Past projects 4
Read All About It! Building a Library that Engages Readers
Funded Oct 13, 2021My class and I are so appreciative of your donation of chapter books, graphic novels, non-fiction texts and picture books. They were brimming with excitement the day the shipment of books arrived and couldn't wait for them to be added to our classroom library. My class was already aware of some of the series and titles I had requested because I had given them a book survey prior to writing this grant. They knew there could be some of their favorite book series like 'Goosebumps,' 'Dork Diaries,' 'Dog Man,' and 'Magic Tree House' included in the boxes that arrived at our classroom door _ hence their unbridled enthusiasm!
With the books that you provided us, I was able to create a functional lending library where students can find texts that get them excited to read. It is always important to be able to offer students choice in their reading across levels and genres. However, it is even more crucial that we have the necessary materials in our classroom this year because our school library is closed due to the Covid pandemic. I was also able to put together collections of books that are in keeping with our school-wide commitment to culturally responsive and sustaining education. I am reading these collections of books to the entire class to offer my students with a more diverse selection of stories and characters. They will also help ground our discussions around topics like environmental sustainability and civil rights.
Throughout the school day, I follow the balanced literacy model for reading instruction. There are three main components to this model: read aloud, shared reading and independent reading. When I read aloud to my students, I choose from texts that are above my class's independent reading levels so they can learn new vocabulary and develop their comprehension with teacher support. During shared reading lessons, I read a short text or an excerpt from a previous reading in order for students to practice targeted reading skills with my guidance or with help from a peer. Students have independent reading every day after lunch. When students read independently from "just right books" that are on their reading level, they have the opportunity to independently apply reading skills and build stamina in books they choose based upon their interests. It's during this time that I confer or work one-on-one with my students to help them advance in their reading practice. In addition to these reading experiences, I leverage read aloud texts to teach concepts in writing, social studies and science and also to facilitate classroom discussions concerning social emotional learning .
The books that you donated have allowed me to successfully implement the balanced literacy approach to reading in English in my classroom. They have also furthered my students' learning in other content areas. Thank you for helping us learn and grow as readers and thinkers!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rotella
Le Francais All the Way!
Funded Oct 19, 2018I am so grateful for your gift of French non-fiction books. Thanks to your generous donation, I was able to teach a unit on informational reading and writing in French and create a French non-fiction lending library. Across my informational unit, I used these texts to teach children how to conduct research about animals. Some of my lessons included reading to determine important details, identifying the main idea, using text structures and features to support comprehension and note-taking. From the information students learned about their topics, I showed them how to craft a paragraph in French with an introductory sentence, transitional words, facts and a concluding sentence in order to inform their readers. This writing component reinforced the principles of the writing process that were learned earlier in the year.
In my classroom, I follow the readers workshop model for reading instruction. There are three major parts to this model: read aloud, shared reading and independent reading. Each day, I read aloud from more advanced texts so students can focus on comprehension work. During shared reading experiences, I read a short excerpt so students can read along and receive guided practice in a whole group setting. During independent reading, I give students ample time to build stamina by silently read books on their level. In addition, I build in partner work, pairing English dominant students with francophone students, so that all students can access the content regardless of the text's complexity or their French language ability. The French texts that you provided facilitated these parts of the balanced literacy approach to informational reading and writing.
My students adore learning about animals, so they were especially excited to see many titles about a plethora of animal types. There was a great enough selection of animal books that my students could choose topics that deeply interested them. Your donation also included books about sports and the continents, which piqued the interest of my sports fans and history buffs.
Thank you for making all of this teaching and learning possible!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rotella
Play to Learn and Learn to Play!
Funded Oct 20, 2014I would like to offer my sincere thanks on behalf of our school's 4th grade teachers and students. We are all thrilled to have adequate outdoor gym equipment to engage in fun physical fitness activities. The resources from your donation have already begun to change the lives of the 320 students on our grade.
