helped me unpack and right away the first thing they loved was the bouncy ball chairs. The kids helped me inflate them and test them out.
The kids also love the new library seating! Our little green couch and our big pink beanbag are great additions to our cozy library. The kids love sitting and relaxing on both. Speaking of our library, the new bins have helped us organize our growing number of books. Our kids love to read!
And the magnets. Oh the magnets! We love magnets so much, and your donation helped us grow our magnet collection by several hundred. Increasing the quantity of magnets has allowed us to expand our horizons as builders and engineers, as you can see from our photos. The magnet tiles help the kids relate to geometry, math, engineering, colors, and more. They are even more fun than legos!
We are so appreciative of all the donations you gave. Our classroom is a better place and our kids are happier and cozier and smarter because of people like you!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
This classroom project was brought to life by Conboy Foundation and 15 other donors.Every Dog has its Day! And Markers!
Funded Oct 9, 2018You really did something special for us this fall. I hate to say "no" to kids who just want to jump in to the materials and go crazy making something amazing. The kind of classroom where you have to say "one piece of paper only," or "sorry, we ran out of glue," or "the tape is just for the adults" can be a very sad place.
Materials like this - in quantity - meet the needs of Progressive Learning, which honors kids' innate ability to engage in social contact, play, art, math, reading, and creative writing in an open, flexible setting where kids can self-select and make their own decisions about their education. Not running out of supplies means happy creative little artists, readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists with growing brains.
The books are a great addition to our class library. The kids love the Dog Man books, as you can see.
We will be using our supplies to continue to make creative art, great writing with expression, and as tools in math, spelling, and reading.
WE COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Arts Funder and 6 other donors.Help Us With Our Sticky Situation!
Funded May 23, 2018As you can see from our amazing photos, the kids LOVE the supplies you donated! You can see them using the paper for painting, enjoying all the colors of the construction paper, and happy, relieved refills of glue and scissors! Look at the glorious, beautiful orange-capped glory that is glue sticks!
Most of these supplies were targeted for my incoming class of first graders in the fall. But the supplies came in enough time to be useful to my outgoing 2nd graders. They tapped into the new supplies to do a bunch of really cool art projects in the last week of school. You can even see one kid so excited to use your new staple remover that she volunteered to help me clear the calendar wall of old staples! Wow!
The supplies allowed my kids to do what they do best - express themselves without limitations. It was all thanks to you. You have made my kids happy this year and will make even MORE happy this fall!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Arts Funder and 7 other donors.Fertilize the Earth and the Mind!
Funded Feb 15, 2018I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. I don't think I would have become who I am today if I didn't have the chance to experience the simple pleasure of playing in the dirt.
I've tried to impart that joy to my students. This year, we have been so fortunate because our classroom has a little garden plot outside the back door. We've used this opportunity to get some seeds planted so we can watch them grow and learn about life science.
The problem was that the plot had been neglected so long, the nutrients had been leeched from the soil. And as the soil base was clay, over time it became so compacted there was not enough "breathing space" for roots". What we needed was a big dose of nutrients and space.
With your generous donation, we are bringing our garden back to the best it can be. This week, we fertilized our garden with your materials, and planted tomato seeds!
Also thank you so much for the chart paper! As you can see from the photo, we use it a lot, and we can't wait to keep doing math on your new chart paper!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Gaydos