Past projects 10
Flexibility & Freedom To Learn
Funded Sep 20, 2024Donors Choose projects are always humbling to me. I am so grateful for people like you- who generously give to classrooms and students like mine, without knowing us on a personal level. I used the opportunity to teach my students about gratitude and kindness.
We began the year with reading and learning about how to be a "bucket filler" and how it is important to treat others with the same kindness and respect that we want from them. We created an anchor chart and have been filling our classroom kindness bucket since the first week of school. You give us a great example of what a bucket filler is!
They use the flexible seating everyday during independent work, at listening center, and anytime they need movement while they work. They are the perfect height for all our tables and offer safe movement for my most wiggly students. They support focus and increased work completion.
Thank you so much for giving my young learners these seats to help meet their needs
this school year and for years to come!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
This classroom project was brought to life by The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and one other donor.Starting Strong in Second Grade
Funded Aug 2, 2023Donors Choose projects are always humbling to me. I am so grateful for people like you- who generously give to classrooms and students like mine, without knowing us on a personal level. I used the opportunity to teach my students about gratitude and kindness.
We began the year with reading and learning about how to be a "bucket filler" and how it is important to treat others with the same kindness and respect that we want from them. We created an anchor chart and have been filling our classroom kindness bucket since the first week of school.
They use the flexible seating everyday during independent reading. The lanyards with the classroom passes are combined with signing in and out of the classroom to become responsible and independent within the school community. The erasers are the best around and they love the fidgets!
Thank you so much for giving my second graders a strong start to the year!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex and one other donor.Library Needs a Reading Renovation
Funded Dec 30, 2021Your generosity has renovated our library and has thus given our young learners an inviting, comfortable area to read and enjoy a variety of books. We set up the new furniture right before we left on winter break, and our kiddos were so excited to see it when they came back to school.
Library is one of our ELA stations and students love having the opportunity to go with their partners. They sit alone or spend time together exploring different genres, sharing pictures with each other, or reading just right books.
We recently finished a narrative writing unit and added the books they wrote to our library. Now they are also able to see themselves as authors.
Thank you so very much for helping "rekindle" our love of reading!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
Young Scholars Deserve a Strong Start
Funded Sep 16, 2021I cannot tell you how excited our students were as we opened and explained the new materials we gratefully received. We also had a great discussion about kindness and how it made them feel.
My para and I have seen great improvement in the fine motor control of kiddos who are using the pencil grips. The dry erase materials allow for mistakes to be erased away as they practice foundational skills. The kinetic sand and magnet tiles have given them the freedom to explore and create on their own. And, the lap desks (not pictured) let them learn in ways that support their needs and development.
It's been amazing watching them grow so far this year! Thank you”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
Reaching Our Reading Goals Remotely
Funded Dec 1, 2020This has been the most challenging year of teaching I have ever experienced. We were amazingly able to create a classroom community through a computer screen and relationships were even stronger- including parents and families. We were "inside" our students' homes, trying to help families support their children with very limited materials and supplies. One of our biggest challenges was teaching our young scholars how to read in an unconventional way.
The letter tiles allowed us the ability to ensure that each student had the same materials to participate in word work activities. This included making words, manipulating letters and sounds, spelling, sight word work, sound Bingo, blending & segmenting, and much more. The students were so excited to receive their own bag of tiles and were responsible for taking care of them.
The leveled readers were perfect for our kiddos! They consisted of fiction and nonfiction books in a variety of topics. The colors were vibrant and the students couldn't wait to read them. We were able to use them in the classroom as we transitioned in person, and the students who stayed home could still have the same materials. Our hope is that they will continue to use them over the summer. We are forever grateful!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
This classroom project was brought to life by FamilyAlbum and 2 other donors.Creating Culturally Aware Kindergarteners
Funded Jul 12, 2020Our district is fully remote this school year and it has been very challenging. We have been able to send some of the materials you donated home with our young learners and we are very grateful! Our new kiddos love read alouds. We have been able to use our new library of books to teach diversity and how to embrace our similarities and differences. They are a very resilient group that have managed to work together, make friends, and encourage each other from their little boxes on Zoom.
My para and I will be forever grateful for your generosity, as we will be able to use our new books for years to come as well.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 4 other donors.Reading and Writing: Together Forever!
Funded Jul 8, 2019Our students use the new materials every day. The dry erase boards, sleeves, and markers are the perfect resource to allow our young learners the opportunity to take risks in Math and ELA, be able to erase it, and try again. It helps them learn that mistakes are okay because they are how we learn.
