Past projects 7
STEM Stations
Funded Aug 14, 2024Thank you so much for your generosity and support. Thanks to your kind donations my littles are really enjoying their STEM stations. The zip pouches are the perfect sizes to add different manipulatives or other fun activities. By preparing each stem pouch ahead of time, I can present them with STEM challenges. I love to see their reactions when I say "Using only the materials in your pouch, build a..."! The pouches are also great for brain breaks too, so the students know they can go pick any stem station if they finish their assigned tasks early.
Recently I overheard a few conversations from a few kiddos asking if they could trade their neighbor for a specific color or shape to complete their task. It was a great learning moment and magical to see the negotiations unfold right in front of me.
I am blessed to love my job, my students, and have such an amazing and supportive community. Thank you again for helping us out!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and one other donor.Learning with Legos!
Funded Jul 16, 2023This has been a game changer! I have been blessed by having families donate Legos from their toy bins, so we have a healthy supply to use. The older students are enjoying the Lego wall but I also ordered a few Lego plates and these work well for the littles while they work on the floor, a lap desk, or a table in the room. The Lego plates allow for a lot of flexibility. My new students who speak very little English are able to work with groups who have full command of the English language because it's so hands on. I've used it with engineering lessons and provided scaffolding to go along with it and I am blown away with the results. It is also a great way to compromise with some of more challenging students by offering it as an earned-time center, if XYZ are completed.
Thank you for your generous support! Our students and myself are beyond grateful!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 7 other donors.STEM Supplies for All!
Funded Jul 2, 2023This year has been fun and exciting for both my students and myself! It's been a lot of fun and excitement each week as I start to roll out my STEM centers. The students love the new layout of the room and even better, they love to see our new STEM supplies.
Today, one of my littles yelled out "Look I made my name!" Their brains go to so many places if we just give them time to explore! Others friends enjoyed seeing how long could they make their project go before it broke or went off the table. It was so cool to hear them interact with each other when some of my students can barely speak English. They all have their favorite centers: Brain Flakes, magnet tiles, and bead wheels. I am beyond blessed to have such generosity bestowed upon us. Thank you to all of the generous donors out there! This never would have been possible without your support!
~Mrs. Koziol”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Supporter and 3 other donors.STEM Stories for My Super Students!
Funded Mar 30, 2023I had no idea what perfect time this would have when I originally started my Donors Choose. The books arrived immediately and I was in the middle of a coding unit with a third grade class. We were learning about Grace Hopper and there was just a generic slide I had available, but then I realized I had this beautiful new hard cover book that had just arrived the day before. We read it as a class and our STEM coach happen to be visiting us that day. We were just at the part of the story where Grace finds an actual bug or moth in her computer. To hear even our new English learners make the connection to the moth found in the computer causing it problems to the term "bug" in a computer program was just magical! That is a teaching moment I will never forget and it was only because I had an amazing STEM library to work with. Thank you for your support and I cannot wait to use the rest of them this year in my new STEM room!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and one other donor.Imagine That!
Funded Oct 17, 2022Your kindness has helped us immensely! We were able to order twelve 3Doodler pens and a large box of plastic in a variety of colors. The students worked in teams to create a basket for our 'Moon Rock Challenge!". Teams had to create a basket using only 20 sticks of plastic to create a basket to see how many "moon" rocks it could hold. We will see which basket can hold the most amount of weight! It has been a great engineering task for them and I've seen multiple different approaches. Some have used a pattern to help create their panels, others have done it freehand. Some teams have put a lot of focus on a strong bottom panel, while others have put more emphasis on the seams of each panel. Each team has to figure their own type of handle on the basket and the length of it, too. One team even made a creative snake as their handle...now how they will attach it and how strong it will be are questions we will get answers to soon enough. It's been so fun for me to listen to their conversations, their strategies, and even their "ah-ha" moments. Our English language learners were able to equally participate by showing their ideas rather than struggle with the correct words to convey their ideas, suggestions, and strategies. We are at the tail end of the project, so after the April break we will test them all with weights. We are all so excited to see the results! Thank you again for providing these materials for our students to make this project come alive!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 18 other donors.Dream It! Code It! Make It!
Funded Jan 7, 2022I teach 19 classes and I see each of them once a week. The students love to sit in the bouncy seats! Each week they anxiously await to see who's turn it is to sit in these seats. Some of my students who really need to get their wiggles out have been the most productive while engaged and working while sitting on one these seats.
As we wrapped up our coding unit, the Dash robots were used as a center for some of the grade levels. They worked together in small groups to complete a series of tasks for one of the Dash robots to complete.
We just recently started exploring with the 3D pens. They were a challenge for many of the students but some of our older students are starting to get a handle on it. I don't have a 3D printer yet, but the pens along with a few helpful videos help the students see first hand the impact of 3D printing.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made and 5 other donors.Cyber Collaboration Centers
Funded Jan 10, 2020I am beyond amazed at all the local support that has poured in from the community. I cannot wait to get going on these projects with my kiddos! Thank you for everyone’s kindness! These materials will allow my students tackle some of the standards from a hands-on perspective.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. K. Koziol
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 13 other donors.