Past projects 264
We Want to Write and Perform in a Play and Make Movies Too!
Funded Oct 31, 2014Thank you for the fantastic resources we received to help us have a great play and amazing cut paper animation movies. My students are loving working on adapting the book, The One and Only Ivan, into our play. So far we have written all the scenes and I cast the play. You can see pictures of my students rehearsing for the auditions of the play and writing scenes. What has made this book so interesting is that is the quiet thoughts of a gorilla, so my students have had to think about what is going on in different scenes and turn it into dialogue for our play. The costumes we received are fantastic, and we can't wait to use them when we perform the play for parents and the students at our school in late May.
In the story, the baby elephant and the gorilla are transferred from a small cage in a mall to a zoo. Although this is a happy ending for them, it provides an opportunity for the class to discuss the pros and cons of animals living in a zoo. The students also researched why poachers are killing gorillas and elephants in Africa, because that is what happens to the parents of the gorilla and elephant in our story.
What I love about transforming our book into a play is that this is what project-based learning is all about. It's not about a teacher creating a project our of nowhere for students to focus on and learn about. It's having students work on a play from a book they adore. It's a genuine interest in understanding about the problem of poachers that causes the students to do some research. They want to understand, and we want to use that understanding to add some dialogue for our play.
Right now I am also having my students work on making initial designs for the backdrops. We use the photography backdrops I requested to create backdrops for the play. There are some important billboards in the play, and I have been teaching the students about what are the 2D elements in the design of a billboard. Only one student used color in his initial design, so last night's homework was to revise their initial billboard design and this time use color. We also discussed about lettering, not using too many words, and not copying the illustration in the book.
For each billboard designed, I am having my students turn in their illustrations without their name on them. That way we can discuss which illustration works best as a billboard. I can teach high level 2D design this way, and the students will progressively grow in their understanding as they revise and create 2 more billboards that occur in the book. Where did I learn this idea and skills? In my college 2D class. However, because of this project, this is one of the first times in my teaching career that I have been able to teach these skills to fifth grade students.
The LilySarahGrace Fund understands the concept of integrating art into academic studies. By tying art into our play and movies, my students are deeply engrossed in these projects. They are excited about writing their own play. Now that the play has been cast and everyone knows their role in the play, my students are adding more dialogue - their own dialogue for the play! How exciting for a student to become the character so they can better write some more dialogue for them to perform.
For our cut paper animated movies, the students wrote short stories tied into our Social Studies curriculum. We have some Boston Tea Party films being made, some about slavery, etc. The students are currently doing a rough recording of their scripts so they can see how many shots they need to design for each scene.
The markers and art supplies are being used for the cut paper animated films. The paint will be used to make the backdrops and color our African masks. Thank you for being a special part of our exciting, creative year! Your generosity enables me to let my students' minds expand. Having the resources available means the world to me!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Lily Sarah Grace Fund and 5 other donors.We Love Our Body Sox So Much That Our Dancers Want More!
Funded Dec 23, 2014Stepping into a Body Sox costume and dancing with friends in Body Sox costumes is what my 19 boys and 8 girls ALL want to do. Because of your generosity and kindness, we now have 9 Body Sox costumes. I have never heard my students squeal with delight as they do whenever I let them practice dance steps with the Body Sox. They think wearing these and choreographing a dance routine is so much fun. I think it is great because out of this fun will come a fantastic performance that we will include in our upcoming play. We plan to have a circus scene in the play, so the Body Sox dance routine will look fantastic in our circus! Thank you so much. Who knew that 10 and 11 year old students would love to dance wearing Body Sox?”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 20 other donors.We will Stretch, Bend, and Dance in our Play with Body Sox!
Funded Dec 9, 2014Body Sox are the rage in my class. 19 boys and 8 girls ALL want to work on dance steps that they can do wearing Body Sox. Because of your generosity and kindness, we now have 9 Body Sox costumes. I have never heard my students squeal with delight as they do whenever I let them practice dance steps with the Body Sox. They think wearing these and choreographing a dance routine is so much fun. I think it is great because out of this fun will come a fantastic performance that we will include in our upcoming play. We plan to have a circus scene in the play, so the Body Sox dance routine will look fantastic in our circus! Thank you so much. Who knew that 10 and 11 year old students would love to dance wearing Body Sox?”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 9 other donors.The One and Only Ivan-Books for Us to Transform Into a Play!
Funded Sep 26, 2014Thank you so much for donating to our "One and Only Ivan" project. My students began writing our script for a classroom play of the book. They were so excited about all the different scenes to include in our play. I stressed how they can add dialogue that is not in the story, and each team of students worked to write a portion of the play. Next week we will have auditions, and then begin painting backdrops and preparing for the play. Without your generous help, we would not have a class set of the book to refer to. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 15 other donors.We Want to Visit Our Local River and Test the Water!
