Past projects 10
Essential Supplies
Funded Apr 9, 2025Thank you so much for your support. The supplies will be used in our classroom to bring up academics with the students. The students will have a great time using the workbooks and other supplies in the classroom. Your support in our educational needs was greatly needed and Thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and one other donor.Hear Ye! Hear Ye! I Can Hear My Computer!
Funded Oct 22, 2021"I can hear now, I got my headphones on. It's going to be a quiet working day."
This is how the students felt when I delivered headphones to them. The confusion level went down and classroom productivity went up. Students enjoy doing different apps on their computer such as I-Ready, Zearn, and Splash math, yet it's confusing and distracting when you're sitting next to someone who's on a different app. The impact the headphones have had helps with this.
Now students are more productive with headphones on. Scores have accelerated in our standard base testing due to headphones and no distractions away from testing.
Thank you for donating to our classroom, it has been accepted and we are grateful.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 3 other donors.Adventures in Reading!
Funded Oct 21, 2021Thank you for your generous gift. Through your support, the children are making gains in reading.
The impact of books arriving at the school has made a positive change toward reading. Students are now reading grade-level books cover to cover, Many students enjoyed reading in groups with their books, juice, and pretzels. Some even share their Adventure in Reading book with classmates. Your generous support encourages our 1st Grade Team of students to commit to reaching reading goals.
Please accept our thanks for your kindness and generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 4 other donors.TIS' the Virtual Learning Season
Funded Dec 18, 2020The world has changed on us. The students are home virtually learning and have little to no supplies that help with hands-on learning. The impact of having magnetic alphabet letters was phenomenal. Students, as well as parents, enjoyed being able to touch the letters and make words on a cookie sheet.
The first time we used the letters, students worked with the -at word family. The ease of placing a letter in front of the word family excited the students and they made many interesting words. Afterward, students use colored pencils and a journal to illustrate one of the words and write a simple sentence. After a hard day of making words, a little snack is truly enjoyed.
These materials are going to be continued use in small group assignments where students do letter sounds and word family assignments.
Thank you very much for bringing hands-on learning to the new virtual world.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 6 other donors.Clearly Heard Virtual Learning
Funded Dec 29, 2020During this pandemic, we are forced to communicate through technology. My students are very young and easily distracted by noise. The use of headphones was a great idea. It blocked out unwanted sounds and students completely heard me.
Students received the headphones from our mischief Elf on the shelf gift bag for Christmas. They enjoy the colors and how they can twist and turn without breaking. When we returned each student had their headphones on and was ready to learn. One boy told me how super the headphones were because they not only worked on the computer but also his new cell phone. Each student was happy not to have to share in a classroom and was able to keep them. Productivity and response quality increased 75% in the virtual classroom.
For me the most exciting thing was that now I could hear the students clearly. The mic was located on the string right under their little chin. Students volunteered more to answer questions. We are very thankful for the opportunity to try headphones with virtual teaching.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Bartush Family Foundation and 7 other donors.An Awesome Answer to Where Is Your Homework?
Funded Oct 24, 2019My students have become more responsible and engaged with this project. They love the personal binders that made them feel like big boys and girls. Students are taking home assignments and returning them in a timely manner with their binders. The delight they have carrying them proudly down the hallway. If they forget them, they run down the hall to their locker to retrieve them.
Always having a place to keep pencils is the greatest thing. Every day a captain makes sure classmates have two sharpened pencils and an eraser to go home with them each day. Communication with parents using colored paper made life simpler because they knew the colored paper was important. Rewards and stickers are the way to a first grader's heart. Students were so delighted to earn them to bring binder back daily and having parent communication signed.
This project was a success, and I will try to do it every year to help my students to be organized and keep the lines of communication open with parents. Thank you for organizing our first graders this year 2020.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 3 other donors.Moving to 2nd!
Funded Jun 28, 2019Celebrating is the best thing to do in first grade. The end of the year is a sad celebration because everyone is leaving, however, the children love to take home bags of goodies and certificates of achievement. The educational supplies ordered are to beat the summer slide and to improve reading and writing.
