Past projects 17
Achieving Through Reading
Funded Aug 12, 2013First of all I would like to thank you once again for your generous donation to my class, which allowed us to receive class sets of "Farewell to Manzanar" and "The Tempest" My students read "Farewell to Manzanar" as a supplement the unit on personal narratives that we engaged in earlier in the year. Although my students all knew of Pearl Harbor and Hawaii's connection to World War II, few knew about the Japanese interment and other events that affected civilians during the war. Before reading the memoir several students expressed some hesitation because they do not enjoy reading "history books" but many changed their tune after completing the memoir. They especially enjoyed the book because it was written from the viewpoint of someone near their age who had actually experienced that time in history.
Although we have not started reading "The Tempest" yet many of my students are excited to have their first venture into the world of Shakespeare. I've had to chase several off from trying to read it before we start in class. Several students have expressed some concern over Shakespeare's difficult language and the books donated will help assist them in understanding it since it provides both Shakespeare's version as well as a version translated into modern English. Hopefully our study of Shakespeare will give them a head start for when they study Shakespeare in high school and college.
Mahalo (thank you) again for supporting my students. We are truly grateful!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
Stories We Can Relate To!
Funded Feb 27, 2012When I was a student I loved reading. I was the kid the teacher always yelled at to put down the book in the middle of the math lesson. As a teacher I want to impart that love of reading to my students. I have found that this is difficult to do sometimes, as many of my students come to my classroom proclaiming that they HATE reading. This is often due to the fact that reading is a struggle for them as English is their second language. I try to combat this by finding books that will engage them and they will forget that reading is a chore.
The Outsiders by SE Hinton has been taught at my school for years. It is extremely popular with middle school students because it deals with young people who have problems very similar to those of our students. In the past I've had to borrow copies of the books from other teachers that were falling apart or Xerox 30 copies of each chapter for my classes. My students were absolutely delighted to be the only students in the school to have brand new copies of the book to read. My students enjoyed the book very much, and often got mad when we had to do something else in class. They wanted to keep reading! After finishing the book we watched the film version and they did a comparison between the book and movie (of which there are a lot of differences).
The novel Flipped was new to me this year. A fellow teacher had recommended it to me, and it sounded like something my 7th grade students would enjoy. It was a huge success in my class. I had quite a few students who read ahead whenever they could and finished the book long before the class did. A few boys complained that there was too much "romantic stuff" in the book but they also laughed the loudest at the funny parts, so despite them trying to act tough, I could tell that they enjoyed the book too. At the end of the book I had my students write a sequel chapter to the book, exploring what happened to the characters after the book ended. They really enjoyed this assignment because they were very invested in the main characters of the novel.
I would like to thank you again for your generous donation to my project. With your gift I was able to introduce my students to books that they enjoyed. Hopefully they will realize that they can discover great things in books and that attitude will help them as they progress through school. Mahalo! ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
Giving the Gift of the Giver: A Middle School Lit. Adventure
Funded Mar 8, 2011Last Friday my students finished reading "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. For many of my students this was the longest book they had ever read, clocking in at 180 pages. My students are ELL (English Language Learners) and I must deal with them telling me that they "hate reading" on a daily basis. In order to show them that reading can be enjoyable I find books that I feel they would enjoy reading. I believe that "The Giver" was the perfect choice for them.
While reading the first few chapters of "The Giver" the students were fascinated by the utopia or perfect world created in the novel. As they continued to read they learned the truth about the perfect world and how it was not so perfect. Soon they were asking to read more and more in class because they wanted to know what happened to Jonas and his family and friends. The students were so into the book that when they reached the end they were disappointed because the ending is left open to their interpretation. They wanted to know right away what had happened to Jonas. Despite this though, the students truly enjoyed the book. One student told me that after reading the book he realized that he "needed to appreciate the things that he had in life, because things could be a whole lot worse." When I hear things like this from a student I know that I have been successful in my job as a teacher.