Funded Sep 15, 2014Thank you so much for donating to our field trip to the local river near our school. My students learned hands-on how important it is to protect our local watershed from trash and pollution. They saw cranes and other beautiful birds near the river. They were treated to a wonderful presentation by an environmental landscape architect, and saw new ways our city is changing the drainage so less pollution enters the river.
During the field trip, I collected water samples of the river water and the students worked with a classroom partner to test the river water's Ph, oxygen level, turbidity, coliform bacteria, BOD, and phosphates to see if organisms could live in the river water.
My students also were inspired to create pollution extraction devices! They reported their findings on the river water and pollution extraction devices at a Kid's Conference. All of this knowledge would not have occurred without your generous donation to our field trip. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
Toner and DVD Cases Help My Creative Students Get Published!
Funded Jan 20, 2015So many people helped get this project funded! Thank you for your support and friendship. Thank you especially to Quill for sponsoring this project. The timing of getting the resources could not be better because 50% of my students gave me their state projects on flash drives this Tuesday. I have offered to print their ABC State books on the special publishing paper from StudenTreasures. Because of your generosity, I now have the toner and ink cartridges to print their books. StudenTreasures has generously offered to bind our State ABC books for free!
I love being able to be generous to my students and provide the toner for them so they can become published authors. Many of my students are also writing a creative story that will be published too. Because of your help, my students will have published books to look at for years and years.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com FY15 and 45 other donors.Makey Makey Kits for Fifth Grade Inventors Will Transform Us
Funded Dec 28, 2014We love our Makey Makey kits, and my students are all wanting to try various configurations with them. Thank you so much! What an amazing additions to our Inventors Unit. So far my students have turned one of the students into a keyboard that played the drums, a stuffed animal into a keyboard that played Mindcraft, a box was turned into a piano keyboard, and that's only from the first few hours of play - during lunch, because they just couldn't stop exploring!
We are so pleased to support inventors by having DonorsChoose purchase the resources from this project directly from the 2 MIT students who invented Makey Makey. What will my students invent? The world awaits excitement, exploration, and creativity. Full STEAM ahead! We could not have received these resources without your generous help. Thank you! Thank you Disney for matching our donations - it really makes a difference in getting our projects funded.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 37 other donors.Learning About Our Past With The You Wouldn't Want to Series
Funded May 27, 2014Thank you for your support in donating to this project. My students do not generally gravitate to non-fiction text, but these books are fun and informative too. My students love to come up to me while they are reading the books to explain new and interesting facts they have learned. Your help in getting this project funded means that this year and in future years, my fifth grade students will learn how to cite evidence and discover interesting facts about our past by reading these books. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
Number the Stars will Help us Learn About the Holocaust
Funded Jul 27, 2014During conference week, I was able to review the comprehension scores for my students, and there were a number of students who aced their Number the Stars comprehension tests. I asked those students if they enjoyed the book, and they all nodded vigorously.
This project was funded 50% by a foundation that wants students nationwide to learn about the Holocaust. This is a very difficult subject to teach 10 and 11 year old students.
I selected the book, Number the Stars, because I remember being riveted when my daughter and I listened to the audiobook a few years ago. What a fantastic way to teach the students that families and communities can come together to help a family in need.
This class set of books will be used annually. Thank you so much for your help in bringing the project to full funding so my students can learn history through literature.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman
This classroom project was brought to life by The Leo and Libby Nevas Family Foundation and 20 other donors.E-Books on the States, Native Americans and Slavery - Part 2
Funded Oct 22, 2014Thank you so much for your help in funding Part 2 of our eBook project. I love that my students can use the books by going online either in our classroom or at home. I couldn't have even considered this great project if Encyclopedia Britannica hadn't of dropped the price of all of their eBooks by 50%. We can all look at the same book during class or at the computer lab because Encyclopedia Britannica generously changed all of my orders from single subscription to unlimited subscription! I am going to have my students practicing their compare and contrast skills be comparing one state they are researching with our home state. Learning to write key words that help you contrast two different states is a great and important writing skill.
Why are eBooks so enticing for my class to use? Because they emulate the Common Core State testing where my students will have to read non-fiction texts and pull information out of the text in order to write either a narrative or an expository essay based on what they learned. Now a can teach a whole class lesson on the Pilgrims next week, and all of my students can read the same text online and learn how to find the essence of the information so they can cite evidence and write about it.
This sounds pretty elaborate for the fifth grade curriculum, but this is now what is expected from my students. Because of your generosity, my students will love learning online and practice developing their online reading and writing skills too.
I couldn't have funded this project without your generous help. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kugelman