Past projects 26
Little Learners Love Computers
Funded Apr 3, 2023I was so excited when I got the news that this project had been funded. Most of the items in this project were to help make using technology in our classroom easier for our little learners. The webcams are so great because they allow the children to log into the computer independently which saves me so much time. They love using a little QR code and they get to feel more confident in their abilities. The duster helps us keep our keyboards clean because with 20 students using them daily, they need a little freshening up. The wireless keyboard and batteries help us from getting tangled up in so many cords, which also saves time and prevents a lot of frustration.
The other items like the contact paper and mop pads are things we use a lot of here in Pre-K so I am very grateful to have them. Thank you again for your support of this project. These might seem like small items, but for us it really makes a big difference.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 6 other donors.Learning About Our Feelings
Funded Apr 3, 2023I am so incredibly grateful for your support of this project. With these materials, I have been able to fully stock our Cozy Corner. We use this space as a place to go when big feelings are overwhelming. In our Cozy Corner, students can take a little break and use the tools that we have to calm themselves down and then return to the group when they are ready.
Thanks to our donors, we now have all kinds of tools that our students can use to help relax and practice those very important self-regulation skills. They can use the fidget monster or the calm-down shoulder wrap to help release those overwhelming feelings. These are important skills that kids need to learn and I am so thankful for the support this project received that will help me teach these skills to my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great®.Pre-K in Color
Funded Jan 6, 2023Thank you so much for supporting this project. I know printer cartridges aren't the most exciting item and may not seem that important, but in our class they make a huge difference. There are so many things that we print pictures of and it really helps to be able to show my students colorful and accurate pictures.
We also print pictures to label all of the materials in our classroom. Having the ability to print these pictures in color makes it easier for my students to see what is in the picture. That allows them to be able to clean up and put materials away independently. I also print out pictures of the students to label where they should hang their items like book bags and lunch tags. Having these pictures in color makes the pictures easier for the students to recognize and makes them feel like they belong in our room.
I am so glad this project was funded and I am very thankful to have these materials now.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by LOFT and 2 other donors.Clean Floors, Happy Hearts
Funded Aug 9, 2022This has been my absolute favorite new item in my classroom and I am so thankful that this project was successful. I think having a clean classroom is really important and this new vacuum cleaner has really helped me keep my classroom clean. SInce this one is cordless, I can clean the whole room without having to stop and plug it in a new outlet. It used to take me almost an hour to vacuum the whole classroom and now I can do it in half the time. That frees up so much valuable time for me to get other things done like prepping activities for the next day. It may seem silly, but this has been a true timesaver for me and I am so appreciative for the support this project received!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 4 other donors.New Things for Spring
Funded Apr 14, 2022These new resources have been amazing for my students. The main component of this project was a new set of playground balls for the kids to use outside. Those ended up being out of stock and so I had to switch gears a little bit and ended up selecting a new carpet cleaning machine to use on our classroom carpets. It turned out to be a great idea and something that was very needed. I used the machine right away to clean our three huge classroom carpets that my students spend all day sitting and playing on. This new carpet cleaner was light and easy to use which will enable to me keep our classroom cleaner for my students.
The rest of the items from the project were for the students to use though and they had a great time with them. The foam paint was probably the best activity this whole year actually. They had an absolute blast with that! It was just so great to have a couple of new materials to freshen up our art area with.
I have been so incredibly lucky with Donorschoose and have received everything I have needed for my classroom. I cannot even think of anything I need right now. I think I will have to wait and get to know my new students and see what their needs and interests are before I decide what I need next. I am so thankful for all the support this project has received and I hope all of the donors know what we really appreciate their contributions.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 4 other donors.Big Kids, Big Chairs
Funded Nov 15, 2021We are new our new chairs all day, every day! We sit in them during our morning whole group activities and then we move them to the tables for small group activities. Each chair is labeled with a student name and picture, so they know exactly which chair is for them. No more fighting over which chair belongs to which student, which I am so happy about! When we go to the playground, we take the two adult chairs with us so the teachers can sit and supervise while the children play. After playground time, we have story time where the students once again sit in their chairs. Then they stack them up so we can take our naps. The chairs are light enough for the children to be able to stack them up on their own, which helps to develop their independence and self-help skills.
Since I had kept it a surprise, the kids were so excited when the boxes were first delivered. There were so many huge boxes to open, and it was so much fun! We immediately took all the packaging off and started using the new chairs right away. The old chairs were so gross and mostly broken and we were glad to get rid of them. It makes our classroom look so nice now that all the chairs match. It was such an improvement for our classroom environment.
