Past projects 103
Dancing All Day In Kindergarten
Funded May 7, 2010Thank you so much for providing us with an Ipod! The Ipod has allowed us to use music quickly and efficiently. The photographs reflect us using our dancing scarves to dance to music provided to us by citizen philanthropists on DonorsChoose! Students are so excited to sing and dance at school, it builds language and vocabulary skills and gives them exercise as well. I've also made song books that students enjoy singing (and reading) on their own (also reflected in the photos as we sang School is Cool). It is much easier to locate music on the Ipod as opposed to scouring through my book of CD's. I just wish you could hear their cute little voices singing away! We are so grateful for your kindness and caring and promise to keep on singing and dancing the days away. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Hatching "Egg"xcitement in Kindergarten!
Funded Apr 22, 2010Thank you so much for our incubator! My students are very anxious to see our baby chicks. We have all learned a lot during this process. Studying life cycles of ladybugs, super worms, tadpoles, butterflies, and now chickens has allowed my students great advantages in understanding and questioning the world around them. I love to see their wide eyes and smiles with every new surprise. We will be lovingly donating our chicks to a family that wishes to raise them for eggs and food. The photographs represent my their eager excitement and anticipation. Science is the spice of life, again thank you for caring about us and helping us learn and grow!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
This classroom project was brought to life by Pershing Square and one other donor.Instant Van Goghs in Kindergarten! Fun With Art 3
Funded Mar 24, 2010Thank you for the wonderful art materials!!! The dough has become an instant favorite for everyday play! Students enjoy the letter and number stampers very much as well as all the fun rollers. Working with the dough is great for their developing fine motor skills. It truly provides a sensory learning experience. Often time, during math committees, I will have students make a number out by rolling the dough into snakes and forming the number, then they will clump it back together and break it up into that amount of pieces. This makes learning our numbers fun! The collage materials are wonderful as well and have been put to use during our author study on Lois Elhert. Many of my favorite illustrators use collage as their art medium. Lois Elhert books are made by collage, and students have enjoyed making leaf men and other collages that were inspired by her books. The leaves were also great during our rain forest unit, for creating a rain forest collage! Budget cuts are making it very difficult to get supplies, but thanks to citizen philanthropists like you, my students are getting the high quality, hands-on art curriculum they deserve! Thanks again for supporting public education! We think you are AWESOME!!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
This classroom project was brought to life by Pershing Square Foundation and 5 other donors.Art Books for Kindergarten!!
Funded Jan 23, 2010Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Having these beautiful art books on artists such as Renoir, Degas, Matisse, van Gogh, Monet, and Frida Kahlo has truly inspired students in my classroom! Students especially enjoy the simple text and beautiful pictures in the board books. They also love the touch and feel series (what fantastic early childhood books). Many of my students have limited or no background knowledge on these artists. During our plant unit, we painted sunflowers (looking at real and silk flowers for inspiration) while studying van Gogh. Many of my students took a new direction with their art and had plenty of inspiration for their work. This truly has enhanced my art curriculum that my children so desperately need, thank you again. You are making a difference in their lives!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 4 other donors.Instant Van Goghs in Kindergarten! Fun With Art 2
Funded Jan 1, 2010Thank you very much for our paint and art supplies! We've been using them on a regular basis, and the children just love having paint to use daily. Without you this would not have been possible, especially with our budget cuts this year. Many other teachers and parents comment on how artistically talented my students are. All children are successful at art, and having the time carved out to do art paired with lots of art materials, it helps build their self esteem as well. Limited art classes provided by my district and limited money for supplies, leaves many children without an art curriculum, thank you so much for helping my children be successful! They have enjoyed experimenting painting with different materials such as chop stix, hands, feet, toy cars and other materials! We appreciate you so much. Thank you for helping ensure a quality and well rounded public education for my students! We appreciate you endlessly.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Kindergarten Science Center Spice Up!
Funded Dec 22, 2009Thank you so much for your support of public education, we appreciate you so much! I am thrilled to have set up a pond habitat in the beautiful aquarium you purchased for our classroom. Our fish, tadpole, frogs, and snail are enjoying the clean water, real plants, and space to explore. Even better, my students are learning from observing and recording/discussing changes over time. Thank you so much! Our pictures reflect our Science Center, showing our tarantula, aquarium, gerbil zone, science books (including picture/information rich guides on each of our pets), and other items. We have 3 microscopes, many seeds and other collections from nature and much more. My students frequent the Science Center far more frequently since acquiring the new observation tools. Again, we appreciate your support, you've inspired us and are helping prepare us for our future! ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Instant Van Goghs in Kindergarten! Fun With Art!
Funded Dec 14, 2009Thank you so very much for the paint cups and brushes, liquid watercolors, watercolor brushes and paper, texture plates, and collage paper. My art project grants are the most special and dearest to my heart, so my students and I were so excited to get this one funded! I hope you enjoyed the photographs. We made watercolor sheep, students drew three ovals on the paper and colored them in with white crayon, added green crayon grass and black face/feet details and watercolored over the crayons. They turned out just fantastic and students really enjoyed this painting project and finding new techniques with the liquid watercolors!
They have also used the texture plates to create dinosaurs and the paint cups have really helped us conserve the paint we've received from DonorsChoose! The watercolor paper is truly essential to proper watercolor painting instruction and I wish I had more space to send photos of our self-portraits (done of course in watercolor). These art supplies have certainly been fun, useful, inspiring and instrumental in the art instruction I am providing for my Kindergarten students.
I truly am fortunate to have experienced the kindness and generosity of you and many others on this site. This year, our district budget is being cut by 43 million dollars, next year our district is anticipated to be 100 million dollars in the hole, our children's education is already underfunded, and you are making the difference between a substandard and quality public education. My students and I are both, genuinely inspired by your compassion, kindness, and belief in public education. Every child deserves the right to a high-quality public education, thanks for making this possible. You are changing the world! Thanks again from the bottom of our hearts.
”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Language Learning Through Music 3
Funded Dec 5, 2009Thank you so much for purchasing instruments and Cd's for our classroom! The handbells and song cards have become an instant favorite in our classroom. It has been fun watching my students play songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb". The egg shakers and drum were especially helpful during our dragon parade (see photos)! We even had enough instruments to share with another class during that day. Music is an essential part of our curriculum, thanks for enriching our classroom!!!! We appreciate you with all of our hearts. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Language Learning Through Music 2
Funded Nov 28, 2009Thank you so much for funding my project! Students love using the activity scarves in our classroom. We have been dancing to our Dr. Jean Cd's, using our bells (from another donorschoose project) to follow the beat and rhythm of the music. The rhythm sticks were especially useful during our dragon parade we had in January. Having these instruments and materials is increasing my students oral language and vocabulary skills! I cannot express in words how happy you've made me and my students. Thank you so much for giving my Kindergarten students opportunities they otherwise would not have! Your kindness and generosity inspires me to be a better teacher, thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom
Kindergarten Math Center
Funded Oct 8, 2009Thank you so much for you generous donation to my classroom. Student scores have improved in Math since receiving our materials. The Counting Cookie Jar has helped two of my struggling students with their counting and number recognition. The counters have encouraged students in many ways to use the counting jar in our Math Center. They also have enjoyed playing with them during Self-Selection. The games were instant classroom favorites! I hope you understand that you truly do make an impact on the education and lives of my students. With even more budget cuts since I wrote this proposal, I know without you these materials would not be possible. Thank you again, your kindness and generosity are truly inspiring!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Walstrom