Past projects 12
New STEM Materials for Our Makerspace!
Funded Nov 8, 2023Your generosity is truly making a difference in the lives of my students. This project will benefit every student in our school. Thank you for supporting this project.
I know that some of you are parents, whose own children will benefit from the Makerspace for years to come. Thank you. Others are friends, former teachers, colleagues, and community members who support our local public schools without having children who attend our school. Thank you. I appreciate each and every one of you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors & Young Sheldon on CBS and 10 other donors.Expanding the Extending Learning Classroom-Part 2
Funded Apr 13, 2023I am so thankful that you chose to donate to the Extended Learning classroom at Lena Whitmore Elementary. My new classroom is almost twice as big as my space last year, and you'd never guess that it used to be a computer lab!
This project has allowed all of my students to have wobble stools as an alternative to a traditional chair. It helped with the organizational materials for the new classroom so that supplies can be easily accessed and put away.
Our 3D-printing filament is restocked for this year's students to work with, and the additional spatial-awareness games will challenge my math-lab groups this fall. Thank you for your support. My job is challenging, but thanks to your generosity, procuring materials does not need to be one of those challenges.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Expanding the Extended Learning Classroom
Funded Apr 4, 2023My students are loving our new classroom space! They were so excited to have our classes up and running, and each and everyone of them commented on the new classroom.
Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to turn the old computer lab into an interactive learning space! I have filing cabinets for all of my lesson plans, storage cabinets for our resources and a teacher desk!
The space is organized and efficient, which allows my students to focus on the challenging learning activities at hand. It also allows me to quickly access the materials I need for my 10 different classes!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Wolverines Love to Build!
Funded Feb 27, 2019Thank you so much for adding new building materials to our Lena Whitmore Makerspace. This Donors Choose project was especially invigorating to our lunchtime building & exploring adventures. Students in every grade have enjoyed working with the newest additions.
The Lincoln Logs in particular have become a new school favorite---one that we now have available every day (rather than rotating in and out). Students have built cabins, houses, bridges and towns of all shapes and sizes. Recently our 5th grade group has begun exploring how they can use these tools to build "body armor" and other "wearable" items.
Similarly, the Tinkertoys and Creative Kid Flakes have unleashed a new creative wave of building. Students are building structures of all shapes and sizes including: towers, bridges, houses, windmills, and even a 3/4 sized skateboard with working wheels!
It has been so much fun to observe our Kindergarten-5th grade students in this open-ended, student-centered environment. Thank you for helping to add even more joy for our students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Physics Meets Sphero Robots
Funded Apr 19, 2018The Sphero accessories that you helped bring to our classroom have opened up a whole new world of possibilities with what we can do with our Sphero robots. Now we can *literally* take our programming challenges to a whole level by traveling up ramps and across terrain parks.
My students especially love the chariots, and have enjoyed building intricate Lego adaptations to race their figures across the classroom. We've also explored how the additional weight of the chariot (and added pieces) change the dynamics of operating the Spheros.
The protective covers have been especially important to the longevity of our Spheros and have allowed us to travel outside of our carpeted room into the tile hallways of our school. They have has also opened up the possibilities of expanding our engineering design challenges to test how velocity, acceleration and the friction change under different flooring conditions.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Building It So That They Can Build
Funded Dec 15, 2017Your contributions to our LEGO wall have literally transformed our school! I can't tell you how excited our students and staff were to see the wall in our library after their return from the winter break. The excitement was palatable! When our LEGOs arrived, students happily helped sort them into containers based on their colors....and then the building began! Our students are excited to have an opportunity to showcase their creative talents, and absolutely *love* to build! Each day of the week is set aside for a different grade level to build, and our waiting list is often 2-weeks out. The wall changes every single day! Our local newspaper recently covered our wall, and the story ended up on the front page! Today was the first time that we cleared off the wall, after students had built for 3 weeks. Our students are cataloging their creations on our "Epic" LEGO wall blog. If you'd like to follow along & see what they've made go to: https://blog.seesaw.me/lenasepiclegowall I can't thank you enough for your contributions to this project. This project will impact students for years to come! Thank you so much for making a difference for our students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Cultivating Creativity
Funded Feb 3, 2017My students absolutely loved this project! Thank you for providing the funding that purchased the materials to make my dream a reality. Because of the "Cultivating Creativity" project on Donors Choose, I was able to bring the Matisse Cut-outs project and Xu Bing investigations to 5 classes in two schools.
