Past projects 8
Rugs are the foundation of early learning environments!
Funded Aug 2, 2024My class and I were so excited to have our beautiful classroom rug arrive on the very first day of school. We couldn't wait for the custodial staff to deliver it to our room. It's bright & colorful. It makes our learning environment so comfortable. We start our day with morning meeting sitting on the rug. We select a specific greeting and answer questions of the day. Our day continues with lots of learning sitting on the rug. We do whole group and small group instruction while sitting on the floor.
We are excited to use this learning space all year!!
Thank you again for your generous donations that made this rug possible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Pedal Power
Funded Mar 12, 2022Thank you for all of the donations you made to purchase helmets and bikes for our kindergarten bike riding program. The kids were over the moon with excitement when we unpacked the bikes and helmets. They could hardly believe we were going to be able to ride during school. They couldn't wait to get outside to try them out. We have been able to use the bikes for a second year now to teach our youngest learners to ride without training wheels. They absolutely love the ability to ride around the playground on these beautiful bikes. We will use them for years to come!
Thank you for your generosity!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Kindergarten Hybrid Style
Funded Dec 1, 2020We have finally returned to the classroom two days a week and soon four days a week in person. We have begun to use all the amazing materials that we funded with our most recent Donors Choose grant. We are excited to have individual seat pockets for our chairs to store our materials safely without having to share a cubby. We are loving Mrs. Heyse's new handwriting magnetic paper on the board. She uses it daily to model our sentence of the day. I can use it as a guide to copy the sentence on my similar handwriting paper. The magnetic bookshelves are a neat way for Mrs. Heyse to highlight the books of the week that she will read aloud to us.
During small group squad time with Mrs. Heyse, she uses the simple building tiles and touch phonics sets. We love our small group time using these fun materials with our teacher.
Thank you so much for all the wonderful materials for our kindergarten classroom!
Mrs. Heyse's kindergarten students”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Making Mathematicians
Funded Aug 26, 2020I can't thank you enough for donating to my classroom project "Making Mathematicians". This year the impact has been even greater! I was able to use the math tools purchased to supply individual kits for every child in my classroom to use at home during remote learning. They have been able to be successful in math using the dice, math cubes, math counters and more. It so rewarding to see your students on the other side of the screen playing math games and using the materials to gain a better understanding of our math concepts. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Flexibility Is Fun!
Funded Nov 12, 2018Thank you for the flexible seating in our classroom. The students and I have truly enjoyed having the flexibility to sit in more comfortable seating. Each Friday, every student gets the opportunity to select a flex seat for the following week. We have created a magnetic chart where every child can select their seat for the following week. We rotate choices so everyone gets a chance to sit in a variety of seating options.
When we opened the packages, the students were so excited for the colorful, comfortable choices. We have enjoyed them every day since.
My classroom is full on young energetic learners in their first year of school. It has been my privilege to educate these young minds. I'm always looking for ways to improve and make my classroom as inviting as possible. These seats have certainly helped with that!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Educating Young Minds With STEM
Funded Nov 12, 2017We would like to thank you for your generous donations to our Donor's Choose classroom project. My class and I have really enjoyed using the STEM kits. STEM focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in an exciting approach to learning that stimulates the creative and investigative nature of young children. In a STEM classroom, teachers help children explore, observe, ask questions, predict and investigate. During Science we have been using the STEM motion, STEM magnets, STEM The Three Little Pigs and the STEM Goldilocks and the Bears. Each kit allows my students to explore the Science concept with hands-on experiments that illustrate key concepts, such as force and gravity, plus the eight activity cards feature exploration questions to extend learning and build critical thinking and problem solving skills.
When my class first opened the box, they squealed with delight. They have been very excited to use the kits in Science as well as indoor recess and free choice time in the classroom. I have enjoyed watching their young minds plan and create something new each time. The structures and designs have really helped them solve a problem. It's so fun to watch them in action.
We are using STEM stations around the classroom. Students rotate through the center, read the question on the card with teacher support and make predictions before beginning to investigate. "Did you try" questions on the back of the cards help guide students as needed. In addition, we extend the learning by asking the discussion questions provided. We ask questions like "What did you use to get your ball or cart to roll the farthest?" "Did anyones ball or cart roll farther than yours?" "How is their structure or system different than yours?" "What is something you can change in your design that might make your ball or cart roll farther?" These types of questions really allow the students to reflect and redesign their structures to make improvements.
We are very appreciative for your donations and invite you to observe our class in action if you wish.
With Gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse & class”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Making Mathematicians
Funded Sep 26, 2016Thank you for your generous donations for our class Donor's Choose Making Mathematicians. The class was extremely excited when we opened our box of math goodies. They squealed with delight! We have been using the magnetic tens frame daily for number talks. The children have a large visual on the board that we can manipulate daily as the number changes. The students have really benefited from the individual magnetic tens and twenty frames as well. They love using the magnetic pieces to create a variety of math combinations. We recently wrapped up our measurement unit. The class loved the measurement kit and especially the large tape measure. They had fun measuring their own feet, my feet and just about everything in our classroom. We are learning and growing our math minds thanks to your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse
Illuminating Minds with Fire!
Funded Oct 2, 2015Thank you all for your generous donations to my classroom Donor's Choose Project. Thanks to your donations I was able to receive four kindle fire edition's and four sets of student headphones. The students have thoroughly enjoyed utilizing this technology in our classroom. I use them in my literacy center rotation using various applications and games for letter recognition, letter sounds, phonics and Reading fluency. We've also discovered some wonderful math uses as well. You would be surprised at how easy the students learned how to independently use the technology. It has proved to be a wonderful addition to our classroom. I look forward to discovering other uses for the devices as the year progresses.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Tanya Heyse