Mr. Montero's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 53

• Read to See Through Different Perspectives and Times

  Funded Feb 26, 2025

  There will never be a sufficient way to express how grateful I am for the generosity of all of you. Thank you for your kindness and willingness to bring new learning experiences to my students. These are kids who lack exposure to many things a lot of us took for granted growing up, and this project will help me bring new thinking to students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

• Financial Literacy Food Truck Project

  Funded Sep 18, 2023

  This project has taken on a life of its own that ended up needing double the amount of time expected to complete. My students have become very familiar with the states of the US and have tuned up their geography skills while building up some real world small business acumen. Each group was emotionally invested in their imaginary food trucks and took great pride in crafting advertising, menus, and making business decisions.

  We have all learned a tremendous amount from this project, but above all else it has been so much fun. Students sharpened math skills, learned to work collaboratively, and developed problem solving skills. They learned to weigh options when making decisions and have become much more mindful of the consequences of their actions, both positively and negatively. I cannot begin to thank you enough for allowing me to bring this project to life.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by Charles Schwab and 2 other donors.

• Inquiry: Curious? Let's Explore!

  Funded Aug 13, 2022

  This project has been so much fun. As a teacher there is nothing I love more than seeing those light bulbs turn on over my students' heads when they figure something out. When they get presented with challenges they have never faced before, it makes them have to work harder to get those light bulb moments.

  Building bridges sturdy enough to support weight is a challenge on its own, but making it flat enough to drive a toy school bus across adds a dimension of extra thinking that really pushed my class, but also got them to make some profound steps in understanding the design process. Getting everything perfect the first time is more luck than skill, and taking careful notes and tracking their plans and results helped each group find so much more satisfaction when they managed to build a working bridge!

  As you can imagine, kids also love getting to watch things happen and try to make sense of them, so modeling our digestive system to watch how different candies broke down at different ways, and at different rates, was fascinating and definitely kept them curious and inquisitive, which is what I want!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 2 other donors.

• It's Alive!!

  Funded Jan 12, 2022

  If you ask kids where food comes from, they'll just tell you the store. Even thought some of my students come from migrant families who work on farms, there is a great disconnect between what we eat and where it comes from. This project allowed us tremendous opportunities to change that!

  We had some technical difficulties and one of our setups ended up flooding itself, so we were not able to grow as many herbs as intended, but that also provided us the chance to talk about how growing produce is not always easy. Weather, insects, pollution can all impact the food supply, and the conversations we had during our science time as we observed the growth and talked about what was happening were incredible. Anyone can guess well, or memorize something, but as a teacher the most important thing I can impart upon my students is the need to keep an open mind and think analytically. This project provided us ample opportunities for both, and the kids loved being able to take part. I am humbled and grateful for all your generosity and hope each of you understand how profoundly you have impacted the lives of kids you will never meet.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 4 other donors.

• Active Bodies Make Healthy Minds

  Funded Jan 14, 2022

  Anyone ever heard a kid say that their favorite subject was PE? That all depends on the district and school. Some have dedicated PE teachers and tons of supplies and facilities to make physical education amazing, though others, sadly, do not. Our school is somewhere in between. Though this project allowed me to bring PE to life for my class!

  We have play areas and the land to get outside, but lack elementary school PE teachers and our equipment is more for recess than geared to specific PE standards and skills. At least, it was! Being able to have my kids learn to jump rope, volley a ball back and forth, and participate in some basic track and field events blew their minds, because they were all things they were never able to do in PE before. The hands down favorite was kickball! With bases and cones to mark lines and create ourselves a makeshift field, we spent many afternoons playing outside, and unlike most of our activities, every single student was excited to participate and play along. I didn't even realize that was possible! Thank you so, so much for not only providing this opportunity for my current class, but for many classes to follow!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by A Northern California family and 2 other donors.

• Building: Relationships and Structures

  Funded Sep 23, 2021

  Some of the fun of seeing students immerse themselves in the NGSS is seeing the way thoughtful, creative, dynamic thinkers play off each other. This project helped bridge a year's worth of gaps in scholarly social interaction among my students, and they ate it up! Everyone has ideas for what they think will work, and trying to fit four or five different ideas into one cohesive group concept is something that can only come with experience and practice. Students designed structures with specific parameters, evaluated their work, made changes and evaluated again.

  Critical thinking makes students better and understanding what they read, solving math problems, and tackling complex history topics, and so these skills are of tremendous importance. Being able to offer my class a project that allowed them to have fun while doing it only helps reach them in a deeper and more profound way. Thank you so, SO much for your generosity. You have touched many lives and I am so grateful.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and one other donor.

• Back to School Essentials

  Funded Aug 13, 2021

  The idea that small things can make the biggest differences is so true, and a perfect example is this project. Our school provides us with the basic essentials, but sometimes we need to think outside the norms a bit. With so much uncertainty of what school would be like as students all return, we have been fortune to have made the process easier thanks to your generosity.

  Keeping students able to engage with school while keeping as much distance as possible has been made easier through switching from pencils to pens, a change made possible by this project. Students have no need to congregate at a pencil sharpener, or use their own that always end up making a mess. Now students have pens that allow them to keep working while also helping them keep from breaking momentum if the ideas start flowing.

  Everyone has such heavy health and safety concerns, and having a huge supply of tissue and hand sanitizer has helped everyone feel more secure. I am of the mindset that anything that helps students feel safe and at ease can never be had in too large of quantities. I cannot begin to thank you enough for the huge help your generosity has been in getting this year off to a productive and wonderful start!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 3 other donors.

• Distance Learning Necessities

  Funded May 5, 2021

  Distance learning was unbelievably difficult, for all of us. That being said, sometimes small things can make a huge difference. Being able to get blue light blocking glasses to my students seems to have been one such example. Spending all day staring at laptop screens was one of the reasons so many students checked out, and after being able to get the glasses to them, those who used them noticed a difference and my attendance improved. The cardstock and sheet protectors gave everyone a makeshift whiteboard to use during math or other activities much more the way things would have gone at school. Having even that small bit of normalcy in a completely abnormal situation was meaningful and helped many students' emotional well being as much as it helped their learning. Thank you all so, SO much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero

  This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and one other donor.

• The Virtual Classroom

  Funded Jul 19, 2020

  This project has been an absolute game changer for my students in this chaotic time of distance learning. Being tethered to my district issued laptop would make teaching in a meaningful and engaging way nearly impossible. Having this camera setup has allowed me to teach math from the whiteboard and work out problems as students follow along, just as would happen if we were all in class. Teaching from an empty classroom is strange, but I want the experience to feel as genuine for my students as possible and this project has afforded me the ability to do that.

  Something I had not intended when coming up with the idea for this project was that students who sometimes struggle and are too timid to ask for help, now have a way to get it themselves. By recording my lessons and posting them, students can watch a lesson, or part of one, as many times as necessary, and pause as they go through it to make sure they understand before moving on. When we are all together in class I can try to spot who is struggling and help them if they are not asking me questions, but I could not offer this completely personalized access to learning to each student as I am able to because of this project.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Montero