Past projects 37
Reaching for the Stars with a Samsung Galaxy!
Funded Dec 4, 2024Thank you so much for your generous donation to our classroom incentive prizes! We are so grateful that you chose to support this project. These fantastic prizes really helped to motivate all students to do their best, and we wouldn't have the success that we've had without your help.
Students have worked in groups on a variety of projects. They worked on Design Based Learning activities which helped connect lessons in a variety of their classes, learned the art of pantomime and performed narrative pantomimes, they learned learned how to improv and performed improvisational scenes. Currently, they are working on Reader's Theatre plays based on famous African Americans for Black History Month.
Every student is passing and we've had very few behavior issues. This is all thanks to the teams working to achieve our positive behavior expectations. Your wonderful prizes helped to keep them on track and have made them all successful. You have truly made a difference in their lives. Thank you for helping them reach for the stars!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 9 other donors.Leading the Way With Fun Activities!
Funded Dec 11, 2023Thank you so much for your generous donation to our DonorsChoose project! Your support helped us get all of the poster making supplies we needed to effectively promote our fun school activities. Since receiving your supplies we've had multiple Spirit Weeks; like Winter Wonderland and Valentines week, where students had different themed dress days. We've had successful school dances with lots of students attending and having a great time. We sponsored lunch-time activities during stressful test-taking weeks to help balance the long testing hours. And we've had multiple fund raisers to support even more activities in the future!
The positive school culture that is being created as a result of these activities is undeniable! Student conflicts have dramatically decreased and compliance with school expectations has dramatically increased as compared to last year. Our Leadership class has played a significant part in changing the overall school climate and we couldn't have done it without the supplies that this project provided.We are truly grateful for your kindness and dedication to our school community.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 10 other donors.Earning a Galaxy Helps Us Aim High!
Funded Aug 13, 2023Thank you so much for your generous support to this project! Having these tablets as fantastic prizes for our positive behavior support plan has enabled students to succeed in our Theatre class. I'm happy to report that all students are passing and are motivated to try new things.
I'm so grateful that these prizes can help motivate them to do their best and encourage them to take healthy risks. Working on theatre projects like creating a narrative pantomime, helps them develop their communication and cooperation skills which will help them throughout their education and in future careers.
This kind of success wouldn't be possible without donors like you. Thank you so much for your support and generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 9 other donors.We're Fired Up to Succeed!
Funded Aug 10, 2022Thank you so much for supporting this project. I'm so grateful that your generosity is doing exactly what was intended. Students are extremely engaged and all are doing their best to complete assignments, participate in projects, and all are passing the class.
This year, we've been working hard learning about Theatre, creating Social Justice commercials, learning pantomime, and learning about the Holocaust from a Holocaust survivor's story. Students are applying what they've learned about bystanders during the Holocaust to flip the script and be Upstanders in their own lives and at school. We are currently working on writing scripts for videos we will make this semester about how to be an Upstander with our partner school in Israel. These are very exciting projects and they are all being supported by the generous donation you gave to this project. I'm so grateful for your help in supporting my students this year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
Teamwork Helps Us Succeed!
Funded Nov 25, 2021Thank you so much for your generous donation of two Chromebooks for our positive behavior support plan. These two computers served as fantastic prizes that helped motivate my students to work together and do their best to complete beautiful projects this year.
Students were in complete awe when they found out that they could win one of these! They overcame the obstacles of coming back to the classroom after being at home for nearly a year and a half on Zoom, wearing masks in the classroom, and for many of them, transitioning from being an elementary school student to being a middle schooler. These were big transitions! Because they had to work as a team in order to possibly win this wonderful incentive, every student was able to pass the class and be proud of their achievements.
I'm so grateful for your willingness to help these inspiring young people by donating to this project. We couldn't do it without generous donors like you. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
"What the Constitution Means to Me" Field Trip Opportunity
Funded Jan 7, 2020I am so grateful for the AMAZING experience that you gave my students! I only wish you could have been a part of the whole experience with us.
I wish you could have been a part of the enthusiastic and engaging conversations students participated in, as part of the the pre-show activities Center Theatre Group provided to teachers. I wish you could have been there for their excitement as we waiting to go into the theatre, only to be followed by even more excitement as they took their seats - right in the front! I wish you could have been there for that wonderful, magical moment students got to experience; when the lights go down and the audience waits to be transformed.
I wish you could have been there to hear students laugh and gasp when the main character used profanity, or when they nodded their heads as she told the story of her family's immigration to the U.S. I wish you could have heard their quiet disbelief at hearing how domestic violence has been condoned by the laws of the land.
