Past projects 5
To Advocate is to Have a Voice & Make Change!
Funded Mar 8, 2020Thank you for your kind generosity. I cannot put into words how much it means to me when others take some of their personal resources and share them with myself and the kiddos of our school. I can't wait to share with you the projects our students make with this amazing tool. Lets let the creativity flow with these kiddos and see what they create.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Herwig
HEALTH Ed. Matters!
Funded Dec 5, 2017Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and kind generosity. Being able to attend the SHAPE National Conference this past March was a professional experience that every Health & PE teacher within the country should experience. I spent 3 full days attending presentations from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm each day, and with every attended presentation I was able to collect valuable information regarding pedagogy & best practices for not only my teaching and classroom but my colleagues as well. I was also able to meet National Health Teachers of the Year and share with them some of my health ed. lessons and activities, as they shared their own with me as well. The biggest highlight of this event was getting to see Melanie Lynch present again. She is an outstanding presenter that keeps all attendees engaged throughout her 1 hr and 15min. presentation. She is a professional who is not scared to share her activities and materials with anyone and provided various links to shared Google folders that contained all of the lessons/activities that she shared. Another highlight was getting the opportunity on the flight home to sit next to the Mass. SHAPE president elect and bounce ideas and experiences off of her the entire plane ride home. Other than highlights, more specifically one thing I learned at the conference that I am able to bring back into the classroom is a project based unit where students conduct a court trial within the classroom, trying a convicted teen rapist. Sounds intense but the way the High School educators framed and developed the whole experience, is something I am going to try with maybe another topic such as Internet Safety or Substance abuse. Overall, this experience is one that I will pursue annually and make sure I do not miss.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Herwig
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 13 other donors.Graphic Novels! The Love of Our MS Readers!
Funded Mar 29, 2017Thank you so much for all of your kind and generous donations to our "Graphic Novels!" project. Because of all of you we have been able to put over 30 new graphic novel stories into the hands of our Middle School students. At the Garfield every Wednesday our students participate in DEAR Time (Drop Everything and Read) for 30 minutes. During this time some of our most reluctant readers struggle to find books of interest. However, now because of our fully funded project and all of you, the engagement of our students during this time has doubled in comparison to last year. Now when you walk into classrooms the room is silent and students are truly enjoying the stories they are reading. The books themselves are quickly flying off the bookshelves. Once one is returned another student is checking it out. These graphic novels have shown students that there are stories out there that are fun to read and that reading is fun and enjoyable. Students are also first starting with graphic novels but then we also see these same students transitioning to other types of books as well.
Also, thanks to the diversity of the graphic novels obtained and the subjects in which they explore, we are providing students with the various perspectives of other human beings, and their various life experiences and situations. One student in particular fell in love with "Monster" by Walter Dean Meyers. He couldn't believe the situations and experiences that this teenager had faced at such a young age in his life, and wanted to explore other books with characters in similar situations. Where as another student came to a teacher after reading "El Deafo", and said she felt so emotional reading the story, as well as now understood one of her current classmate's situations because of the character's experiences and feelings.
It is amazing to see how much passion for reading has grown and flourished here at the Garfield. What used to be a struggle for all, is now an event that students look forward to. When you now walk into a classroom and a student is finished with their work, they are often reading or asking to checkout the books/go borrow one from Ms. Herwig's room. We also have students that know their current Lexile score and what books are recommended for their reading level! It is truly a pleasure to have students come to my room now asking for book recommendations, because donors like you were generous enough to help give our students a variety of reading choices, that has then helped them to see that reading can be fun, and something to be done for enjoyment.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Herwig
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 6 other donors.Keep The Spark Going! GMS Reads
Funded Sep 10, 2015Dear Donors,
Thank you so much again for all your generous donations. Because of all of you, the Garfield Middle School was able to increase the amount of students we are able to reach with our in-classroom library. From the second the new books, that your generous donations funded, arrived I could not keep them on our library shelves. Students were instantly asking to check out a book, as well as be placed on the waiting list for when it is returned.
In particular, our reluctant readers really became engaged with the new selection of books we were able to receive. Students who tend to shy away from reading were suddenly interested in checking out some of the latest graphic novels and star wars books, such as "Jedi Academy" and the "Bone" series. Now, sitting in our Wednesday DEAR time sessions, every students "drops everything and reads". There is not one student who does not have a book that does not appeal to them, and are engaged for the entire 30 minute reading time.
So thank you again for all your support and generosity towards our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Herwig
Igniting the Spark to Read!
Funded Oct 16, 2014Thank you so much for generous donations. Because of all of your generosity our students barely could wait to get the books out of the boxes! Within a few hours and word that the books had arrived, more than half of them were borrowed to be read. Every day students are coming in to check out the ever growing collection of books that to all of you, and every day I am talking up books to students and recommending the different types of amazing reads.
With our DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Program in full swing, students are constantly reading the books, and always asking for more. As well as, the GMS Book Club has utilized various books from your donations as our books of the month! In my three years of teaching at GMS I have never seen such an increase in avid readers and their desire for reading more and more, than I have this year. And I have to say that it is partially due to all of the great young adult and young reader books that your donations were able to purchase. Thank you so much again, I cannot express how thankful I am in words.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Herwig