Past projects 12
Write On: Empowering Collaborative Classrooms!
Funded Oct 12, 2024The whiteboards you donated to our English classroom are a big hit! We put them to use right away, and I'm continuing to find ways they can be used during class.
With these boards, I am able to provide groups with a collaborative workspace. This encourages each group member to participate, as it is easy for each of them to write, rather than trying to share one piece of paper or a document on the computer where only one student ends up doing the work.
Thank you again for your contribution to our classroom. It has already made a positive impact on my students' learning.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 9 other donors.Amplifying Student Voices in Podcasting
Funded Nov 9, 2023Thanks to your generous donation, my students are now up and running with their podcasts! Currently, seniors are using the equipment to produce their own episodes of podcasts that they write and produce. We are working on getting these published so that their work can be shared with a broader audience.
Next month, sophomores will use the equipment to record and publish poetry performances to be shown to each classroom in our school for a poetry battle!
With this recording equipment, various opportunities for students to share their voices are being presented, and I can't wait to see what they can do with the equipment in the future!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors & Young Sheldon on CBS and 7 other donors.Making Reading Visible
Funded May 4, 2022Thank you again for supporting my students by providing new and interesting graphic novels to our classroom. Several of these books have been checked out already this year from my classroom library, and students love the selection
Additionally, students in my Senior English class just started reading one of the books as a whole class. We are reading a nonfiction graphic novel that is helping us understand past events of a foreign country, but it is giving us the added benefit of helping us understand current events unfolding there each day. Students are finding that the graphic novel makes some of the complicated situations in that country easier to understand.
Thank you for your gift to my students and my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and 7 other donors.Books for Today's Readers
Funded Nov 13, 2021Thank you again for your donation to add more books to our classroom library! Students were excited to see the new books displayed on the shelf, and several of the books have been checked out throughout the school year.
The wide variety of books from this project enabled many students to find "something" that they would like to read. Many students come to my class convinced that they are not a reader. Finding a book to match their interests is quite often a game-changer for them.
Thank you for your generous contribution and for bringing these books into our classroom and into my students' hands!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 10 other donors.Let's Talk About Books
Funded Aug 12, 2020Thank you, again, for your donation last fall. The books you donated are being used for reading groups that the students get to choose. When students can choose their own books, they are more motivated to read, and having a variety of books to offer for group discussion gives students even more ownership.
The students are thankful for not only the variety but also for the updated titles. They are finding books that they can relate to and books that show them different perspectives about the world they're living in.
Having this updated collection for my students simply would not be possible without your generous gift.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 8 other donors.Empowering Students Through Poetry
Funded Dec 19, 2019The poetry books you donated for this project are already being put to use in my senior English classes!
For example, in my senior writing course, students were given a poem that described a snapshot moment -- a moment of a young boy sitting next to the girl he likes in the library and not being able to focus on his homework. My students then thought of their own moment and imitated the style of the poem to write their own. Students wrote about simple memories like picking berries with their family to more complex situations of working in a nursing home and experiencing the loss of a resident they had formed a relationship with. After having studied the original poem, students were able to see how the poet took these everyday memories and brought them to life with vivid descriptions and strong figurative language. Students were then able to do the same with their own memories. The poems they created were exceptional, and students were extremely proud of them. I wish I could share them all with you. Some of them are even entering them into a state writing contest.
Once again, thank you so much for donating to this project that will have a lasting impact on my students for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by CRUNCH and 5 other donors."Mrs. Drone, We Need More Books!"
Funded Dec 24, 2018Thank you again for donating money to our classroom library. My students were excited when the box of books arrived, and they were eager to check them out right away; in fact, twenty-three of them were checked out as soon as I had them labeled and ready for checkout. That's pretty impressive!
It is clear to me that students will read when they are given high-interest books to choose from. Providing these high-interest books is a challenge in a small district like ours. Your donation helped to bring the books my students were looking for into our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
Teaching Tolerance with Student Choice
Funded Sep 5, 2018Thank you for giving to our Teaching Tolerance project last year. The students just finished their unit on Social Injustice. They each got to choose the book they read this year, and thanks to your generous donation, I was able to provide them with two new choices. I could tell by their group discussions that the students were interested in their books and were putting themselves in the shoes of teenagers who experience social injustice in our country today. These books helped them realize that racial injustice is something they should care about because it is happening to kids who are a lot like them. Thank you again for helping me make this topic accessible and relatable to my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
Connecting With Characters
Funded May 19, 2018"I have a feeling you're going to be the teacher that makes me like reading again." This response from a student new to my classroom this year sums up how many of my students are reacting to the new books in my classroom library.
The new books you donated are motivating students, who haven't read in a long time, interested in reading again. The students have created "To Read" lists because there were multiple books that they want to read this year. Having books that students are genuinely interested in reading makes such a huge difference, especially at the high school level.
I can't thank you enough for helping my students get excited about reading.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone
This classroom project was brought to life by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and 6 other donors.Today's Readers, Tomorrow's Leaders
Funded Oct 17, 2017Thank you very much for donating to my project "Today's Readers, Tomorrow's Leaders". We are truly appreciative of your immediate response to our request that allowed us to complete this project in less than a week!
My students now have a larger selection of books to choose from. They also know that when they look on the bookshelves in my classroom that they will most likely find a book that is of interest to them. This is a major component to encouraging them to read on their own, increasing their literacy skills.
Once again, thank you for helping my students find books that they are interested in reading and ultimately helping them on their journey to be lifelong readers!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Drone