Mrs. Olivarez's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 27

• Back to School Supplies For a Healthy Year of Learning

  Funded Nov 10, 2021

  Thank you so much for your donations to our classroom. As we are using the Science of Reading approach, your donations have been helping. I am able to create independent and activities for the students as they sound out words and use the counters.

  I am also keeping students engaged and able to check what they know as I ask them to write the sounds that I am referring to. They write and hold up their boards easily. I am able to check who needs further practice.

  Having extra dry erase markers makes the lessons go uninterrupted with students whose markers have dried up. They have been able to write and draw in their journals as well.

  Thank you for making our classroom engaging and full of learning.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made.

• Crayons to Create Masterpieces

  Funded Nov 10, 2021

  Thank you so much for the Mr. Sketch Scented Twistable Crayons! My kids love using their crayons for art projects and for journaling. As an added bonus they love to smell their fruity scent. Now they have pink, gray, and white to add to their masterpieces! Finally, this Valentine's day, they will be able to create all kinds of pink hearts on their valentine's cards for friends and family.

  Having new colorful crayons really has reenergized my student's spirits to get creative. They are so careful with their crayons and enjoy using them. Thank you again for bringing lots of colorful rainbows into our classroom.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made.

• Back to School with Crayons, Journals, and Social-Emotional Learning

  Funded Jul 12, 2021

  On the first day of school we were off to a rough start. We couldn't be in our room since the AC wasn't working. I was disappointed because all your donations were in my other room. Well, once we were able to go back to our own room, BAM! The kids saw all the Play-Doh, journals, and crayons. They were so happy and excited to use it.

  Having the journals at the ready helped me focus on the students and their social emotional well being. I didn't have to worry about stapling journals together, etc. Students were able to listen to a story and then respond to it by drawing a picture of the character. We were also able to do an art activity celebrating all the summer birthdays that happened before school started. Having these journals will help keep all their work in one place and will be a great memory keepsake for their parents.

  I was able to pass out the Play-Doh and get started with their fine motor skills by showing them how to roll it and etc. in order to form letters of their name. I can't wait to do more activities with the Play-Doh. Some students have never used it and I had to show many how to use it.

  With the small booklets we will be writing and drawing the letters we learn as we go along. Having these resources have made the first day and week of school so much better than in previous years. Even though we are in a pandemic still, having people that care for my students and being able to add smiles to their faces is extra special.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by Clorox.

• Technology Needed to Keep Students Engaged

  Funded Feb 3, 2021

  Thank you so much for the Apple iMac Computer! Having this technology helped me teach my online Kindergarten students. I was able to keep my students engaged by having the speed to show various slides and platforms without having them wait for it to load. It really changed my teaching for the better. I was able to see all the students on one screen and be able to see if they were raising their hand, engaged, needed help, etc. Your donation of the Super drive and accessories helped me share a DVD movie on a chapter book we read. The kids loved being able to see the movie. Having this new technology made teaching virtually possible and fun.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

• Online Resources for Kindergarten

  Funded Dec 31, 2020

  Thank you for your donation to our TPT cards. Having TPT gift cads has made an intense difference on my online Kindergarten Zoom. I was able to purchase activities and lessons in the area of Math and Language Arts.

  We have been using Eureka this year and having the Eureka slides have made planning my lesson easier and more engaging. My math lesson capture my student's attention and they participate more.

  This also goes for Language Arts. I have been able to purchase lessons in poetry, phonemic awareness, and sight words. Having purchased TPT activities that are ready made slides has helped my English language learner student to participate more and be more engaged.

  By having phonemic awareness slides, I am able to focus on my lessons and assessments of my students. TPT is a great resource that has material to keep my students engaged. I am fortunate to have been able to use these cards to buy items that I have always wanted to buy for my class. Thank you so much again for your generosity.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Funder and 4 other donors.

• Long Distance Learning for First Time Kindergarten Students

  Funded Oct 23, 2020

  Thank you so much for journals, crayons, math boards, play-doh, and small notebooks. Due to Covid and school closures my students have been waiting since December to get their items. They finally picked up your donations in April and they were very excited to receive a bag full of brand new materials!

  We are still working online, but all my students are much more engaged in our reading, writing, and math lessons because they get to use their new materials. Now we can color to our hearts content because they are no longer limited to the 8 crayons that the school gave them at the beginning of the year.

