Mrs. Provenzano's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 74

• Activity Fit For Kids

  Funded Feb 3, 2015

  I can not thank you enough for funding "Activity Fit For Kids!" The quality of P.E. instruction has been enriched for my first graders. The students are excited and can not wait each day for physical education.

  Thanks to your donation the children are having fun and actively practicing skills with jump ropes, hula hoops, scoopball toss, and the parachute. With the parachute they are learning to work as a group and follow directions. They have learned left from right and realize to move the parachute everyone must work together. The students are joyfully laughing as they help each other to master the ability to keep the rope moving while jumping and keep the hula hoop from falling. They are expanding on their skills by singing rhyming songs and counting as they practice. The scoopballs have made it possible for one of my students with special needs to participate with the class and join in physical activities with his peers. They are growing both physically and socially as they support each other.

  The equipment you have provided for this group of students will be used every year reaching far more students than just this one class. It is rewarding to know there are others who value the physical as well as emotional growth of our young children and are willing to invest in their future. Thank You!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Provenzano

• Learning to Love Math

  Funded Jan 26, 2015

  We can't thank you enough for our ten-frames!

  Students are excited to come to math! We use the ten frames to count, add, and subtract in pairs, small groups, and as a class. They love that they are magnetic and they can hold them up and show their partner what they did to answer a given problem. They can easily see the number created in the frame. Students are gaining understanding about the place value of a digit. There was an added bonus for our class as one student has trouble manipulating counters because his hands knock them off our white boards. These magnetic ten frame boards help him to control the counters and he is making tremendous progress.

  It is important with common core, for students to conceptualize numbers and I am defiantly seeing that as many of the students are beginning to visualize number problems as well as the answers without the boards. These ten frames have also helped my students advance in their number facts knowledge. They are not memorizing facts but physically putting together and breaking apart numbers. These ten frames are a valuable tool in our first grade classroom.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Provenzano

• Launching Butterflies

  Funded Sep 26, 2014

  Words cannot express the excitement in our classroom each day as the students enter and anxiously wait their turn to observe the changes in the caterpillars. The children's faces as they discuss what they have observed are priceless. They are comparing the size of the caterpillars as they grow. They note that not all caterpillars are forming chrysalises' at the same time. Students have become emotionally concerned for the "smaller" ones. Some of their best writing has developed during this process.

  The students are anticipating the next stage of the butterflies as they look closely at the model pieces of the life cycle of a butterfly. They are relating the model pieces with the real thing. When they arrange the stages in order they talk over what they have learned about each stage.

  I read The Story of Chester the Monarch Caterpillar/Larva book to the students and we learned more about Chester by going online to the web page in the back of the book. Each day that book is checked out from our library and the students are reading it to each other! They are just beginning readers so to find a book they all love makes my heart swell with joy.

  At center time you can hear the squeals of enjoyment as they play with the Life Cycle Learning Center. They are connecting what they are learning about butterflies to frogs, chickens and plants. They are asking for books to read about other animals that go through metamorphosis and wanting to know if there are more life cycles.

  I am as thrilled as the students about the upcoming days and the emergence of our butterflies. These caterpillars are embedded in all our curriculum from reading and writing to math. Every math story the student write is about caterpillars and butterflies. Thank you again for your donation that made this opportunity for our classroom possible. You have contributed to the scientific interests of a classroom full of first graders.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Provenzano

• Fluency Starts with Practice

  Funded Nov 27, 2013

  The students and I were so excited to receive our "Listening Center!" Excitement mounted as I opened the box with them and pulled out the headphones, storage box, and books with Cd's. Squeals of joy filled the room as I explained how this technology equipment would be used to extend our center time.

  I have been using the listening center to watch as students track what is being read with their pointers. I now have the opportunity to just observe and see who is struggling to keep up the pace or which students need help in tracking properly. Students are showing improvement, the first time through the book they are just following along, but after several readings they are reading along. Students are learning High Frequency Words while reading them within a story and they are enthusiastic to point them out.

  I have had to buy several more copies of The Carrot Seed and Jump, Frog, Jump because those are a favorite for checking out of our class library. Students are eager to take the book home and read independently to their parents. Parents (some, who do not speak English) are thrilled their children are beginning to love reading. Thanks to you our "Listening Center" has given a boost to teaching, learning, as well as student confidence.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Provenzano

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 3 other donors.