I wish you could have been there for the after-show talk back with the actors, when one of our students was called on to give her opinion about a debate in the play. She was given a mic and shared her opinion about why the constitution should be abolished and rewritten by folks who were more diverse; LGBTQ folks and People of Color. She was applauded and congratulated for speaking up by not only her peers, but by the other audience members and the actors on stage.
I wish you could have been there, as we ate our lunch on the Dorothy Chandler pavilion afterwards, and students reflected about how the show was "pretty amazing".
It was.
Taking my students to see "What the Constitution Means to Me" was one of the best field trips I've ever had the pleasure of taking my students on. I know that they will think about what they learned, and how important it is to uphold the ideals of democracy to create a more perfect union, for years to come.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving my students this transformative experience.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
Chromebooks Create Motivated Learners
Funded Dec 29, 2019I do not have the words to express my gratitude for your support for this project. I try to offer exciting incentives to help my students achieve and do their best, and your support makes it possible to do this. The exciting prizes that you are providing for my students will help them now and in the future as they learn important learning habits that will set them up for success. I appreciate your interest and support so much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 4 other donors.Literacy and Hope with The Hate U Give
Funded Nov 30, 2018Thank you so much for the amazing opportunity to do our unit on Social Justice with the powerful book "The Hate U Give". I've never seen my students so engaged! They absolutely did not want to put the book down whenever it was time for us to move on to a new topic.
The book allowed students to have some powerful discussion in their Literacy Groups and Socratic Seminars regarding the topics of Race, Justice, Gun Reform, and Economic Inequality. They were able to analyze and study the issues that created the Black Lives Matter movement and compare those to other Civil Rights issues and previous movements throughout history. They were also able to make comparisons to other books that we read this year regarding the Holocaust. They were able to see through the lens of these other characters how we are all bound together, and how justice usually requires groups of people standing up and speaking out.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for inspiring my young readers to be the next generation to take on the important task of empathizing with others and making a difference in the world.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
Google Chromebooks Inspire Us to Win... at Learning!
Funded Nov 30, 2018Thank you so much for donating to this project to help motivate my students to do their best this year in both their English Language Arts and Theatre Arts class. Students worked very hard with their teams to complete their homework, bring their supplies every day, stay on task, and follow our expected behavior class agreements to get the most points possible for our Positive Behavior Incentive program. Knowing that they had the possibility to enter a raffle and win the grand prize of their very own computer was a very powerful motivator for them on a daily basis.
Because students were so motivated, we were able to do some beautiful work in our classroom this year! They started off the year in our Design Thinking magnet by redesigning the classroom using the Design Thinking techniques that are used by actual designers all over the world. They studied and wrote about the Holocaust and Climate Change, held compelling Literacy Circles with a diverse selection of novels, wrote op-ed articles for the New York Times, and held Socratic Seminars to discuss some of the most important issues of our times. In our Theatre class they created a Dia de los Muertos show, learned narrative pantomime, and used their Actor's Tools to create and enter video contests on why the arts important and on suicide prevention. It has been a very rewarding year for us all.
I'm so grateful that donors such as yourselves care enough to make a difference in their lives. I think together we have influenced a generation of some truly innovative thinkers who will be prepared to take on the challenges that this century will present. I am very proud of their progress and couldn't have motivated them or done it without your help.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr
All Students Can Succeed!
Funded Feb 26, 2018Thanks again for your wonderful, generous donations to my classroom. It made such a huge difference to have the incentive of two Google Chromebooks for students to work for. I had a fantastically successful year thanks to you amazing donors. You helped over 180 students pass my class and stay motivated to succeed with each of the projects that we created.
This past year, they learned tableau, pantomime skills, and improvisation. They created improvised scenes from some of Shakespeare's most famous plays; Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew to help them identify the plays' themes. They then performed Reader's Theatre pieces of those plays. Our performance class wrote and created a play to teach students how to help other students who may be having suicidal thoughts get help. They created a video about why the arts are important that was a finalist in a contest, and attended an arts summit in Oakland with other students from around the state. They are currently working on a production of Peter Pan that will be presented to the school and community at the end of May. All in all, it was an extremely productive and successful year!
When I read the Thank You letters that they wrote, they all expressed how the incentives and point system helped motivate them to come to class, get there on time, bring their supplies, participate in our Theatre activities, and follow our class expectations. In group reflections, they expressed that they have learned to have confidence in themselves, express themselves in a variety of situations, understand story elements, and have made a lot of new friends in the process.
All this would not have been possible without your help. Thanks for making a difference in the lives of my students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Tarr