Past projects 23
Back to School with a Back Table
Funded May 26, 2013Oh...my...goodness!!! This back table is GORGEOUS!!! The quality and SIZE of this table is magnificent! I was able to put ALL 3 computers on this desk! Now it has become this technology center in the classroom. And which Kindergarten student doesn't love to go on the computer!?!? We even have a new Math curriculum in my school where students are able to log in and do additional activities Ondine for Math! My English-Language Learners also have a software program that gathers data from assessments that I can use in my planning!
One of the best parts of having all 3 computers on the back table is that I can use it as a center. Now that I'm able to put 3 children on the computer at the same time, I'm able to have smaller group sizes so I can see more children, more of the time!
Elsa, the opportunities in using this table are endless! I can put the computers back to back and even create a back art center for the future (hopefully there is more time to do that this year!). I can't say how much the students and I love our new back table!!!
Thanks again Elsa, for all of your time, donations, support, and love of learning and education. You are a monumental part of my classroom and my career. Thank you, always!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
I Read, You Read, We ALL Read!
Funded May 26, 2013You guys are SUCH an amazing crew of donors! WOW! We received our books last week and already you've helped make a difference!!! The books we had in the classroom were full of words and pictures, but were lifeless. They lacked color and excitement. With the new books we received, our students have been LOVING to read them and can't put these books down! They are the perfect partner for all of our lessons on the rug, how to point to each word, how to look at the first letter to match the sound/letter to the picture, and all of the rest of the concepts of print! They are PERFECT for emergent readers, especially for these students who have had a lack of exposure to texts and appropriate texts (for that matter).
Our library is now full of books! They kids can't wait to have time to read them throughout the day! It has become a re-occurring question, "When do we get to read, Mrs. Gruffi?" That is the absolute best! Another reason why I went into teaching, is to hear the excitement of students wanting to learn and READ! How can you beat that!!!
The difference you made in this classroom is remarkable. You have changed a room-full of readers into life-long learners. Thank you so much for your donations and your care for our students and room. You are remarkable people and should wake up knowing each day that you have changed the lives of these kids for the better. Thank you!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition
Funded May 27, 2013Hi everyone! This year has been a whirlwind! Such changes and a new group of kids, have made this teacher a VERY busy bee! Thank you so much for all of your well wishes, donations, and contact with our classroom. We are so appreciative of all of your love and support! It has made such an impact on our classroom!
First of all, these students are using these supplies each and everyday! The highlighter tape has been a BIG hit! They have been using it in their Poetry Notebooks and their leveled reading books. It has been such an incentive to find letters that begin the words in the pictures, and for some of the children, to find sight words! Another HUGE hit has been the small and large timers. We have been working on classroom routines and now that we know how to go about the classroom correctly, now its a matter of getting it done FASTER! It's like having mini-races for each period and transition. How fun!
Again, this year has already been a whirlwind, and it has been SO helpful to have all of these supplies! Thank you, thank you, thank you for these supplies!!! You are the BEST!!!
Always,
Mrs. Gruffi”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
Lap Books for Story Time
Funded Jun 21, 2013Hi!!! We are so so excited to have received our Lap Books!!! They are the PERFECT size for instruction! In these first few weeks of school, we've really been diving into learning how to read emergent texts! These stories are so colorful and are PERFECT for these Kindergarteners! One of their favorite stories has been "Funny Things". It's all about what a clown wears, and the pictures in the book are crystal clear. The students cannot put this book down!
I was able to open the books with the students and wow, it was like beginning the year with Christmas!!! One of the most precious times in the classroom is to watch the students read with a partner. They act like they are each others' teachers and tell each other what to do as they read! I have an endless list of possibilities of how to teach into these books and extend their reading of them. Since most of the books have 1-3 lines, we can add lines to the books and grow as readers!
Our classroom is a literacy rich environment! Each and everyday these books give us excitement for reading, and we are so thankful you were able to donate your time and support for us! We are forever changed for the better because of you! THANK YOU!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
iKinder
Funded May 21, 2013Hi everyone!!! In just a few short days, our classroom iPad has made a WORLD of a difference! As you can tell in our pictures, we have been busy bees working independently and with partners on some websites like "Starfall.com" (a classroom favorite). We wouldn't have been able to do this project without your donations, love, and support! Our classroom has changed for the better and will continue to improve throughout the rest of the year. We can't wait to record and publish our Kindergarten Graduation videos and pictures on a slideshow for an end of the year gift! There are endless possibilities that we can do and create with our iPad, and we are forever grateful for this gift to us.
Thank you again for all of your generosity. You are an inspiration to these children and should be proud that you have taught these children an important life lesson, kindness. Thank you donors! We love you!!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
Tabletops to the TOP of the Class
Funded Mar 16, 2013Hi again, you amazing donors!!! We just came back from our Spring Break vacation and our Tabletop Charts might have been even more exciting than our talks about what we did over the vacation! It was so exciting to see our new box from you, donors! We opened it during our Morning Meeting, and the class across the hall could hear all of our "Oohs" and "Aahs!". We must say, they were definitely jealous!
Our classroom has taken a new look! Our table numbers, table bins, and now our Tabletop Pocket Charts all have matching colors. It is a nice addition to the classroom management and organization. We were able to play our "Popcorn Sight Word" Game with the new charts, and it was great to see the kids independently take care of and use our classroom additions. We also hung a new chart on the back of the chart to help us as we write like scientists in our new Writing unit! One of the groups in centers even used theirs to sort words that start with an "F" sound versus words that start with a "G" sound!
