Past projects 39
We Need Safe Water Please!
Funded Oct 13, 2022This autumn has been so unusual in the Pacific Northwest. We sometimes get one day of 80 degrees in October. We have had ten so far this year (more on the way)! The leaves are still on the trees for the most part! Monday I came into the room after a weekend of near 90 degree temperatures and the room was so hot, but we couldn't bring in the cool outside air because it was unhealthy due to a wildfire you can see glowing from our classroom window at night (it's across the river). I'm trying to set the stage for how important you donation was to us. It is so hot!
So picture us, sitting (sweltering) though math Monday morning when an office staff member comes in with 2 big boxes. Our water bottles! I opened them and showed the students, there was so much excitement! They rinsed them and filled them out in the hall. We put their names on them and they are so careful and so grateful! You made such a big difference in our days. Thank you so much for your support.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
This classroom project was brought to life by The Peterson Family and 4 other donors.We Need Math Tools We Never Have Enough of, Please
Funded Apr 19, 2022Oh my gosh! The spinners are so much better than our old ones! They won't break and get lost so easily (because they are larger). We are actually about to play some of our last math games of the unit and the kids are so excited to have actual spinners that don't stick in the same spots most of the time.
Also, we got the multiplication charts a little earlier than the spinners so we have been using them non stop. Thy are brightly colored so they don't get lost. Also they have a nice coating so they stay clean and bright, so easy to read!
We just love it all so much and we are using them constantly and it's amazing to have your support. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
My Students Deserve Activities That Reflect Our Classroom Diversity!
Funded Mar 31, 2022Right now it's our Friday Fun time and the squeals of joy! This particular project is bringing so much joy to my girls. The cute little animals are adorable. There are beautiful building elements for them to each decorate their own little houses they have been working on all year. The best part of course is all the little people that look like my students.
The students each get to build a figure that they want and for the first time, the figures can look like them. They are just looking so carefully at the little details like hair, style and skin color as they choose each part. Hair that looks like theirs, skin that looks like theirs and a style that they like (many are a bit fancy for school). There is so much joy in my class today. Thank you so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
Minecraft and Lego Help Make Learning Math Volume Easy!
Funded Mar 11, 2022It's not all done and we're still waiting on some sets but I wanted to share what we've done so far. I hope you can also see the pictures, I tried to show the math side of the Minecraft blocks and the cute (bunny) side of the Minecraft blocks. I sealed the finished build so the kids could write erasable numbers on them to calculate volume. I had to do some adaptation to the original designs to simplify for counting volume and stay together in one piece while children use them in class. I think it will work really well, I already had a kid pick up the rabbit and they found the volume quickly (with a multiplication chart).
I'll work on the fox design and the pig design next. We are waiting for the final blocks to be delivered for the mushroom ones I think. Thanks again for your support, the kids are so excited. They keep asking when the blocks will be ready so we can work on volume. They are so excited, it will be amazing! Thank you so much for caring.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
Triple the Lego Builds in One Lego Set? Amazing!
Funded Feb 28, 2022The students were so stoked! I totally derailed indoor recess when I came in with the packages. They gathered around and carefully opened the different boxes and then made a list to sign up to build (rebuild, and build again) their favorite one. They are getting so good at following the instructions, but even more exciting, it's encouraging them to make their own modifications! True engineering!
The pictures I included this time are of our 3 in 1 builds they wanted to share with you (dinosaur and a fish). What I really wanted to show you was the little crab. The student wanted to build the fish AND the crab but they are separate builds (they share blocks). So the student carefully looked at the instructions and found a way to almost perfectly recreate the crab with a few different pieces instead. It's so cute! My favorite 3 in 1 critter so far. Thank you so much for making this possible and making our rainy indoor recess days much more fun for everyone!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
Science Is Gross and We Love It!
Funded Feb 24, 2022Oh my gosh, they are so grossed out! It's awesome. I offered the edible bugs to students. They were grossed out and excited. All but one student tried them. Many students were surprised that they enjoyed them and ate the extras too.
We'll do the owl pellets this spring, but I let them know about the project and they are so ready to learn about ecosystems and all the other parts that go with the unit. One of my favorite lessons of the year is owl pellets. There are always a few students who donate their cool bones to a student who's really into the project and that student "builds" an animal out of the bones and sticks it to a background and makes a really neat (albeit impossible) animal for display. That is one of the photos I included.
Thanks for making this all possible. You're the best!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
We Need Simple STEM Lego to Help Us Train!
Funded Feb 18, 2022The children saw the boxes of Lego on the table as we came in from lunch. I reminded them about the difficulty they'd had constructing the robot and introduced these new Lego as training to build the big robots. They were so excited (I think they'd given up managing Lego robots this year)!
They are being so careful, reading the instructions, finding the right pieces. The little projects they're making are super cute. There's definitely some art in these STEAM projects. It is so wonderful of you that you helped to make this possible. I hope that after some good practice time the students will be able to also build our Lego robots because of your help. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
Just Pencils... Lots of Pencils, Please.
Funded Feb 4, 2022Sharp pencils seem like such a small thing, but it made such a difference once we got them (yesterday). The students were prepared and ready to take on their afternoon math lesson. Students who are often not on task were already started. They hadn't been distracted by looking for a pencil and getting the pencil working. The students were very careful at clean up time too. One pencil had dropped on the floor and it was found and returned to the student who lost it by another student. Thank you so much for making pencils one less thing to worry about until June 2023. You are amazing and we appreciate it so much. I included pictures of our pencil cup before and after, so you could see the difference in quality. Thanks!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 6 other donors.Please Help! Our Classroom Library Needs Updating
Funded Jan 18, 2022We already got our cool new digital book device. It is really easy for students to use and has a good case so it doesn't get broken. The students have already found lots of free books available to us. Some of the books are very silly but they are so excited to read them, we got them anyway. In our class we choose new students each week who did a great job to line up first and do special things like take turns on the new digital book device. They are so kind to each other and have shared so well.
Many students in my class are learning English. A really neat feature of the digital book device is that they can tap on a word and it is defined. In many of the books we downloaded, it already says the meaning lightly in a different color, above the word or phrase. It's so cool and helpful!
We are still waiting on the printed books and the students are so excited for their arrival. We can't wait to have all those beautiful graphic novels on our shelves. Especially the non fiction ones, which look so interesting! The students will read this book during the time of day they get to choose what to read. We will have a system to make sure everyone gets a turn and they stay safe, here in our classroom. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and 3 other donors.It's So Loud in Here! We Need Headphones Please.
Funded Jan 28, 2022First off, the children were so excited that they would get to pick their color of headphones. I did not anticipate their excitement regarding this and it was adorable. They were so thoughtful and careful of this (apparently momentous) decision. They each came up, looked at the shiny jewel of options and made the difficult choice. They were so thrilled. Also, it is really helpful for them to grab their headphones (and not someone else's) because they have a certain color.
After the amazingness that was, picking their color, we got to work with our leveled skills online. I expected the difference in noise level would be tremendous, and it was. Myself and the other introverts in the room thank you so much for that! However, the students were no longer confused by the overlapping instructions of students around them. We had some of our best results of the year! Some of the students got so much more done with less distractions, it was phenomenal. I cannot adequately express to you the difference you made in our classroom today. Thank you so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Riddle