Past projects 14
Light Up Our Learning
Funded Aug 16, 2022The light board has been a wonderful resource for us to use in our intervention. We have used it to display high-contract photos and objects for a student with visual impairments. We have also used it to illuminate sensory bags filled with hair gel and items for our students to touch and explore. This is helping us explore in many ways. The manipulatives work wonderfully on the board and provide different textures for exploration as well. This has been fun for us as educators and for our students. We look forward to more exploration to come!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
Reading Our Way to Better Social Skills
Funded Dec 15, 2021Thank you for your donations to my students. The books I chose for this project correlate with units in the Second Step curriculum which we use with our preschool students. I specifically serve students itinerantly and use the curriculum in large and small groups with students.
The books are a wonderful extension for the weekly lessons. Recently, I did the lesson on accidents with a small group, and they had difficulty understanding what and accident was. Reading the book, "Accident!", was a fun way to show them and help them practice the skills we were learning about saying you did something by accident.
Books help us identify emotions in others and work through different situations in a controlled way. Thank you for the support and I look forward to reading more!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 6 other donors.Bundles of Books
Funded Oct 21, 2021We are so excited to be able to distribute quality books to our students for at-home learning. Growing a home library and literacy skills is important for our young students. The donations we received go to 13 classrooms and itinerant students as well.
The books we chose with the project correlate with the themes of transportation and farm. Teachers had requested sturdier books for some students who would benefit from tactile experiences and shorter stories with simpler vocabulary. We appreciate the board books that enhance our student's learning.
We hope to continue providing great materials for at-home learning and are as always grateful for the wonderful donations you provide!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 7 other donors.Preschool Pockets of Fun
Funded Aug 8, 2021My heart is warmed by your generousity! I have been able to use my materials in my teaching with my itinerant special education students. The portability and easy storage means a lot as I move into a smaller office and do not want to carry large items back and forth with me. The students are always excited about new materials too! I have also been able to laminate and share resources with their teachers to make an impact in the general education setting. For instance, I laminated copies of our listening rules for social emotional skills. I was able to keep a copy for my office and give a set to the preschool teacher to carry over in the classroom. Thank you for making learning fun and accessible!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
We Love to Be Social
Funded Mar 7, 2021I am so humbled and thankful for the generosity of everyone who donated to this project. My students have loved the puzzles and working together to talk about making good choices or explore emotions. These have been a great resource for expanding their knowledge and allowing them to work together or independently.
The social-emotional picture cards are beautiful and very diverse including children of different races and abilities. We have used these cards to supplement other lessons talking about emotions and being a good friend. Many lessons call for me to find pictures of children sharing, taking turns, or feeling different emotions. The internet is not always the best resource, and these picture cards have been amazing conversation starters and supplements to the work we are doing.
I have used the puzzles in working with students I evaluate for our special education program, and the large knobs are wonderful for their little hands. The money for Teachers Pay Teachers has also allowed me to purchase a variety of materials to fit my student's needs, including social stories on calming our bodies, letter activities, and more.
Thank you again for your support of our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
This classroom project was brought to life by FamilyAlbum and 13 other donors.Handy Tools for Preschool
Funded Jan 3, 2020We are so thankful for our fine motor resources! The students love the design on the self-opening scissors and are eager to use them. They also were very intrigued by the scissor scoops and have enjoyed practicing with them in the sensory table. One fun activity we tried to help us with literacy was scooping sensory beads and letters. We practiced letter naming the letters in our scoop and tried to find the letters in our names.
Having adaptive scissors is also a wonderful way to include all our students in activities. Our occupational therapists were so excited to receive some of the materials from this project, and I have been thanked by other teachers as well who received self-opening scissors.
Thank you again for helping us reach our goal so quickly and get these materials to our school for everyone to enjoy!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
Having a Ball of a Time With Gross Motor Skills
Funded May 10, 2019Thank you for your support of our program and helping us get new materials for the gym! We have enjoyed trying out new activities in the gym when it is too cold or rainy to go outside. The students loved stacking the cups and throwing balls to knock it down!
The new materials have brought many smiles to the children's faces, as well as new experiences. They are working together to build a tall tower or pyramid with cups, and playing together with the throw and catch games. We are also taking turns going through the tunnel or using new scooters. We look forward to using more as winter comes and we stay indoors!