These are a wonderful support for all of the children as they complete tasks and activities. I am bursting with ideas on how to continue to use them in each subject area, and excited to see their faces when we come up with more new ways to incorporate them throughout the day.
Thank you so much for your donations and support. We will always remember you, donors, for your help to make our classroom even better. You will be remembered for many years to come. We are so honored to have you in our lives and in our classroom each and every day.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
Loading..Loading...Loading...A Printer!
Funded Mar 18, 2013Amazing!!! In one short week, this AMAZING project has changed our lives! Our school has recently had a paper shortage and has stopped making copies. But, our Kindergarteners need writing paper and centers, so what's a Kindergarten teacher to do? Fortunately, we had you!
We have been so lucky to have met you and to have had your influence in our classroom. We set up the printer earlier this week and the classroom was buzzing with curiosity. "Mrs. Gruffi, what's that?" "Mrs. Gruffi, my mom has a printer, too!" "Mrs. Gruffi, can we use it too?" It was incredible to hear the printer making copies, and to have a class-full of Kindergarteners silenced! They were so impressed with how fast it works, and what it even smells like! A brand-new printer has the same sort of smell as a brand-new book!
We just began a reading unit to learn and practice reading strategies. I was able to make a copy of the page we studied and attached it to a chart for all of the class to see. This printer is going to affect us and our education in so many ways. We can't wait for all of the possibilities!
Thank you so much for all of your help and persistence with this project. We are eternally grateful for you and your donations. You have changed our lives forever and will always be remembered in our Kindergarten classroom (and for many more Kindergarten classrooms to come)!
We can't wait for you to get our Thank-you notes!!! We hope you will cherish them as much as we will cherish our new printer!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
English Language Listeners!
Funded Mar 11, 2013WE LOVE OUR NEW LISTENING CENTER BOOKS AND ORGANIZATION KIT! We have been using the books EVERYDAY! I even forgot how many books came in each set, so now we are OVERWHELMED with how many books we have! We are going to read one book each day and see how long they last us until the end of the school year!
These books have come in at such a crucial point in the year. We have been implementing the new Common Core State Standards, and one of the biggest pushes in it is the infusion of more Informational Texts and instruction into the curriculum. So, now with our new Gail Gibbons readers, we have been learning about Horses, Sharks, and Monarch Butterflies! The kids have LOVED the book set on Horses! They have been writing many informational books on horses and what they've learned from the text! What a great resource for these students who have not seen a real horse! We cannot wait to plan a trip to the farm to see a LIVE one! :)
At the beginning of the school year, we were immersed in great stories by great authors. The children fell in love with Caps for Sale, The Little Red Hen, and The Gingerbread Man. Now, with these listening center books, we are able to relive the excitement of these texts on a daily basis! As you can see in the pictures, the kids have already reread The Little Red Hen. They were acting out scenes with their partners during Choice Time, too!
And now, with the Listening Center organizational area, the kids have become even more independent with getting materials and setting themselves up for learning. They have come such a long way since the first day of school, and now they are noticing how much they've grown and are able to do without mom and dad's help!
All this excitment and all this growth is all from y our donations! We are so lucky to have had your help and now you will always be a part of our classroom. Thank you so much for your contributions and dedication to education. We will always remember you! :)”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
Supplies, Supplies, Supplies, Oh, My!
Funded Dec 27, 2012THANK YOU!!!! We absolutely positively LOVE our new supplies!!! We sorted all of our construction paper by color and placed them in each of the cubbies! We have already used them to create some beautiful art projects! We used our sheet protectors to make new centers to practice our sight words and ABC matching! Sheet protectors are perfect for dry erase markers! Even though we had a little hiccup with our paper trimmer, we received a new one and WOW does this make a world of a difference! We love reading books from online resources and now with our paper trimmer, we are able to cut and put together these books quickly and more efficiently than ever! All of the students have noticed a HUGE difference with how evenly the books are cut!
We don't know where exactly to begin to thank you, but you have made such a GIGANTIC improvement in our classroom environment and community! We are so lucky to have had you donate to our project and our classroom. You have changed our lives forever and improved our education!!! Thank you so very much, we sincerely appreciate it!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
"Canon" You Help Us?
Funded Jan 3, 2011"THANK YOU FOR THE INK!!!" scream my students! We are now able to publish our writing pieces on the computer and send out homework sheets! The ink has changed my class for the better in so many ways! During centers, my students are able to complete a "Centers Checklist" that coincides with a "Buddy Reading Log" and a "Listening Center Response Sheet". The students are overjoyed that they can see their writing on a printed paper, and can read the questions off of them too!
With the help of the ink, we are able to do some publishing off of Microsoft Word. My students have been taking turns and typing some of their assignments on the computer. Then, instead of just saving it in a folder on the desktop, we print it out with our new ink! The children's smiles are so big when they see what they have typed on the computer, just like their moms and dads!
We cannot thank you enough for your generous donation to this cause. The ink situation in my school has only gotten worse, and now there is currently a printing hold. I am the exception with my new ink!!! I am able to send all of the letters that need to go home to my class' parents, and update all of my data on new printouts! It is such a blessing for your help. "THANK YOU!!!" screams the teacher! :)”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Gruffi
This classroom project was brought to life by American Express Members Project and one other donor.