Mrs. Estephane's Classroom Edit display name

Current requests

Past projects 14

• Help Create Equity and Access in Brownsville with Essential Materials

  Funded Dec 30, 2024

  Thank you so much for your generosity and support! The materials you provided — including Post-its, Velcro dots, markers, pens, a center stand, paper, magnets, bright colored paper, and Sharpies — have already made a tremendous impact in our classroom.

  The bright colored paper has brought joy and creativity to our learning activities, making student work stand out proudly on our classroom walls. Post-its have become a powerful tool for brainstorming, quick reflections, and interactive lessons. When visitors walk into our classroom, they always complement how "Print Rich" the learning environment is! This wouldn't be possible without your generous donations! The markers and Sharpies have helped students express their ideas boldly, while the Velcro dots and Magnets have made our centers and visuals interactive and engaging. The center stand has truly organized our learning stations, allowing students to navigate activities independently with confidence.

  These supplies have not only enhanced our academic lessons but also fostered collaboration, creativity, and ownership in our learning space. Every day, I see the excitement on my students' faces as they use these materials. Your kindness has created a more vibrant, productive, and welcoming classroom for us all.

  From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for making a difference!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Seating in Comfort to Maximize Learning and Engagement!

  Funded Dec 31, 2023

  Thank you so much for our "Small Group furniture and rug." Having the small group flexible chairs and comfortable rug have allowed my Special Education students to meet their different learning styles. They require a smaller setting to access the lesson, and this seating is perfect for 4-5 students.

  Having the chairs have allowed them to remain focus, engaged and function at their level. Many district personnels have visited our classroom and complemented our cozy area for learning. During reading and writing students are seen laying down, relaxing while staying on task and working together with their partners.

  They constantly echo how thankful they are for the donations and take pride in keeping their space clean and germ free. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity in making learning fun and relaxing!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Analytic Mathematicians NEED Fun and Engaging Manipulatives!

  Funded Oct 17, 2023

  Thank you so much for your generosity! Our students were so thrilled to receive their math manipulative. In the various centers, students are learning to multiply using various strategies, answer word problems using a plan (using pictures numbers, labels and words), and understanding place value.

  When using "the whole -part cards," students were building number sense and finding the missing number. They are enjoying working with partners on a dry erase board to solve the problem on a timer.

  Having these hands on math flash cards makes centers fun, engaging and competitive. One students was heard saying,"I like those cards. They are so fun." That's the culture and atmosphere we want to create around math. Again, thank you so much for giving our students the opportunity to close the gaps in foundational skills and develop a can do attitude through those materials.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Essential Supplies Needed to Foster Students Unique Interest and Ideas

  Funded Aug 3, 2023

  Thank you so much for transforming our learning space to make it more engaging, hands on and inviting. Our students were so thrilled to receive all these materials. Specially, their 2 pocket folders for Writing workshop encourages structure and independence, which is our goal as a class this year. The folders were labeled by table numbers to allow easy transition by during writing workshop.

  Students are enjoying using the expo markers in math centers to work on hands on foundational skills using their dry erase white board. The are also using the assorted dry erase markers in "Word Study" block to foster our literacy block. During this time, students are mapping and graphing their word list using their elkonin boxes and markers.

  We were able to use the laminating sheets to create a lasting and durable sound wall, sentence starters, name tags, vocabulary words, station tags, and various labels around the classroom. We couldn't be more thankful for your generosity to helping make our class feel warm, safe, and fun to learn! Many thanks again!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

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

• Close Foundational Gaps in Literacy

  Funded Dec 18, 2022

  Our students have been thriving when using their "Phonics Decoding Kit." Many of our below benchmark students have made progress with mastering their blends and digraphs because of the consistency in using their materials for quick reference and support.

  "Their Phonics Word Builder Magnetic Kit" have also supports these below benchmark learners to make progress in mastery of their multisyllabic words and vowel fluency. During reading, students are using their word builder to chunk the words, and practice decoding strategies taught during Word Study.