Our program reaches many students with a variety of needs and these gym materials have benefitted 11 classrooms. The variety of materials and different skills each use (throwing, catching, crawling, kicking, teamwork, etc) are great additions to our gross motor time.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
This classroom project was brought to life by Robert E. Herman Charitable Trust and 10 other donors.Social-Emotional and Sensory Development in Preschool
Funded Sep 2, 2018Thank you again for your generosity and supporting our classroom! After moving to a new school, we lost access to some materials that we had been using in the classroom such as the balance cushions or "wiggle seats" as we call them. The students who had been in my classroom last year and used the wiggle seats were very excited to see that we had our own now! I had also been using handmade weighted lap bags, which were wonderful, but not as durable or weighted appropriately for little bodies. Having soft, appropriately sized and weighted lap bags has been a great asset to our classroom. Students love to use either resource when we are in large groups for circle time, literacy, or math. We have been learning how to use them appropriately as well so that we can learn our best! Having four of each also means that in a class of 7-9, most students can have something to sit with if needed, but not everyone has the same resource. This has led to great teaching and learning opportunities for being flexible, asking for what we want, and sharing. I have been impressed by the students that really love to use a wiggle seat, but will see a friend that is sad they do not have one, so the student will share those and get a lap bag instead. We are learning and growing every day!
The token towers have been a wonderful motivator for students when working individually or in groups. I also use them for new students who are going through the special education assessment process. This can become a long, tedious process for them with lots of sitting and answering questions. They enjoy the smiley face tokens and placing them in the towers to earn a small reward or break when they reach a particular goal. Last year I had made my own "token towers" that worked for a time, but to have the actual resource makes a huge difference as students can see better what goal they are working for and they are much more sturdy!
We continue to work on our social/emotional and self-regulation skills in the classroom. Having these resources is a great benefit to me and my students. They can wiggle in their seats, get pressure to keep them grounded, or feel reinforced when working hard. We are using social stories to remind us how to use these materials and other ways we can appropriately meet our needs in the classroom like asking for breaks. Thank you again for making all of this possible and helping us have durable, appropriate materials for our little bodies and minds!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
Managing Our Time in Preschool
Funded Feb 27, 2018We are so grateful for the help in getting a variety of timers for our classroom. The new timers have allowed for more flexibility in our classroom as we used to depend on an app on one iPad which limited us to running one timer for the whole class, or individual students, not both.
In our classroom, students with Autism, ADHD, or other social-emotional needs may need to take a break from an activity or students may earn a break as a reward. Timers help us manage this time effectively and give students a visual representation of how much time is left. The whole class also benefits from using a timer during small group activities so we know when it is time to move on to the next activity. It benefits me as a teacher as I don't have to keep an eye on the clock the whole time and I can easily glance at the timer and see how much time is left. Students are also more likely to positively respond to a transition when it is the timer telling them they need to be done and not the adult.
Classroom jobs are an integral part of our school day, and students love to be the "timekeeper"! This means when we start a small group activity, they get to set the timer. It's a simple task but highly motivating. Using these timers is helping us manage our time and helping our students better transition throughout the day while allowing us to do multiple things at once. I am grateful to be able to run the Time Timer for the whole class, and set an hourglass or Time Tracker for individual students at the same time instead of juggling one iPad.
Thank you again for your support and helping our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle
Preschool Math and Science Whizzes
Funded Dec 18, 2017Thank you again for your thoughtful and generous gifts to our classroom! Since receiving our new materials I have noticed many benefits for all of our students. The count and learn cookie jar, in particular, has been a favorite! Students who are more reluctant to count love counting the chocolate chips on each cookie and are highly motivated to put them into the cookie jar. It also helps students work on number identification which has been wonderful for adapting to student's skill levels. We can also work on fine motor skills and speech concepts when doing "put in" tasks. Recently when we had a younger child in for testing, she cried and sat in the corner of the classroom as it was her first time in a classroom setting. When she was shown the cookie jar and how to put the cookies in, she smiled and began to interact with staff and other students to put the cookies in the jar. After that, she was motivated each day to put cookies in the jar and this was expanded into play with more toys in centers as she became comfortable in the classroom. I have also used the cookie jar as a reward for several students with Autism. When presented with a small group task, students choose a reward to work for which they will receive at the end of the activity. Many times the cookie jar has been the reinforcer they choose. What a wonderful, versatile, and motivating tool!
The instant learning centers have helped reinforce concepts in our curriculum such as animals with fur or scales when we have discussed reptiles. Students enjoy the puzzle activity and it is an easy center for us to set up and work on turn-taking during groups. Once we work on these activities in a large or small group setting, we are able to move them into our math and science center to allow students to independently explore or work with a friend. We are looking forward to using the insect and plant centers in our upcoming units this spring! We will look at parts of a plant and sorting insects that have wings or no wings.
Having a variety of materials keeps students engaged and interested in learning. These centers have also reduced our prep time as teachers and paras, allowing more time to focus on instruction and implementation. I am excited to continue using these materials as we move through the school year and see how they continue to help our students learn and play with one another.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Michelle