When the boxes containing the balls, jump ropes, cones, place markers & the parachute started arriving in our classroom, my students' eyes lit up with excitement. They were astonished by your kindness and generosity and they could not wait to try out each and every material. "Can we use the balls yet?" they'd ask. "What's a parachute?" they'd want to know. However, we needed to do a little preparatory work first as the balls had to be inflated and the jump ropes, untied. We also needed to label the equipment with our grade in case other students were unsure who to return it to. Finally, we divvied up the materials so there would be a set for classes on the 4th floor and also one for classes on the 5th floor. This pre-play work was important for my kids because it instilled in them a sense of responsibility and gave them a greater feeling of ownership. It also made them extremely eager to go and try out the equipment; but the snow and ice needed to melt first.
At last, warmer weather arrived and the schoolyard beckoned us outside. "Hooray!" the kids shouted when I announced one day that we would be using our gifted equipment after lunch. As I bent down to untie the sacs containing the various balls and the jump ropes, I looked up to sneak a peak at my students who were bouncing up and down in anticipation; their faces were all smiles. For the first few times that we engaged in outdoor learning with these materials, I let them play freely. In the future, I'd also like to incorporate some structured activities that might include team games, fitness centers and jump rope rhymes.
Since we started using these resources for aerobic activities, I've noticed cognitive benefits in my students. They are better able to concentrate during lessons that follow a session of play. They can also show greater self-control in class before we use the equipment if they know that I am planning to take them outside. In addition, the students are using their imaginations to engage in play with each other, resolving conflict independently and they are showing signs of greater balance and coordination. As a teacher, I feel inspired to teach my students organized games that they can later play with their siblings or neighborhood friends. My ultimate goal in this project was to get school-aged children moving and you have definitely helped me accomplish this.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rotella
This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 3 other donors.The Art And Science Of Observation
Funded Dec 31, 2012"Did it come yet?" the students would ask, while we waited impatiently for the art and science materials to arrive. In adult time, our collective wait lasted only about a week. The materials came in separate boxes from the shippers. Each day that monitors brought up a box from the aide's room, the students cheered.
Once we found a place for our new, shiny materials among our wilting classroom supplies, students gathered around to see what was included in the donation. When they were told they would have sketchbooks and charcoal pencils of their own, just like real artists, they cheered yet again. "That's so cool!" a student named V. cried out. None of the children had ever used materials like these before. They enjoyed working in charcoal. "Look, I can smudge it!" one student discovered in his explorations. When I announced that we would be painting in the afternoon during the morning meeting, the children clapped.
Learning with our resources added a needed breath of fresh air to our classroom life. It was as if a sigh would work its way throughout the room as the materials were pulled out. As a teacher, I knew it was a sigh for high-engagement/low stakes learning; but for the students, they equated our art and science tools with fun.
In our class, we used our resources during art and science lessons that I facilitated. First, during an art lesson, we discussed the purpose of an artist'Âs sketchbook and how the weight of the paper inside compared to the other types of paper that we used in our classroom. After, I created table of contents and glossary inserts for students to glue into their sketchbook/science journals so they could record the date and type of activities they did and also the new vocabulary words they learned. I introduced the charcoal pencil and demonstrated how we could draw with it to create line, value, texture, etc. The students then had the opportunity to explore making marks with charcoal pencils in their artist's sketchbooks. Subsequent science lessons soon followed where students were asked to observe our class plants, the Bromeliad and the Zabrina, and sketch a still life showing as much detail as possible. Then, they used their hand lenses to closely observe the growth of their philodendron cuttings and create sketches documenting plant growth and interesting details noticed.
I introduced the watercolors to the students during another art lesson. I showed the students how to "wake up" their colors and apply water to change the saturation of color. I also explained how they were to care for their palettes so that other students could also paint with them later. Students made discoveries about watercolor painting on their own. They learned about color-mixing, wash treatments and how to handle their brushes. During a science lesson, they used watercolors to capture the form, color and situation or background of their plant cuttings.
This Donor's Choose project helped my students take ownership for their learning. After the teacher demonstration, students spent most of the lesson time exploring, observing and wondering as they saw fit. With the use of their hand lenses, they really made the effort to look closely when they were asked to observe plant parts. Integrating the arts into science with our materials provided a new way for my students to look at the rain forest plants that we were studying. It helped them notice detail in terms of shape, color and texture. Overall, with the materials allocated through this project, my students displayed a greater deal of responsibility and engagement in their learning because they knew they were handling "grown-up" tools in order to carry out projects just like scientists or artists.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rotella