We just started using the whisper phones for independent reading as morning work. They were very excited to begin using them. They are helping students tell about the pictures, retell a story, or sound words out without interrupting others.
We are currently teaching how reading and writing are connected and using strategies for both. Theses resources have allowed the students more ways to practice the strategies and put them on the right track to becoming lifelong readers and writers.
Thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity,
Mrs. Bailly & Mrs. Torres”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
"To The Amazon...and Beyond!"
Funded Apr 4, 2019The day I received the email saying that our project was funded, my para and I had a great conversation with our students. We told them that really kind, generous people that have never met us, bought us our animals we asked for. They were very excited and talked about all the habitats they would build. We then talked our school values: Work Hard Be Kind, and how we can spread kindness by doing things for others.
We thank you for helping us show how our values pertain to the world around us.
When the boxes came in they helped us open and unpack them, excitedly talking about the animals and where they live. We began using them that day and it has enhanced our teaching and their learning so much. In writing, we learned about non fiction books and they researched animals to find out what the animals actually looked like, what they ate, and why their habitats were important.
It has also enhanced their play during our K2 curriculum time. They were able to connect everything together because they had the materials to bring it to life for them. Your act of kindness has made such a difference for our young learners this year and it will continue to do so for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
Simple Supplies to Help Support Our Success
Funded Jan 22, 2018I cannot thank you enough for your care and generosity. When my para and I received the email that our project was funded we told our students right away. We used it as a lesson about kindness; teaching the children that people who don't even know us bought us materials to help us learn and grow. They were most excited about the seat sacks. We couldn't get them labeled on and the chairs quick enough. They are now able to keep all of their work materials in one place and organized, which increases learning time and lessens transitions. It also gives them ownership, independence, and responsibility to take care of their materials.
As for the headphones and wooden spacers...they are used every single day! There are no more complaints of headphones not fitting, hurting their ears, or not being able to hear. They are easy to adjust, soft, and the volume control is simple to maneuver. This is so important because our intervention program is on tablets, and the students are required to be on for a certain amount of time each week. The wooden spacers are in every one of their pencil bags, at writing table, art center, and in the large group area as well. Learning that words have space between them is a very challenging kindergarten concept. We have tried so many different things to simplify it and the cute worm spacers are life savers. They are so easy to use for left and right handed students. We are working on nonfiction books about owls right now and you wouldn't see a young learner in our class without one.
The other materials you have so graciously donated are used in the classroom to help organize and manage our space. The file folder bag makes organizing and transporting student data more efficient. We are able to display weekly read alouds and important learning supports on the magnetic shelves so everyone can see and/ or access them. And the large, colorful work board has allowed us to display small group work activities in a way that promotes independence.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly
Big Joe Chairs to Read, Listen, and Share!
Funded Feb 4, 2017I would like to begin by saying how grateful I am for your generous donation. It not only made our library a wonderful place to be, it was a lesson in caring and kindness. The morning after I was notified that you chose to fund our project, I had a group discussion with my young learners. We spoke about the day that the fire Marshall came in and the things we had to remove from our classroom for safety. I then told them that someone that didn't know them or me heard what happened and cared enough to donate comfy chairs for our library. I showed them the chairs and we chatted about how good it felt when people are generous and kind and we came up with a lengthy list of things that they can do to show kindness like you.
When the chairs arrived there was pure excitement! Everyone got a turn to sit in a new chair. During our interventions block that day we let a group of students use the chairs as they worked with the ELA intervention program on the tablets. They were focused and relaxed as they worked on important skills needed for reading and writing. And of course this was the chosen place to take our 100 days of school pictures :)
As for the library, my para and I were absolutely overjoyed the first day children asked to go to the library to read during choice time; and it was not just to sit in the chairs. The library has become a place of peace, comfort, and reading! They choose books, sit alone or sit together in one chair, talk quietly with each other about books, and sometimes just use it as a place to calm down and get themselves ready to learn.
We have just begun our last unit: Our Earth. We are learning about our natural world, how humans interact with it, how we can protect it, and what could happen if we don't. We also received our fertilized eggs and incubator this week. We will take care of our eggs as we anxiously await the arrival of our chicks. There are a large selection of nature, garden, life cycle, and growing books that were added to the library. Their independent reading books are there to use when they choose, along with children's dictionaries, non-fiction texts, and magazines.
We really cannot thank you enough for making a difference in the lives of our children.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bailly