Past projects 38
Ring-a-Dem Bells
Funded Jan 27, 2018Once again, my heart is full with gratitude as I write this letter. The kindness you have shown by donating and funding this project is immense and not unappreciated!
My fourth and fifth grade bands have been dabbling with adding a xylophone for the last few years. When I had students interested in playing it, I typically gave out a very small, portable glockenspiel. It was fun to play but barely more than a toy. This year I had more than one student interested and not enough small glockenspiels to go around. I decided to go all the way in and request an actual xylophone and thanks to your kindness, we now have one!
The students were shocked, amazed, and impressed when they showed up to rehearsal to find it standing in the back in the percussion section. Immediately, my percussionists took interest in an instrument I often had to persuade students to play. Now we are able to accommodate more percussionists in the band and all of the percussion players will get a little taste of what it means to play mallets. And the band sounds great!
I can't wait to see where we go from here! Thank you so very much for supporting us. Your contribution has definitely had impact on this year's bands and no doubt many students to come.
Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 23 other donors.Swingin' Into the New Year
Funded Jan 25, 2018Thank you so very much for your support of my students! It is always extremely touching when donors such as yourselves help to fund these projects. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help!!
My percussionists were so excited to see the new cymbals and stands for our drum set. Playing the drum set is reserved for the older 5th grade students but I had both 4th and 5th grade percussionists work together to unpack the cymbals and assemble them into the set. The 4th graders were awe as the 5th graders tried out the new equipment. I know they are very inspired now to keep working on their fundamentals so that they, too, will be able to play the set next year. In our first jazz band rehearsal with the ride cymbal, the other members of the band were very impressed by the new, bigger ride cymbal and when our drummer began his swing beat, they all cheered with excitement!
It may seem like a small thing, but new equipment fills these kids with respect and excitement to keep working hard on the music. Thank you so much for your continued support of education and our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 9 other donors.Music Fuels The Soul, More Healthy Snacks Fuel The Musician
Funded Jan 18, 2018Thank you so very, very much for funding this project! I try very hard to always have healthy snacks available to my students and the contributions from DonorsChoose.org donors help with that immensely. This is not the first snack project that I've done and I hope to do more as these snacks make a big difference for my students.
While I typically hand out these snacks to my band students during our before and after-school rehearsals, I found myself grateful for the snack supply when recently a kindergarten student was unable to focus in music class. She complained repeated of a stomach ache and after a bit of questioning, I determined she had not eaten breakfast. With lunch still several periods away I was happy to offer her a Nutri-Grain bar which she immediately ate. I hope my students always know that the band room will provide food for anyone that needs it!
Thank you so much for your support of education, of music, and of our students' health and nutrition. We are all very grateful.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by The Clorox Company and 5 other donors.Quill You Help Us Keep Our Room Clean?
Funded Dec 5, 2017It always surprises me how much students love to clean! But boy I am grateful that they do. And I'm grateful for wonderful people like yourselves who contributed to this project to bring additional cleaning supplies into our band room!
With our new large room, we have new floors, new lights, and a new carpet. This allowed us to bring in a brand new keyboard lab for our Core Music classes and new stools and stands for our band. There is a lot to take care off! As part of a citizenship initiative, my band students sign up to help clean and take care of this new equipment. In return, they earn "Band Bucks" that they can later spend on music supplies from our band store. Having these new cleaning supplies that are safe for kids now allows them to be able to sweep our new floors and disinfect our headphones for the keyboards and shared instruments. At this time of the year, we want to stay away from germs! The extra tissues are a big help with that, too!
Thank you so much for contributing not just to cleaning supplies, but to teaching our students responsibility and cleanliness!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 11 other donors.Building Our Music Library
Funded Oct 22, 2017Thank you so very much for your support and donation in building our little music library! I'm so excited to be able to offer books about music to my students. And they have had a lot of fun reading them!
Some of these books we will use in class as part of our lesson. I just completed a unit entitled "Introduction to the Orchestra" that was kicked off with the reading of the hilarious book Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo by John Lithgow. This book was part of this project and I was thrilled to be able to use it.
With the addition of the headphones and CD players, the library corner can now function as a center or just a quiet time for students to read the books and listen to the accompanying music.
