Past projects 13
We Can Breathe for Change
Funded Nov 14, 2021The yoga mats you funded have made such a difference in our classroom. We use the mats every morning when students come in. It helps us focus, calm down, and get ready for the day. Every morning students check in on our classroom mood meter, this gives me an indication on where students moods are that morning. Before sharing and checking in on the mood meter we roll out our mats and breathe. We take a few moments to release. The amazing part is that many times if a student comes in and places him or herself on red or blue (angry/sad) they wind up changing to green or yellow (serine/happy) This can make or break the rest of the day. They express to the class how they are feeling in that moment and why they are there now. Usually they will say that sitting on their mat and breathing h changed how they were feeling.
My kindergartners were super excited when they first saw the mats. The teacher next door asked if everything was alright because their screams and excitement was uncontainable. They were so overcome with joy. They absolutely the loved their loud pink mats. They especially loved the cute owl's that decorated the mats. Students wanted to take them home. I managed to convince them that they could better be used in school. However a few students wanted to take them home to show off and promised to bring them back which they did. They were so happy to have somewhere to sit, breathe and meditate.
Shortly after receiving your generous donation we caught wind of a platform called Go Noodle. Our next project is to use and become familiar with their extensive social emotional
breathing and meditating videos, which by the way are absolutely free.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Vargas-Solla
Behind Those Little Masks
Funded Sep 19, 2021"In My Heart, The Color Monster, The Choices I Make, Grumpy Monkey, and When I Feel Frustrated, are just a few of the books my five and six year-old kindergartners love to read as they recline on our new purple child recliner." This pandemic has truly and without a doubt has impacted the smallest of human beings. Many adults have no clue! Small as they are we have had discussions on equality and treating others as we would like to be treated. Their insight and knowledge always takes me by storm. Many of them have referred to BLM as the war that occurred long, long, before they were born. This leads me to believe that something has trigged these emotions and thoughts as they are very aware of the issues that plague our lives today. My children come to school every single day to learn but just like adults everyday will not be a great day. The classroom "Calm Down Area," is not just a place to sit at whenever they want but when they are really struggling or distressed emotionally. I was forced to make this decision because students wanted the purple chair all the time for any reason. We had to make sure that this was a special place, a real place of reflection or a sanctuary if you will. As kindergartners their problems are as big to them as paying the mortgage is to an adult. Perhaps they fought with a sibling that morning or didn't eat breakfast, or another student didn't want to share or someone touched them or looked at them or simply didn't want to be their friend today. This area has made such an impact. Fellow teachers have even asked to use the area with some of their students which makes me proud. It does so because others have seen the results and trust in what Donors like you helped me create in my kindergarten classroom. I know that your generous donation has been life changing.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Vargas-Solla
Leading to Reading Day
Funded Apr 4, 2021I can't begin to explain the joy, the fun and the laughter our Reading Day provided our
children during very trying times. I will begin by saying that it was a nail bitting event
at first. We had two days before our reading day event was to take place and our
donations request had not arrived. Our kiddos were excited and ready to dress up
as their favorite book characters to shop for books. By some miracle the rest of the
books arrived the night before the event was to take place. Early the next morning
myself and other reading day committee members got together to quickly sort and
divide the books. Needless to say it was a HUGE success and everyone felt like it was a normal day despite the PANDEMIC.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Vargas-Solla
Pandemic, You Won't Keep K Away!
Funded Sep 17, 2020I can't begin to thank you from the bottom of my newly repaired heart for your generous donations. In June, I planned and reflected about coming back to my school building in September. I gave a lot of thought to how the new year would be. I would be teaching kindergarten for the first time in a long time. I've mostly taught upper elementary so I was nervous. I was nervous because although I would be leaving the dreaded testing grades I would be jumping into what I believe to be the hardest of all teaching grades. The beautiful children I met over zoom for the first time last June made me want to work even harder because I knew they would be entering kindergarten disadvantaged, masked and six feet apart. Entirely the opposite of the kindergarten curriculum which would entail a whole lot of SOCIALIZATION. This saddened me so I wanted the classroom to have as many centers as possible. I knew that a coding stem science robotic center would be very attractive to my young kindergarteners. I was right! The minute I set the center up everyone wanted to code. Although at the time they had absolutely no idea what coding was. They did learn though, and loved it. Kids went home talking about it for weeks. Believe it or not your donation helped to eased the transition for students, teachers, and parents. So, thank you.
Did I forget to mention that due to my emergency heart surgery in August I didn't actually get to meet and bond with my kiddos in person until December, and the rest is history.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Vargas-Solla
This classroom project was brought to life by Con Edison and 7 other donors.