Past projects 58
Famous Biographies for Our Class
Funded Dec 4, 2018Thank you for your continued generosity toward my class endeavors. We are so excited for our project of biographies to be fully funded. It has been a dream to see this come to fruition so quickly.
We will be starting a biography project in January when we return from break. Before this donation, we would have had to share our books in class. Your support has allowed us to each have our own copy of a student appropriate biography. This will allow us to read at our own pace and read independently.
Some of my students are struggling readers. These texts will be perfect for them to get the information they need to successfully share with their peers about their famous person.
Again, thank you for your constant contributions to our class. We are so lucky to have so many supporters.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
A Comfy Couch to Peruse Periodicals
Funded Nov 26, 2018Wow! What a privilege to receive the gift of a classroom couch from all your donations.
When the couch was delivered to the classroom, all instruction ceased to exist. Their eyes wouldn't leave the giant box sitting in the back of the classroom. They knew our project had been funded, but they didn't know when it would be coming. What a fun treat to see their eyes as we opened the box, and out popped a turquoise blue couch to match our classroom decor.
We have already talked about respecting the couch, not jumping or playing on it. We had the "no pencils or pens while sitting on the couch" discussion. And the "only three friends at a time" discussion. The kids are excited to use it in our free seating time when they work with their partners to read. I can already anticipate that we might need to have a sign up sheet of some sort, so that things don't get out of hand. But what a wonderful problem to have. Kids who want to read, and want to relax on the couch, can now do so. All because of your generosity. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous donor and 2 other donors.An Organized Library to Find Our Literature
Funded Mar 27, 2018What a wonderful addition to our classroom. A new library bookshelf is exactly what we needed to help organize all our books. Prior to this wonderful donation, we had book boxes all over the place trying to contain our texts.
As this glorious gift was rolled into class, the students were astonished. "Oooohs and aaaahs" abounded. The kiddos were excited to see if we had enough space for all our boxes of books. Luckily, we had just enough space for everything.
Now we are working to get each box organized and labeled. This will help make finding the perfect book so much easier for our classmates. It is fun to see these scholars excited to read from a new genre, and to be able to find a book they are interested in without the struggle of sifting through unlabeled crates of books.
Thank you for contributing such a great resource to our classroom. We are forever grateful for your donations and making our dreams a reality.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple.College Going Culture on Campus
Funded Nov 16, 2017Wow! What an honor and surprise to be gifted college shirts for all of my students! Our campus does "Get Ready for College Tuesday", where we allow students to come dressed out of uniform if they are wearing a college t-shirt. Each classroom on our campus represents a different college. Thus far my students have been unable to afford a CSULB shirt. However, another grade level on campus just got college shirts, and my scholars were commenting on how cool they looked. They were shocked to hear about this Donors Choose opportunity. Now my kiddos will be able to participate right along with their peers! I never dreamed that this project would be fully funded, so we are ever grateful for the continued support of the Donors Choose community. Thank you for your generosity in helping our class achieve their goal!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
Periodicals for All
Funded Sep 6, 2017Thank you so much for your donations to bring to life the Periodicals for All project in our class. The kids are excited to get to read about current events in class. What better way to experience a love for reading than to get to read about real life events that impact our daily lives? We have been able to use the various magazines to support our reading lessons in ways that make the lessons more engaging for the students. It's been such a blessing for the kids to see life outside our city. They are getting to experience some places they might never have been able to see without your generous support of our classroom project. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for believing in us, and giving us such an amazing gift!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
Let's Play at Recess
Funded May 24, 2016Dear Generous Donors,
This project has been an amazing gift for our students. Seeing the students out on the play yard with engaging activities has been such a wonderful experience. Prior to this gift, our students had limited resources for our outdoor time. Unfortunately over time various equipment had been lost or broken, so the students had very little recess equipment to play with. Watching the kids jump rope and learn how to play cooperative games with the rubber balls has been a life changing experience for some of them.
When the kids first saw the equipment, they were in shock. They thought I had purchased the items for them out of my paycheck. They must know teachers don't make much money, because several mentioned that they would like to donate some allowance money to help out with reimbursement. Once I explained DonorsChoose.org to them, they understood how we had been gifted the money for the purchase, the students were EXCITED to write thank you letters to the donors. It is always so much fun to see their excitement for something like recess items spill over into their literature and writing block. Applying all that we have learned in our writing lessons, to thank those that have been so willing to support our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
Reading in Our Language
Funded Mar 10, 2015My students were so thrilled upon the arrival of our new listening center and chapter books. They were enthusiastic to begin reading along as soon as the packages arrived. I asked the students for their opinions on the listening center. Overwhelmingly they responded with "we love it." Their other favorite response was "we love listening to the right way to say the words as we read along." One young lady said she was excited because "I get to listen to some of my favorite books while I read along. I feel like I'm getting to be a better and faster reader every time I go to the listening center." Another student said, "I like the stories from Magic Tree House, but before the listening center I wasn't confident enough to try to read them on my own."
We have had a chance to use the listening center in a variety of different ways. I use it for stations and as a reward in class. For stations, I assign a story, let them read together and discuss how the real life connections between the text and our world. My kids love reading, and being read to, so much that I've begun using the listening center as a reward for good behavior and high scores. Several students have asked if they can come in early before school, at lunch or stay late after school to use the listening center so they can get a little further in the book they are reading. It gives them such a sense of accomplishment to be able to move to another chapter, or into a new book of the series. Having students who are learning to love reading in English is a wonderful addition to our class.
My students have had the opportunity to learn many vocabulary words from their new listening center. It is wonderful to hear them using that new vocabulary in their daily peer to peer conversations. The kids are excited to be reading and learning in English, and they are enthusiastic to get their hands on the next chapter and more books. It is always a blessing when I see my students become self-starters. This listening center has allowed my students to begin exploring life-long learning opportunities outside of our classroom walls, and have given them the chance to make connections between what we have learned in class and what we know exists in the world.
My students and I thank you for your tremendous generosity. We are grateful that supporters like yourself have given us many more chances to expand our knowledge base!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann
Magazine Math and Science
Funded Jan 16, 2015My students were so thrilled upon the arrival of our new math and science periodicals. They were enthusiastic to begin reading as soon as the package arrived. I asked the students for their opinions on the magazines. Overwhelmingly they responded with "we love them." Their other favorite response was "we love learning new things that are for fifth and sixth graders." One young lady said she was excited because "it taught me new information that I did not know previously. The magazines are helping me get smarter, just from reading about math and science." Another student said, "I liked the story about the young entrepreneur that used math to help him grow his business, maybe I can be like him someday."
We have had a chance to use the magazines in a variety of different ways. I use them for small group work, stations, and whole class instruction. For group work, I assign a story, let them read together and discuss how the article relates to the math or science skills we are learning currently in our class. For stations, we take the quizzes from the back pages of each periodical to determine how much information we have learned from the readings. And in our whole class instruction, we project pieces of articles on our overhead and allow students to teach each other the content from the magazine. Having students act as the teacher has been a wonderful addition to our class. The science magazines also came with some informative classroom posters about various articles, the kids loved studying those posters and learning more about blue whales and body bugs.
My students have had the opportunity to learn so many new skills from these periodicals. The kids are excited to be learning material that is beyond their grade level, and they are enthusiastic to get their hands on more issues. It is always a blessing when we see students become self starters. These magazines have allowed my students to begin exploring life-long learning opportunities outside of our classroom walls, and have given them the chance to make connections between what we have learned in class and what we know exists in the world.
My students and I thank you for your tremendous generosity. We are grateful that supporters like yourself have given us many more chances to expand our knowledge base!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Mann