Past projects 26
Student Response Boards
Funded Mar 21, 2011These boards have been an incredible addition to our classroom! I have found so many uses for them! They are replacing the individual whiteboards that I used to have. These boards are much easier to handle--there are fewer materials, they have no sharp edges, and they are cleaner without the markers and erasers. It means that much more time to actually use them for instruction. My favorite use so far has been in math. I can have kids calculate the answer to a problem and show it, and right away I can tell who is on track and who needs more support. It's excellent. Thank you SO much for all of your support! I hope you know how much it has meant to me and my students. And now the best of it is that I can use these again year after year! Thank you very much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis
This classroom project was brought to life by The Horace Mann Companies and 9 other donors.Future Picassos, Matisees, and Dalis..
Funded Jan 26, 2011Our once-new multicultural crayons have lost their crisp newness, and now are just apart of our daily landscape. It's great to see the children choose colors based upon need, not availability. They are pleased to be able to select the color to use, comparing it to their skin, or thinking about the tone of the person they are drawing. By providing them with more options for creative expression, they begin to think with more options. For years I have wanted to provide the brown color spectrum for my students, and now I finally can, thanks to you. I truly appreciate your generosity, and the opportunities you have created for my students with just a click of your mouse.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis
Opening a World of Words
Funded Feb 3, 2011What a tremendous gift you all have given us! Thank you SO much! As I wrote in my project proposal, learning to read is essential to first grade, and having good books is essential to learning to read. There are lots of books out there, but not all books are good at helping children read. Lots of factors go into book selection when you read with a group of students at a similar level. The high-frequency words within the text, the sophistication of the phonics principles at play, the language structure of the sentences, the support provided by the illustrations.... the list truly goes on and on. It is really important that children are exposed to well-thought-out books at the early stages of literacy development. Of course, these kinds of books are more expensive, so few teachers possess a thorough selection. Now I possess a wonderful collection of books at the lower reading levels, assuring that my students are constantly interacting with new texts at the appropriate level. Much due to your support, for the first time in my 7 years teaching, nearly all of my students reached end-of-year levels in reading by FEBRUARY, many even before that! This is unprecedented. We have worked really hard, and could not have done it without all of the support we have received from people like you. Thank you for being apart of our success. Best wishes for all of you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis
Using A Document Camera To View And Analyze Student Work
Funded Dec 17, 2010The significance of this fantastic resource was felt immediately. The students are so engaged when they see each others' work projected onto the screen. One of the best uses I have found is to look at student writing. Together as a class we read the writing and give feedback to the author. We can also then make any corrections to grammar or spelling, but because it is their own work, they are thrilled to do it. Who knew grammar could be so fun and exciting!? Another great use has been in our unit on measurement. If there is a debate on the measurement of an object, all we have to do is project the object and measuring units, and we can easily reason out the correct reading together. Additionally, during math, they can evaluate each others' work for completeness, again adding anything that was missing in the response. Overall, I would say that this camera has MORE than lived up to its potential. I am constantly finding uses for it, so l am thankful for it every day. Thank you all so very much. We truly appreciate your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis
BIG Books For BIG Learning
Funded Dec 23, 2010I put this stand to immediate use, and it has been fantastic! We build words with magnetic letters on the front, read big books on the stand, and store big books in the back! It is the perfect tool to help students engage in the reading process. When we read together, I no longer need to try to hold up the big book with one hand while trying to point to the words with the other. Now I can just set the book up, point to words, highlight words with highlighting tape, have students turn pages and point... It's fantastic. The books are awesome, too. It's really hard to find good big books. Ofttimes books are poorly written at this level, leaving little work for young readers to do in terms of good reading behavior. But these titles are regular published literature, with appealing characters, engaging storylines and beautiful illustrations. We just finished The Rainbow Fish last week, and the kids really impressed me with the interference skills. They were trying to explain the behavior of the characters, and the possible motivations for their actions. It was really quite awesome to witness. I can't wait to read some of the other ones in the coming weeks. Thank you for making all of this possible!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 6 other donors.Providing Equal Access to Literature
Funded Dec 5, 2010I can't thank you enough for your generous support of my project! It has been a really inspiring process to have so many people reach out to help. In fact, I would say that has been the biggest impact of this project so far--I have been very moved by the generosity of strangers, and inspired all the more to educate my students to the utmost potential. But in addition to that, of course, this listening center has been amazing for my students. They love to listen to books on tape! It gives them an interactive way to engage with literature, which is really useful when I am working with reading groups.
I have 21 students in the class, and they are all divided into reading groups according to their level. My challenge then becomes to get to work with each group every day, while assuring that the rest of the class is busy with meaningful and useful literacy-based activities. They have activities to practice phonics skills, to bolster their sight-word vocabulary (the words they recognize without having to sound them out), activities to push their comprehension of a story, and to help them make connections between words. This listening center fills in the gaps. It gives them the chance to engage with literature, without needing an adult beside them. They get to listen to a book on tape, and then respond to a comprehension question in their Reader's Notebook.
In the coming years, I know that I will only come up with more and more ways to use the materials, so I am excited to continue to develop the craft. Thank you all again, so very much. I only hope that I can do justice by your support. Wishing you all the best!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Ellis