Finally, my program services students Kindergarten-5th grade and this project really allowed me to add in some books for the older students including the biographies of Duke Ellington and the classical composer reference book.
Reading is so important- in any school subject! Thank you for supporting reading in music!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 23 other donors.Band Bucks for Band Incentives
Funded Sep 20, 2017Thank you so very much for contributing to this new initiative we've started in the band room! My students are hard at work earning "Band Bucks" through extra practice, good behavior, and by working band jobs such as music librarian and stage crew. They were so excited when I officially opened the "Band Store" where they can trade in their hard-earned "Band Bucks" for the items in this project. Most popular so far have been the saxophone neckstraps and instrument stands. Now my students are taking control of their musicianship by working hard to earn items that will help them along their musical path.
It's always quite humbling to be supported and appreciated by friends I've ever met. Thank you so much for your support of my band program and our leaders of tomorrow!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 25 other donors.Teaching Tolerance Through Teamwork & Tunes
Funded Aug 29, 2017Thank you so very much for your support in this project! It is a wonderful thing to be able to help a student grow into their potential. It is even more beautiful when that growth is aided by wonderful donors such as yourselves. Thank you for supporting my students!
My band students were so excited to see their section's band bucket! Everything they need is now organized in that bucket and they are responsible for keeping it that way. The students are really taking ownership as they realize that when they need a reed or valve oil, they don't need to ask me, they can just go get it themselves. We have recently elected section leaders for each section and those students are in charge of the band bucket. It is their duty to help the others in the section be prepared and organized for each rehearsal. And the students love this! I frequently see them getting supplies for each other or writing in each other's binders in the dry erase markers. I feel the band is becoming more of a team and these supplies have really helped that endeavor.
Music can be a very competitive world; I am striving to create a supportive environment where we all help and enjoy each other's small victories. These band buckets may seem small, but they are a big part of creating that environment. Thank you very, very much for funding this project and helping to create this caring environment!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 42 other donors.Sound Off For Great Sounds: Reeds!
Funded Aug 12, 2017What a wonderful thing, to be able to make a better sound on your instrument just by upgrading the reed! My students were shocked to hear the difference and were thrilled to be sounding even better than they already did. Thank you so very much for helping my students experience this.
At first, my students were confused by the introduction of these new Vandoren reeds. But this gave me an excellent opportunity to review how the reed actually works on the instruments and why some reeds, like these Vandoren reeds, are better quality than what the school is able to provide. The students now have a better understanding of how sound is produced on their instrument and are getting into the "hardware" side of being a musician. Combined with the higher quality mouthpieces that were funded in a previous project, of which many of you also contributed to, these 4th and 5th graders sound amazing!
I would not have been able to give them this opportunity if not for your kindness and support. Thank you so very much for helping us. You are truly making a difference in these young students' lives, not only musically, but by demonstrating the immense impact of kindness.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 59 other donors.Sound Off For Great Sounds: Saxophones!
Funded May 12, 2017My saxophone students were so excited when I told them they were getting brand new mouthpieces and ligatures! These Rovner ligatures look very different than their beginner mouthpieces and my students were very impressed!
While they just think these mouthpieces are cool, I can already hear a wonderful change in their sound. It's bigger, darker, and much more mature sounding than the basic student model mouthpieces. They are now the strongest section in the band! Hearing themselves sound good will only booster their confidence in playing and give them more incentive to practice more so that they can sound even better.
Thank you so much for providing this opportunity for them. I know their families would not have been able to get these mouthpieces on their own. Thank you for helping them and supporting our students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by H&M and 18 other donors.Sound Off For Great Sounds: Clarinets Part 1!
Funded May 24, 2017Learning to play clarinet is a monumental task! But thanks to your incredible support in funding this project, it just got a little easier. My students were so excited when I handed them the new mouthpieces with the "fancy" ligatures! And their excitement only grew when they heard with their first note how much better they sounded thanks to those mouthpieces. Practicing is so much easier when you sound good, and now thanks to you, these kids sound GREAT!
These mouthpieces would never have been accessible to these Title I students had I asked them to go purchase them on their own. It is heartwarming to have complete strangers help level the playing field, so to speak, by providing them with quality equipment. From the bottom of our musical hearts, we thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Perez
This classroom project was brought to life by H&M and 11 other donors.