Past projects 5
Sitting in Style While Supported and Stable
Funded Feb 13, 2025As an Early Childhood team we are ever so grateful for your kindness and generosity. You donation will help my students be able to sit more comfortable and stable during classroom activities with out the worry of losing balance or tumbling. This is going to help them focus more on small group table tasks and activities. Thank you again so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Herb Kohl Philanthropies.Swing, Slide, Climb and Crash into Early Childhood
Funded Feb 12, 2025Thank you so much for helping support my early childhood students growth and development. Your generous gift will enable my young students to learn to regulate their bodies while having fun moving about in the classroom, especially through the winter months. I cannot express how much this means to us!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares.Bringing Stories to Life in Early Childhood
Funded Sep 11, 2023I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your donation to my "Bringing Stories to Life in Early Childhood." With your donation, my students have been able to engage in Stories in a way many had never before. As you know, all of my students have language and/or other delays/disabilities. Since arriving the materials from this project have been used by myself and my students each and every day. Not only are my studenta engaging our "Circle Time" at a deeper level, but they are also choosing to use their materials during their choice play. My heart melts as I watch my students manipulate the pieces as they retell Stories and make up their own while building their receptive and expressive language. Please enjoy the photos of these materials being put to use in my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and one other donor.Flexible Seating for Optimal Learning in 4K Classroom
Funded Mar 26, 2019Thank you so much for your generous donations towards our Flexible Seating in our 4K Classroom. The wobble cushions and kick bands have made it possible for our active students to get out their wiggles while still being able to focus and pay attention to what is going on with the rest of the class. They are fun colors and textures yet they have not been distracting to peers. The stools have helped our student to maintain a straighter and stronger core posture while listening stories, doing puzzles, and other activities at our small tables. Lastly, the wobble seats have also helped our students work out their wiggles while attending to small group activities at the tables, and support their core muscle strength as well.
Overall the students have learned out to use these tools appropriately, and how to be able support their own focus and learning. Within a few weeks many have even been able to request their seating options based upon what they feel their own little bodies need to regulate. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to develop this project and have it fully funded. I hope you enjoy the picture and seeing these funds in action!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
Tell Me a Story and I Will Listen
Funded Jan 30, 2018My 4K students and I love to read books each and every day! Our curriculum has weekly themes in which we focus our stories, lessons, and other learning activities around. During our morning meetings I read my students whole class a book that relating to the big topics of our theme. I use this time as an opportunity to build in age appropriate reading strategies including: activating students previous knowledge, predicting text using clues from what was previously read as well as from the the pictures, questioning through out the reading to check for comprehension and, helping students make connections to the texts. When I am reading aloud to my class I also take the time to demonstrate reading with fluency and expression to help my students to better visualize what is happening in the stories that I am reading. Some times, I will also play stories on CD in our whole group to model how to hold the book, turn the pages, and give my students the chance to hear a story in another vocal perspective. Through these read aloud lessons I know that I am only increasing my students passion for reading.
Another aspect of my reading instruction is found within my Daily 5 Literacy Rotations rotations. Each week my students will visit a "Listen to Reading" station. At this station students sit around a table, each with a story book relating to our theme, a set of headphones, and a cd player. Students quietly listen as the story is being read to them. At this station students are exposed to variety of text genres, they can hear stories from different vocal perspectives, learn a variety of new vocabulary, follow along to the text, and study the illustrations as the text is being read to them. Lastly, they can share in the joy of listening to a story with a group of their peers. In the beginning my students are taught and modeled how to learn in the station but within a few weeks they are fully independent in utilizing this station successfully.
I often teach a few stories throughout the week with a flannel boards, story strips, or story props. I review the stories over and over again to support my students in retelling the stories we have read. There are great benefits in using these props to support my visual learners. I encourage them to use these during choice time as well.
Within my classroom, I have a book shelf filled with themed books both in fiction and non-fiction, as well as well look and find books. My students have full access to these books, flannel board stories, story strips and props, etc. during their free choice play times. It brings me great joy when my students request to read books or retell stories to one another during play time. I can see their passion building every moment they pick up a book!
I began this school year with a small selection of classroom books an outdated CD player that was not functional as a listening center. This project has enabled my students to quietly listen to a variety of books within our literacy rotations, as well as independently during play time with out the sounds of the storyteller on the CD player overwhelming the classroom and the other students learning. My students are overjoyed with the variety of stories that they have been able to hear in the short time that our project has been funded. I am so appreciative of all of those who have helped make this project get funded and come to life!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 12 other donors.