Past projects 17
In Charge of Our Own Learning With Flexible Seating!
Funded Aug 23, 2018I want to start by thanking you, from the bottom of my heart, for the kindness and generosity you have shown by donating to this project. Transforming my "traditional" classroom setup where every student had a desk and a chair into a classroom with several different workspaces offering flexible seating choices was probably the scariest thing I have done so far as a teacher. However, after a few months of watching my students in this new setting, I cannot imagine ever going back to traditional seating.
If you walk into my classroom at any given time, you will find students sitting on cushions at low (coffee) tables while others are bouncing or wobbling at regular tables while sitting on stability balls and wobble stools. Some students with with a partner or a group while others prefer to find a quiet space to work independently. Everyone has a basket that travels around the room with them to hold their notebooks and folders so every work space is truly a communal space.
Flexible seating has helped me teach responsibility and problem-solving/conflict resolution strategies. Groups of students take turns having "first choice" of seating each day and most students rotate to different seats at different times of the day. If there is a dispute over a seat, we have agreed as a class that a quick game of "Rocks, Paper, Scissors" will always settle it without any arguing or hurt feelings. My students also know that the purpose of flexible seating is to maximize productivity so they are trying their best to choose "smart" seats for themselves throughout the day. At the end of the day, we work as a team to put everything back in the correct place and make sure the classroom looked the way it did when we arrived that morning.
I look forward to continuing to find creative seats to add to our classroom in the future!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
Story Time Is Our Favorite Time!
Funded Aug 23, 2018Thank you for your generous donation to my classroom and for caring about my students. This project has had an incredibly positive impact on our class. Our daily "Read Aloud" time is always one of the best parts of our day but these new picture books have made this time more enjoyable and meaningful than ever. Many of these books make all of us laugh out loud together as a family, even if someone had been having a tough time earlier in the day. In fact, there have been days when some of us really needed to end the day with a laugh so we made time for an extra read aloud! We also received books from this project that have taught us important life lessons and skills, such as showing empathy, being inclusive, loving ourselves, and making good choices.
Whenever we finish reading a book together, whether it is a picture book or a chapter book, I place it in a very special library bin labeled "Ms. Gelbinovich's Favorite Read Alouds." This book bin has become the most popular bin in our library. Whether on their own, with a friend, or through a requested "encore" whole class read aloud, most of my students have read each of these picture books several times already. In fact, it is not unusual for this basket to be completely empty! Just this past week during parent/teacher conferences, students were even showing their younger siblings our read aloud basket and reading stories to them!
As a teacher and a lover of reading myself, there is no greater feeling than knowing I am able to inspire my students to not just strive to become strong readers but to truly love books as well!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
Comfy Carpet for Classroom Community
Funded Aug 22, 2017Thank you so much for helping me to provide a comfortable learning environment for my students. The meeting area is warm and inviting now that we have a soft carpet with vibrant colors that offers each student his/her own space when we are all sitting together.
Whether we are working independently, with partners, in groups, or as a class, there are always children working in the meeting area. Readers enjoy laying down on the cozy carpet and getting lost in a good book. Writers go to the carpet to find a space to discuss their writing pieces with their partners. Mathematicians are always spreading out on the carpet with manipulative materials when they need to solve tricky problems. Book clubs meet there to discuss good books and share ideas. Researchers gather together to work on group Social Studies projects. There benefits of having this carpet in our classroom are endless.
Once again, thank you for caring about our classroom and helping me make sure that my students have a comfortable place to learn.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 4 other donors.A Half-Round Table to Gather 'Round
Funded Aug 10, 2017It is difficult finding the right words to express my gratitude for your generosity. Thank you very much for helping me create a classroom environment that maximizes learning for each of my students.
Our small group table has become one of the most popular and frequently used spaces in our classroom. My students look forward to being invited to sit with me for 1-1 conferences and for small group lessons because they know that this extra, targeted attention is helping them to grow as readers, writers, and mathematicians. I am able to actively monitor the rest of the class from my seat in the small group space so all of my students have been staying on-task when working independently.
There are three children in my class who seemed to have a difficult time staying focused during writing workshop every day so I invited them to sit at the table with me and write independently. After a few days, I noticed an increase in their writing volume and stamina. I also witnessed something very special when two of these reluctant writers started a "peer conference" at the table, during which they were coaching and teaching each other in ways that I would normally coach and teach them (without any prompting from me)! I interrupted the whole class to point out and praise what these two students started doing and several other writing partnerships were inspired to try having their own peer conferences.
Once again, thank you for caring about our classroom and helping us have an amazing year in third grade!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 2 other donors.Wiggle While We Work!
Funded Jan 10, 2017My students are extremely grateful for your generosity! Being able to wiggle around in their seats and work comfortable on the floor has improved the way my students learn and work. Having some seating choices have made independent reading and writing work more enjoyable and productive. Students can find a quiet spot to comfortably work away from their tables if they wish.
The look on their faces when they saw the pillows and cushions in our library nook was priceless. Every single student raised their hand to excitedly ask me if they could use one. I had to make a schedule to make sure that each student will have a cushion to use at different times throughout the week!
Again, thank you so much for taking an interest in my classroom and making a contribution toward improving the lives of my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
Our Supplies are Going..Going..Almost Gone!
Funded Feb 6, 2017Thanks to your generosity, my students have been able to enjoy a freshly stocked writing center. It can be easy to overlook how essential it is for students to have access to paper, pens, and pencils but these items are used every single day. We recently finished a country study on Brazil during Social Studies and we compared it to the U.S. At the end of the unit, the culminating project involved students working in groups to create travel brochures for Brazil. The Class set of colored pencils really helped when it came time to putting the finishing touches on these projects! Also, the anti-bacterial hand sanitizer and the case of tissues have come in handy during this allergy season.
My students were extremely excited when they first learned that we had new supplies donated to our classroom. They asked me if the supplies had arrived every morning until the boxes were in our room and they could not wait to get their hands on them. They are very grateful and have been very responsible in taking very good care of the supplies so they do not get lost or broken.
My students are currently researching animals in research clubs and using their notes to write their own informational books about these animals. I know that these supplies will help my students to publish books that they will truly be proud to display on our bulletin board!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
Reading with Tablets: An Unlimited Classroom Library at Our Fingertips!
Funded Aug 25, 2016I cannot thank you enough for helping to fund these tablets for my students. Every child in my classroom is now able to spend time each week choosing from countless e-books to read during independent reading. I am trying to encourage all of my students to fall in love with reading so that they become lifelong readers and your donation is helping me do this.
These tablets have certainly made reading more exciting and engaging, even more my struggling and hesitant readers. Most of my students have been thrilled that they have an endless amount of e-books from which to choose. Others are simply more excited to read on their tablet day because they love the idea of using this technology. Several students in my classroom do not have tablets or computers at home.
I knew at the end of June that I was going to have many students reading far below grade level entering my classroom this September. Some of these students are struggling readers and others are simply new to the English language. I also knew I did not have enough "just right" books in my library to keep them engaged in reading. This was the true motivation behind this project. These tablets really helped them dive into reading right away because they were able to plug in headphones and read along with "read to me" e-books, as well as play games that support phonemic awareness.
You have really made a positive impact on our classroom and we are extremely grateful to you for that.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Gelbinovich
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 22 other donors.