Each of my classes were able to learn about Henri Matisse's life through the book "The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse". We immersed ourselves in the "Cut-out" period of his work through the colorful prints and book titled "Henri's Scissors".
My first graders went on to study these cut-out posters in detail and then created their own cut-out series inspired paper collages. My second grade classes studied Matisse's piece titled "Beasts of the Sea" and then made paper collages inspired by this work. My third graders completed a project called "Roll-a-Matisse" in which they rolled a die, which then determined the background, foreground, and accent pieces that they were to cut out of paper. My third grade class also took time to investigate a particular cut-out titled "The Sheaf". This massive installation inspired the work of their 3-D sculptures which they made using balloons as a form, tissue paper shapes and Mod Podge. This messy project became a delightful surprise as the balloons warped and changed over the week. Many still hang in our classroom today.
Each class also learned about the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence stained glass through the book titled, "Matisse: King of Color". Following the story and a short film, they created their own stained-glass windows from construction paper and tissue paper.
With the materials from this project we also created our own New English Calligraphy pieces inspired by the work of Chinese artist Xu Bing, built 3D sculptures with Legos and other craft supplies, and continually challenged our ideas of what creativity is all about.
Thank you once again for bringing these engaging projects to life!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Robotics Programming for All
Funded Dec 12, 2016I am so very thankful that I was able to expand my robotics unit to both of my schools. This project allowed me to reach an additional 22 students (54 in total), who were over-the-moon excited about programming robots! I hope that you can see the energy and delight on my students' faces in the photos!
My students had authentic problem-solving experiences as they completed a variety of tasks and challenges with the Dash robots. These robots provided an opportunity for students to practice their critical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning skills. They also demonstrated collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination. One of their favorite challenges was when they designed and then constructed mazes in which they later programmed the robots to navigate through. All of my students loved working through the challenges in Wonder Workshop apps.
These robots will be used year-after-year in an ongoing computer programming/robotics unit for students in K-3. Thank you all for making my dream a reality!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Wiggle, Wobble, and Learn!
Funded Nov 30, 2016My students absolutely LOVE the two new active learning stools that were purchased through my project, Wiggle, Wobble and Learn! Thank you so much for your contribution towards this project. Unlike some similar stools, the Learniture stools provide the movement that students need, while remaining stable enough for students to feel safe.
98% of my students want to use the stools--unlike some of the other flexible seating options we have....with only one student in 46 opting out, these stools are in high demand! The best part about having this project funded is that now EVERY student who would like to have an "alternative" seating option is able to do so!
This wouldn't be the case if it weren't for you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner
Ready! Set! Code!
Funded Sep 26, 2016I want to thank each and every one of you who helped support my project, Ready! Set! Code! Our new robots have been a huge success in our classroom!
My first graders have been exploring robotics with two adorable mice named Colby and Jack. They have learned to create 20+ step directions for the mice to negotiate a variety of maze challenges. Working in groups of three, there has been a noticeable increase in their communication and collaboration skills as well. These students are able to break down multi-step problems, and think analytically about the best way to solve the task at hand.
My second and third grade classes have been working with robots we named Dash and Dot and Splash and Spot. (We were also lucky enough to borrow Bash and Bot from a student's family.) These students have learned to use 4 different apps on the iPad to control the robots. They are currently working through a series of challenges using a form of programming called "Blockly". One of their most recent challenges had them creating a program to "train" Dash to perform 5 different pet tricks over 5 challenges. This included creating cues for the robot (push top button, an obstacle in front, hear a voice, hear clapping) and then programming the response (look left, right,up and down, turn 45 degrees left or right, make a specific sound).
My students are completely engaged with every robotics lesson I have presented. Thank you for your generous donations that have made robotics a reality in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Weesner