Every student upon return came back excited to see and tell me about what they did with the backpack of supplies. Many had real success in reading the sight word flashcards and gain a higher vocabulary. Those with there journals, read sentences to me and showed illustrations of them, thus thriving at education. The backpack kept supplies organized, so also parents were grateful for that too.
The best part is always the snack that is provided at a celebration. Students love to fill their empty tummies with goodies. The children smiled and laughed at the healthy snacks I chose. BoomChickaPop was rated the best snack of all. It still was a lot of trading going on even with my encouragement to try new things. My first graders successfully learned more sight words and wrote more over the summer than usual and enjoyed it.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and one other donor.Testing!! Green, Yellow, and Red!
Funded May 17, 2019I am excited about the technology and supplies that have been donated to my students and we all here at Carstens want to give a thank you for gifting us with such a great opportunity. We have seen such a miraculous impact on our students after receiving the wonderful donations. Since receiving these gifts, the students have been excited about learning and attending class daily.
Once an unbalanced group of students not able to gain essential knowledge has now become an empowered stable group of scholars. Students can now concentrate and develop crucial skills since receiving portable on-ear headphones from quill.com. Students love to be able to work independently with full autonomy; in addition, there has been a great decrease in distractions which has increased their ability to retain information and grow independence. The collection of snacks has given the students a reason to work diligently and focus on various task throughout the school day. Great rainbow star certificates give the students a sense of accountability for their actions and reward them when great work has been accomplished.
We truly appreciate all that has been given to Carstens. Your generous donation has accomplished a great goal in our community, which is making learning fun and stimulating. Students are able to get excited about attending school daily and getting motivated to learn about various subjects. From our loving school to you all, thank you once again.
Warm Regards,”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and one other donor.Classroom Necessities
Funded Dec 31, 2018Wow! Thank you so very much for thinking of us! We are so excited to be stocked up for the remainder of the year with paper, pencils, and all the other classroom necessities! We really appreciate your kindness and generosity!
We are also practicing good hygiene at our "nose blowing" station. The Kleenex and hand sanitizer is keeping us clean and healthy. The paper and folders are helping us keep our homework in order. Thank you again for thinking of us and keeping our room stocked!
With much appreciation from all of us in first grade!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Someone Who Cares and 3 other donors.OWLS Notebook--Improving Parent-Teacher Communication
Funded Aug 24, 2014The Owl Notebook is becoming an overall success in the 1st grade classrooms here at Carsten Elementary/Middle School. Students received the notebook through a "I give a HOOT Activity". During this activity student visited different centers to receive each part of their notebook and learned how to use it properly. Students like their color covered binder with a large owl on it. We have students who get upset when they leave it at home or on the bus. Many student have referred to it as their own pet OWL that they feed work to. In general I think students like it because it something they can call their own.
The OWL notebook is a much easier system as opposed to "one folder". Each section of the notebook is used to organize the student and keep parents aware of student's education. The students put weekly behavior charts and school monthly newsletters in the sheet protectors. I ensure that the pencil case has a pencil, crayons, glue stick and scissors to assist them in completing homework assignments. Each subject has its own colored folder, since our students learn from more than one teacher. Everything in the binder is labeled for quick and easy access. Parents have a section that is used for communication from teacher.
In our classroom students are monitored for success. Using the OWL notebook, student information arrives home intact, keep up with, and returned. Students receive a weekly sight word list that is attached to the green folder. Sight word recognition is at 75%. That means 33 of 45 children recognize and pass the weekly sight word test. A homework return goal is set and monitored with charts. The first semester has 80% of children returning homework. Students are moving forward and now taking on more responsibility. Parents are now aware and informed about their child's education. This binder has impacted me to be organized as well. I'm now ready with information to be sent home because students are ready to feed their owl.
The materials are a success and the first grade class Thanks you for funding our project. We look forward to having more projects through Donors Choose.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Taylor-Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 4 other donors.