Past projects 70
Helping to Create Healthy Tech Boundaries
Funded Nov 27, 2023My librarian collaboration group and I have been working together to pair up these read alouds with the lessons within our curriculum. Thank you for providing these extensions that will continue to create wonderful conversations about being safe and respectful online.
First graders listened to the book Unplugged by Steve Antony then discussed all of the things they can do that doesn't involve technology. I was please to hear all of their great suggestions! Kindergarteners have listened to the book If You Give a Mouse an iPhone by Ann Droid. They loved the funny plot and really took to heart that if they are constantly attached to a screen that they are missing out on other great things in life. Both of these read alouds enhanced our curricular lessons about Media Balance.
Further discussions with my librarian collaboration group will continue as we plug in the rest of the books into our 3rd and 4th quarter lessons!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
Mock Caldecott 2024: Analyzing Picture Book Art
Funded Nov 28, 2023Students are voting this week on the book they think deserves this year's Caldecott Medal! They have loved listening to two or three books each time they come into library. Some of their favorites thus far are Big, Evergreen, and Jumper, based on their interactions during our read alouds. Thank you for providing great new literature for our students to explore! It was such fun exploring these illustrators and their different art techniques! After reading In the Night Garden, students even got hands on experience with cut paper collage and created their own masterpieces using the technique of illustrator Carin Berger.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 3 other donors.Next Book, Please!
Funded Sep 27, 2023These books have been in the library system for a few weeks now and they are always flying off the shelves! One third grade teacher is reading the Wild Robot aloud to her class right now, and her students noticed that it is a series (book three purchased with this project) and CANNOT wait to read it! The Mo books by David Adler are never on the shelf -- the second graders are devouring them! Thank you for helping to provide such rich reading experiences for my students! Without you there wouldn't be the same level of excitement for brand new books!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
New Year, New Books to Build Community
Funded Aug 15, 2023It was so much fun starting the year with these new books! One kindergarten teacher used Mr. S as one of her first read alouds. In that book the kindergarteners think their teacher is a sandwich. So many fun giggles happened while looking at the illustrations and reading that book. Another teacher read the Worry Balloon to a small group of students that were feeling a bit anxious at the beginning of the year. It was the perfect segue to talking about our feelings with the adults we trust at school! In the library we used the book Hidden Gem to learn about how unique and special we are. We then went on a scavenger hunt to find the hidden gems in our library while practicing our library rule of using walking feet.
Stories like these happened for each of the books in this project. Thank you so much for providing new resources to use at the beginning of the year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
This classroom project was brought to life by The SONIC Foundation and 4 other donors.Help These Books Find Their Readers!
Funded Mar 30, 2023These books are flying off the shelves this fall as students get back into the swing of library routines! Thank you for providing great new books to get kids hooked on reading. The books on display, of course, have been the ones being checked out the quickest, so we are always rotating those throughout the weeks. However, kids are really listening to the book talks during lessons and using their library skills to find some of them on the shelves! Win-win!
Projects like this one are so important to our school as it supplements our school's library budget and really gets the books that kids want into their hands. Many do not have access to a bookstore, or means to purchase their own books. This project ensures that they get as much out of their library experience as possible!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 3 other donors.Prairie Please 2023
Funded Mar 12, 2023Wow! For years this community has supplied our school with the Prairie Bud and Prairie Bloom books so that my students can participate in the statewide reading challenge. The books have their fresh labels printed and are getting covered with library jacket coverings as we speak.
Come late fall, students will begin hearing these books as read alouds during library lessons. Second and third graders will apply their learning about genres to categorize which genre each book is. Kindergarteners and first graders will have an interactive activity with each of their read alouds.
This project would not be possible without your support. Thank you for continuing to believe in my students and in our library program!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
Makerspace Makes Learning Fun
Funded Apr 19, 2023Thank you for helping this LEGO wall come to life! Through a previous Donors Choose project, our library had the legos. Through this one we got all of the necessity to create a wall mounted LEGO corner! Sadly, it was not installed until the last day of school so I will not know the full impact of this project until the fall, but I know with a little bit of signage and a challenge posted to the wall, students will be so excited to try it out when they return to our space in the fall! Thank you for helping this dream come true for my students and me!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
Mock Caldecott 2022 -- Analyzing Picture Book Illustrations
Funded Dec 14, 2022This Mock Caldecott project was one of my most favorite projects created on DonorsChoose! I ended up implementing this project with all of my kindergarteners, first graders, second graders, and third graders. We learned about the Caldecott Medal and how it is given to one book each year for the best illustrations. Students then got to experience all of the books in this project as they analyzed the illustrations while listening to the stories. Our final vote happened at the end of January, right before the big ALA reveal. My students' favorite book was The Knight Owl by Christopher Denise, followed closely by Hot Dog by Doug Salati. Hot Dog ended up getting the actual 2023 Caldecott Award and Knight Owl got a Caldecott Honor -- so our illustration analysis was pretty spot on! Thank you for providing this opportunity for my students to immerse themselves in new children's literature!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
Interactive Biographies: Let's Build with LEGO!
Funded Oct 28, 2022My students had so much fun working with legos on their biography unit! Students paired themselves up, chose a biography to read together, then took notes on the most important parts of their famous person's life. Then, working together, students built the most important event or thing that represented the most important part. We ended up extending the unit because their creativity was through the roof! Thank you for providing my students with this opportunity to express what they had learned about important people in history!
What's even better: I can use these materials to implement other projects in other grades as well. Many students asked when they get to use the LEGOs!
Thank you for providing the supplies that are truly engaging my students in learning!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
This classroom project was brought to life by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and 7 other donors.Let's Read the Year Off Strong!
Funded Nov 29, 2022This is one of the fastest projects I have written, had funded, and gotten out to students! Thank you for supporting my students as they continue their reading journeys! As I was reflecting on this project I realized just how many titles were requested by BOYS! These books appeal to all kids, but I am so excited to see how the boys are seeing themselves as readers and wanting to dive deeper into their reading lives! One boy saw the post it note with his name on it with the newest two books in the Flubby the Cat series and did an audible "YES!" with a fist pump! He couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
Thank you for continuing to believe in my students and the power of reading!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Radway
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 6 other donors.