I would like to thank you again for your generous donation of books and the audio book of "The Giver" to my classroom. You enabled a group of students who "hate to read" to enjoy a book that is a classic part of childhood literature. Mahalo! ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 3 other donors.Teaching Holocaust Literature To Middle School Students
Funded Sep 9, 2010As a student the first piece of Holocaust Literature I read was "The Diary of Anne Frank." Since then I have always been interested in literature based around the Holocaust because of the examples of courage and compassion that are often themes of these works. As a teacher I try to introduce topics to my students that I was interested in at their age. During my first year of teaching when I introduced the historical background for "The Diary of Anne Frank" I was shocked at how little my students knew about the Holocaust and even the basic history of World War II. Despite this my students were willing and interested to learn and thus began my exploration in teaching Holocaust Literature to middle school students.
Over the last three years I have taught both "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Night" to my students. Teaching these books often ignite an interest in my students to further explore the Holocaust and the people it affected. My goal with this project was to have a selection of books in my classroom library that they could read on their own after finishing "The Diary of Anne Frank." So far they have been a huge hit. Several girls eagerly read through the books on Anne Frank and others have enjoyed reading "Maus" which is a graphic novel allegory of the Holocaust.
I also used several of the resources while teaching. One book in particular stood out for both myself and my students called, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." This book details the history of the Terezin concentration camp and contains artwork and writings created by the children who lived in that camp. As a class we read and analyzed several examples from the book and compared it to the themes of the "Diary of Anne Frank". These activities really resonated with my students because they are about the experiences of kids just like them.
I would like to thank you once again for your generous donation to my classroom. You have enabled me to continue teaching Holocaust literature to my students and allowed them to continue their exploration of the subject, even when we are done learning about it in the classroom. ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
Learning Through Movies
Funded Jan 3, 2010I would like to thank you so much for your donation to my project "Learning Through Movies" on Donors Choose. One of my philosophies on teaching is that it is important to use materials such as movies and music in order to invest my students in the work we do in the classroom. Movies in particular seem to spark the interest of students. Through your generous donation I was able to purchase a number of movies that I have used as well as anticipate to use within my classrooms.
One film we have watched so far is Speak, which we watched after reading the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. After watching it we were able to compare and contrast the two versions as well as discuss why choices were made to make the movie different. The students were especially invested in the film because it starred Kristen Stewart who acted in the Twilight films which they all love.
Another film that has been particularly enjoyable to the students is The Diary of Anne Frank. Every year I do a unit on Holocaust Literature because I feel it is extremely important that the students learn about this world event in order to become more compassionate and caring individuals. This year we read the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank and then watched the movie afterwords. The students really enjoyed watching the film despite the fact that it was a bit older and in black and white. Not only were the students able to compare the film to the original play but they learned that even though a movie is not faced paced or in color they can still enjoy it. Many students have said the highlight in my class so far this year is the Diary of Anne Frank unit and you were a part of making it possible!
Thank you again for donating to our classroom. In these tough economic times it is so helpful to receive funding for projects like these that are often outside the school's traditional budget. Mahalo!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
Books are Fun Part II: Literature Circles
Funded Dec 8, 2009Thank you so much for your generous donation to my classroom. I used your donation to purchase books to conduct literature circles in this classroom. The way literature circles work is that students are able to choose whatever book they want to read and then they read it with a group of peers. This is a great classroom activity because the students are able to choose their own books which allows them to be invested in the classroom. Over the last four weeks the students in my classroom have been participating in the literature circles and are loving their books. It is great to see students so invested in reading!
Mahalo again for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire
Books are Fun! Figurative Language through Literature
Funded Aug 15, 2009First off I would like to again thank you so much for your generous donations to buy books for my classroom. In these trying economic times it is even harder for me to obtain materials for my classroom. In particular books are an expensive purchase to request, especially when I want enough books for all my students to read.
When the box of books arrived in the classroom my students were very excited. I explained to them how Donors Choose works and how many people were generous enough to donate money to buy the books. They looked through the copies of "Seedfolks" and "The House on Mango Street," trying to guess what they might be about. Several students were very disappointed when I told them that unfortunately we would have to wait until third quarter to read them. I know though, that it will definitely be worth the wait!
Mahalo (Thank You) again for your support! ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shire