  During their writing workshop students are also gotten more confident in writing complete sentences and revising and editing their writing using their "Flip Read Sight word sentence." Before these writer struggles to spell and write complete paragraphs. This is growth and we couldn't be more proud of their efforts and willingness to be self motivated. Your generosity have helped improve learners phonemic awareness skills to be better readers and writers! A heartfelt "Thank You" from our class family!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Keeping Things Organized...We Need a Space That's Ready for Learning!

  Funded Sep 29, 2022

  We are beyond grateful for your generosity in helping to keep our classroom organized. Our students were thrilled when they saw I pulled out those "woven baskets" for our new books we received for our "Genre Library." They finally had an had organized space to get books for their leveled book baggies in an orderly manner.

  The clear containers added order and structure to our classroom closet. We receive tons of materials and these clear containers give us easy access to reach those learning tools. Students easily pull them out to replenish centers and tables when needed.

  The small women baskets can be seen in the photos in the center of their desk where they have easy assess to grab post-its and their math goals during reading and writing workshop. The table leaders ensure their desk stay organized when using the women baskets. This is has helped us keep tables organized since learners tend to have manipulative and materials during instruction.

  Your generosity has absolutely helped to keep our learning space organized, and foster learners to produce quality work! Again, on behalf of my students and our class we are beyond grateful!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Classroom Supporter.

• Creating a Library to Provoke Deep Thoughts and Enrich Ideas!

  Funded Sep 15, 2022

  Your generosity for this project have now created lifelong readers! It was an absolute joy to see our students beam with excitement when those boxes of books arrived for our genre library. Many of them were sharing their excitement to read the A-Z mystery books for our coming Mystery Unit and our previous Informational writing unit.

  During the beginning of the unit, students were thrilled to go book shopping and build healthy reading routines for their reading lives. They continued to embed the strategies and skills taught (building strong reading lives, making predictions, monitoring for comprehension, retelling, week after week independently.

  Many also enjoyed the book of the week that was placed on the book shelf from the series books we received about Sofia Martinez. They were even able to make connections from their real lives about mystery, shows and movies that they watched.

  Creating this project and seeing the impact of our students confidently selecting books they want to read, learning about different genres like fairytales, fiction, and seeing them more engaged gives us hope that they are increasing their commitment to learning! A Huge thank you again for your partnership in teaching black and brown students they are deserving will forever be remembered.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Enrichment Materials to Help Stimulate Learning!

  Funded May 29, 2022

  From the moment we received the materials we began the work to welcome learners for their first day of school. Students were welcomed with a print rich classroom, filled with color, brightness, warmness and messages positioned all around the room to make them feel a sense of belonging. The smile on their faces was worth it all. Students enjoyed reading the read aloud book "Our Class is a Family" where they worked in groups to complete back to school activities about their class family. We created a reading library with brightly colored labels and bookmarks to facilitate reading workshop. Students also had writing centers filled with the bright colored post-its to engage in strategies of "stop and jots" and do "comprehension checks" while reading. Math center was ready for use with their giant magnetic base tens and clip boards positioned to use for assessment during independent work. Having these materials have created a learning space that is indeed print rich, and appeal to our learners to independently take charge of their learning. From myself and my students thank you so very much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane

• Better Hearing Means Better Students!

  Funded Apr 21, 2022

  Being a title 1 school means that our school is centrally located in a low-income neighborhood of Brownsville, where educational resources are not always available to our students. However, my students try their best to not let their environment or labels define their education or potential.

  When we created these project we wanted to motivate our students to remain resilient in this new form of learning using technology. They are often

  required to log on Zoom, assess for diagnostic testing, and participate in content activities.

  When our students received these headphones they beyond thrilled and were so motivated to log on immediately. They were overjoyed to see those NEW BOXES of headphones arrive in the classroom! "Wow, I needed that!" one particular child expressed.

  Majority of them could be seen more focused during the "I-Ready" technology period. They even voted and assigned team leaders to care and handle the headphones on a daily basis. This shows how grateful and dedicated our students are to doing their best, and too effectively and purposefully utilize the resources that that were generously given.

  Again, a huge thank you for your time, kindness and giving heart!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Estephane