  We have been working on author studies and the small books have been used to make their own stories. We have just started using the journals and now they are excited to write, draw, and illustrate their stories.

  These supplies may seem insignificant to some, but to my students they mean the world. As a teacher it makes me happy to see that they all now have the same supplies and it is easier to plan my lessons around the supplies they have at home. Thank you for making a difference in the lives my Kindergarten students. Some good has come out of my students being quarantined at home.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and one other donor.

• Kindergarten Kids Need to Play in Order to Learn

  Funded Nov 13, 2019

  Thank you so much for providing my students with the LEGO sets and Picasso Tiles! These were such hit with my students and I was able to see how much they needed this for creative play. By using the LEGOs they got really creative and began to build things that were not necessarily in the booklet that came with the set. What I loved the most was that not only the boys wanted to play with these, but the girls as well. All it took was to get a couple of girls excited about the LEGOs so that the rest of the girls would not think of the LEGOs as a "boys" toy. The kids worked cooperative together and talked so much about what they created and problem solved on how to build something or how to do it again incase it didn't come out as they wanted. There were some that thought they couldn't build it or thought it was too hard, but after some encouraging words, they were right at it.

  The Picasso Tiles were another great hit that sparked lots of creativity. They were building various things together and discussing how to build what they wanted. There was lots of learning to share and cooperative play going on during this time. They were so excited to share their ideas and discussed plans on what they wanted to play next.

  Having these activities in my class for my students justified the need for creative playtime in our classroom. Many of these kids have never experienced using these building activities at home and it made me sad to think that they would never had had the chance in my class as well since I did not have these items. Donors like you have truly made an impact on my student's creative play time which will in turn affect their academics as well. Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

• Kindergarten Kids Can Code Too!

  Funded May 3, 2019

  Thank you so much for Dash Robot and Code and Go Robot Mouse activity set. This really sparked excitement and a new interest in my Kindergarten students. The quickly understood the concept of how to use these coding activities. Although I needed to use my own personal iPad to get the Dash Robot to work, I am hoping that I can get it to work with the school iPads which are not so new so that the students can use the Dash Robot on a regular bases.

  Getting the Dash Robot to work sparked creativity among my students. They began to discuss making mazes for the robot to move through and other things that we could do. What I liked most was that the students, even my shy students and English language learners were talking and talking! This generated lots of talk among my students and I used this to get them to write about their plans for Dash.

  The Go Robot Mouse was a big hit with the students as well since they were able to manipulate the path that the mouse was taking. This one was easier for the kids to use as opposed to the Dash. They got to experience trial and error and see how their coding didn't always work the first time they coded it. They learned that they need to persevere and keep trying and that it's ok if it doesn't work the first time.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by OshKosh B'gosh.

• Cricut, Cricut, Creative Kindergartners!

  Funded May 3, 2019

  Thank you so much for giving us the Cricut Maker! I am still learning how to use it. As I am researching how to use it, I am inspired by other teachers who have made great projects and share their ideas online.

  Since I received it during our last week of school, I tried my best to learn something to make so that my students would see what this machine can do. I made stencils with thier names so that they can keep practicing how to write their name during the summer. I also made bookmarks for them with a special end of the year message.

  During the summer I learned how to make vinyl silhouettes to put up in my room with the focus on reading and kids being kids. I can't wait to put these up and create their new folders and leaning activities. There are empty walls in my class where these silhouettes will go up and shelves where they will have access to the learning activities that I will be making.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez

  This classroom project was brought to life by LIFEWTR® and 3 other donors.

• Author Studies Helping First Graders to Read and Think

  Funded Dec 16, 2014

  Thank you so much for donating these items to our class! I can't tell you how helpful these books have been. First of all, we used the Dr. Seuss books during our Read Across America celebration. I read them these books and they were also able to hear them in the listening station. They were excited about these and began reading them on their own as well. We also used them for our Author of the Month study on Dr. Seuss.

  We also used the Kevin Henkes books for read alouds, the listening center, and Author studies. We had enough copies so that all students had a book or were able to share with their partner.

  I was able to begin literature response with the Kevin Henkes books. In the past I was not able to do this because I didn't have enough copies or all his stories.

  Thank you again for your generosity. Because of you I was able to instill a love of reading in my students.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Olivarez