Now that we have a nice set of classroom furniture including chairs, I want to be able to maintain the things we already have. We have a few large classroom rugs that get a lot of traffic. My next Donorschoose project is asking for a carpet cleaner machine so that I can keep our rugs nice and clean. The machines are somewhat pricy but it's much cheaper than having to buy a new carpet every couple of years. Having a clean classroom environment is so important especially nowadays. I am so grateful for all the support I have received from the donors to help me achieve these goals for my classroom and my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 2 other donors.Expanding Our Library and Expanding Our Horizons
Funded Apr 12, 2021After taking a children's literature class while getting my master's degree, I realized that my classroom library was lacking diversity. I realized that there were several cultures that weren't represented very well by the books I had. I wanted to make sure that every single one of my students could pick up at least two books and say to themselves "That kid looks just like me!" It is so important for children to feel represented in literature and I knew that I had room for improvement.
The books I received in this project have made such a difference in our classroom library, especially for my students this year. They won't have to have that uncomfortable feeling of thinking that nobody in the story looks like them or their family. As we read different books each day, I have already heard a couple students saying "Hey! I have hair like that!" or "The mom in the book looks like my mom!" When they relate to the characters, they really do connect to the story in a different and deeper way.
I hope to continue working on my classroom library and finding books by diverse authors to incorporate. I want them to see their own cultures in our library and to see other people's cultures represented. By exposing them to different kinds of people through literature, hopefully they will grow into accepting and empathetic people. I am extremely thankful for the support this project received and glad to see that others also see the value in having diversity represented in the classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great®.Building Our Brains!
Funded Apr 12, 2021These materials for our "Building Our Brains" project have already been such a huge success in our classroom. The sets of ocean animals and dinosaurs were added to our block play center and have been particularly popular since the beginning of this school year. The clip builders were added to our math and science center, and they are getting used every single day. I have seen my students building castles, robots and even creating crowns to wear on their heads. These are toys they definitely don't have at home and so I know they are really enjoying getting to play with these new and exciting toys.
One of the most exciting parts of this project was the giant magnetic building tiles. We already have the small tiles in our class, but these giant ones are so much bigger. They were completely astonished when they saw me unwrapping these giant tiles. They couldn't believe how big they were and that they were going to get to use them. It was such a fun moment.
Later this year when we learn about different animals and their habitats it is going to be so exciting to be able to use all the different animal collections. It really helps the kids understand what the animals are when they can see it and hold it in their hands. I am so excited to incorporate these new materials into what my students will be learning about. I am so grateful for the support this project received.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 2 other donors.Kids on the Go!
Funded Jan 8, 2021My students have had a rough start to their school experience. We started the year off online and when we finally transitioned to in-person learning at the end of October, it was not easy. Having to keep 6 feet apart, wearing masks the whole day, and not being able to share toys all made their Pre-K experience so different from what it should have been. The hardest part for my students was that we couldn't use the playground due to the risk of cross-contamination from other classrooms also playing there.
One of the only things we could do outside was ride bikes that belonged to our classroom. Luckily, I had a few bikes already for my students, but I didn't have enough for them all to use. Each time we tried to take them out they would fight over who got to use them and so we decided to not use the bikes at all. It was so painful for them to not be able to use bikes that I decided to seek help from Donorschoose. I am so grateful for the support of this project. Thanks to your generosity, we now have a bike for each child in the class. They can ride and ride without any fighting at all.
In such a difficult year, it was amazing to be able to give this gift to my students. The day that the boxes came was just like Christmas. While I put the bikes together, they played with the cardboard boxes. That was also a huge excitement for them! They were overjoyed when I told them that they could now all have their own bikes. We ride them almost everyday now and it is one of their favorite parts of coming to school. Many of them don't have bikes at home so this is their only opportunity to ride a bicycle. I am truly thankful for the support this project received. It really has made a huge difference in the lives of these children.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by College Football Playoff Foundation & ESPN.Diverse Students Need Diverse Books!
Funded Jan 8, 2021I am so thankful for your generous support of this project. This whole school year has been so challenging for students. They have been deprived of so many childhood experiences. However, thanks to your generosity, I was able to create an amazing experience for my students. When the boxes arrived and I told my students that it was for them, the excitement was overwhelming. We took all of the books out and looked at each one. They wanted me to read all of the books right away! We have enough books now to read a new one every day for the rest of the school year.
One of my favorite parts of this project was the amount of diversity reflected in the books. This really helps our classroom library represent my students. My students loved seeing characters that look like them in these books. Seeing yourself in the pages of a book really does wonders for a child's self-esteem and I am incredibly thankful to the donors for helping me give that experience to my students.
We also received some books about upcoming events in our class like the 100th day of school and the end of the school year. These books will be read to students to prepare for these exciting events and to help students understand the traditions associated with them. It is so exciting for my students to see characters in books celebrating holidays the same way that we do.
Having new books in our classroom library makes students so much more excited about reading. The pandemic has really changed how we do our classroom library time, but I still try to give my students a chance to read and look at books independently each week. Choosing from the same old books each week isn't much fun, so this infusion of new books is just what we needed to get excited about reading again.
Again, I am so thankful to the donors for making this project possible and supporting our classroom. This has been an amazing experience for my students, and it has truly made a difference.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Alvarez
This classroom project was brought to life by Amazon Business and 3 other donors.