Past projects 3
Imagine and Create
Funded Aug 6, 2019Thank you for your all's generosity and donations. With your help, my projects was quickly funded and was in full swing at the beginning of the school year. My students use STEM bins for their morning work. They come into an inviting room and get to collaborate and create with their classmates. PlayDoh is a huge hit! Surprisingly, 3 months later and most of the colors have not been mixed together. Students love to make emojis and pizzas. Their creativity is endless! My favorite thing about watching students collaborate with one another is the positive relationships they build with each other because of a shared interest in a particular STEM bin, like PlayDoh.
Students were very intrigued when they saw a cart full of toys and materials for them to use as they choose. Students rush to the classroom in the morning, so that they can play with one another. My boys love to recreate toys from home, and my girls create out-of-the-box games. I encourage students to not use the same bin multiple days in a row, and because of student engagement and excitement they happily oblige. Classroom management is very manageable with STEM bins because students are so thrilled to build with Legos and hashtag blocks, design with PlayDoh, and create buildings and shapes with magnet poles. Thank you for helping my students create and imagine!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bryant
Criss Cross Apple Sauce, Hands in Your Basket
Funded Aug 11, 2018Thank you so much to each and every donor. Our classroom project could not have been fulfilled without you. Unfortunately the rug I requested was out of stock by the time the project got funded, but I was able to use the money raised and put it towards a different rug. There was still enough funds leftover that I also purchased a set of stools. These additions have been great resources in the classroom.
This year we are participating in a postcard exchange with students from all over the country. We have already received postcards from several states! The students love receiving postcards and finding their location on the rug (we got a rug of the United States). I also love the connections that they are making between social studies and locations in our country. The rug was a huge reference point when teaching Native Americans, and will be again when teaching the different colonies.
We use the stools during small group reading. Students sit on them when they come to our small group table and read. Having different seating arrangements throughout the room is nice because it's a change in sensory for the students and the variety of seats in the classroom is a fun change for the students too. If students are working on a project, free choice seating is available. Students love to come down to the rug and sit on the stools while working together. Believe it or not, these materials have brought our class together for the better.
I did not tell my students that I put in for a project because I did not want to let them down if it did not get fulfilled and because I could not tell them an end date. That made the arrival of the products that much sweeter! I remember getting the announcement that I had an arrival, so I sent several students down to the office to retrieve the materials. The rug is huge! Students carrying it in looked shocked, and the students watching them bring it in were in awe. My students do not have much, so to receive such nice materials is so appreciated by them. Thank you all again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bryant
"What Are We Reading Next?" - Ms. Z's 5th Grade Students
Funded Apr 18, 2018I am so grateful for all of your support. I was thrilled to tell my students that I had created a project for them that got fully funded because of your generosity. This project was funded at the end of the school year, so the class was only able to read one of the three books purchased for our class. I work at a Title I school, so students do not tend to have nice things, let alone new. My incoming students will be thrilled when they see the new books they get to read next year.
I asked for a class set of books, so that my students could have a copy to follow along with as I read the story aloud. This held them accountable. After I read several pages, students were given a set number of pages to read by the following day. The next day, students took a three question quiz of the previous day's reading. If students received a 3/3, then the got to clip up. This was a source of encouragement for them. If they received a 2/3, then that was considered passing. By the end of the book, students are required to pass 75% of the quizzes to go to our movie party.
It was a tough decision about what book to read first. It came down to Wonder and A Wrinkle in Time. We ended up reading Wonder, and I am so glad we did! This book had students feeling all kind of emotions. We laughed when the dad was making fun of the teachers' names, our hearts ached for Auggie when Jack said cruel things behind his back, and we applauded Auggie for his accomplishments. This book gave us "all the feels," as some students described it.
Thank you so much for your generosity by supporting our project. You are very much appreciated by me and by all of my students both past, present and future!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bryant