Past projects 20
Hurricane Sandy Recovery: Hey! Listen to This!
Funded Dec 31, 2012How can I properly express just how wonderful this listening set has been for my classes? I have truly fantastic students and they love coming to school, but I have not been able to provide them with a listening center since I began teaching in our school. When I showed them our new listening center they could not believe their eyes!
As an ESL teacher who works in collaboration with classroom teachers, we are always looking for ways to get the biggest impact from our pooled resources. Our longterm vision involves not only playing stories on CD for the students, but also recording ourselves reading stories to the children using our new iPod.
As well, as teachers working with English Language Learners, keeping track of their oral development is also critical. We now use our new iPod to record our students speaking and reading so we can keep track of their progress!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by Ham Rove and one other donor.Hurricane Sandy: iPad for ELLs
Funded Dec 31, 2012I am absolutely thrilled with my new iPad! When I first surprised my students with it, they could not believe that people had done this for us. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk to them about kindness and generosity toward others.
Since its arrival, we have used the iPad in several ways. I have created slideshows of various images when introducing new vocabulary or a new area that we were to read or write about. As well, we have watched several videos to help us preview new topics we were to study. Next we plan in using it to do research for an informational writing piece we will be doing.
iPads are wonderful learning tools and we are absolutely grateful! This has made our class even more enjoyable!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by Ham Rove and 3 other donors.Hurricane Sandy Recovery: iPad for ELLs
Funded Dec 27, 2012I am absolutely thrilled with my new iPad! When I first surprised my students with it, they could not believe that people had done this for us. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk to them about kindness and generosity toward others.
Since its arrival, we have used the iPad in several ways. I have created slideshows of various images when introducing new vocabulary or a new area that we were to read or write about. As well, we have watched several videos to help us preview new topics we were to study. Next we plan in using it to do research for an informational writing piece we will be doing.
iPads are wonderful learning tools and we are absolutely grateful! This has made our class even more enjoyable!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by Ham Rove and 9 other donors.Scholastic News for Grade 4
Funded Nov 21, 2012When I initially submitted this project, I thought the students would like it, but I had not idea just how much! When I knew that the magazines were arriving I let the students know the good news that the project had been funded. The very next day they raced to class.
Scholastic News provided us with all the past issues as well from the current school year. I told the students that we would begin working only with the current issue, but that they could have all the past issues as well to read on their own. By the next day they told me that they had read every issue I gave them. Even my most reluctant readers have become obsessed with Scholastic News!
Your generous donations have provided me with a resource that is both engaging and high interest. Knowing in particular that our new state curriculum places a heavy emphasis on informational text, these magazines are also providing the extra bonus of supporting them in an academic area in which they need to be putting a heavy focus. These Scholastic News magazines have made reading fun again and it is all because of you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by Kaplan2013 and 5 other donors.Hurricane Sandy Recovery: Let's Stop Bullying!
Funded Nov 25, 2012The materials your donations have supplied have arrived at our school and we are all just so thrilled! As a school working toward developing a strong character education program, we place heavy emphasis on reducing the occurrence of bullying in our school. Your materials are helping us get there!
We know that it isn't just about telling kids to behave a certain way, but is something that can better be taught through interactive activities, games, reading, role playing and the like. The materials we received through your donations are exactly what we need!
I have decided to share the materials with our school Social Worker and the Character Education Committee so that a wider range of people can use them throughout our school. We are all so incredibly grateful!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
Hurricane Sandy Recovery: Laptop for Learning
Funded Nov 17, 2012It is with sincere and deep gratitude that I write to you today. It was through your generous donations that I was able to receive a laptop and I was able to immediately put it to use! It has already helped me in so many ways. Not only am I able to use it to easily go back and forth from school and be able to easily access my work and preparations for my students, but I am also able to use it WITH my students. I have already used it to access various websites that were important to share with my students.
When we began writing our reflections on Hurricane Sandy, we were able to use the laptop to view images of the destruction from the storm. We have also used it to type collaborative essays. A powerful tool is to be able to do shared writing. The laptop has made this a reality. I am a traveling teacher without a room to call my own. This has always presented its own unique set of challenges. The new laptop has begun to open our world and the access we have to it. It has helped my classes be able to function even more smoothly and better engage the students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
Printer Ink, Please!
Funded Oct 11, 2012Having access to materials is often out of reach for teachers, including basic things such as printer ink. As a floating teacher, I need to be able to bring everything I need for the day with me. Often this means I need to be able to print materials on a daily basis that I will either give to the kids or use myself to teach them.
Since receiving my package of black and color ink I have been able to feel much more comfortable about printing whenever necessary without feeling as if I need to pick and choose what is "worthy" of sharing and using precious ink to print. Because of your generous donations my students have received many materials from me (and many even in color!), including graphic organizers, teacher writing models, important news articles with plenty more to come during the rest of the 2012-2013 school year.
You have all been a big help!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by NEA Foundation and 14 other donors.21st Century Reading
Funded Sep 6, 2012In this very modern world, it is still surprisingly common to find schools equipped with materials that do not reflect the current times. While I love my school, it has been severely lacking in available technological resources since I have been there. So when I discovered donorschoose.org and saw that I was able to request technological materials, I was immediately excited. And if I was excited, you can only imagine the reaction my students had when I showed them the Nook!
Truth be told, many of my students had never even seen one before. They are all immigrant students who came to the US for new opportunities, so things like the Nook simply are not items that are common in their native culture. Compound that with the fact that they currently live in a very economically depressed area and it becomes readily apparent that if I was unable to obtain a Nook for school use, many of my students may have gone even longer without having access to such an exciting learning tool.
So far, we have begun using it for many different reasons. When I am working with a large group, I am able to use one to read a story to the class. When working with a small group, the students are able to hold it themselves and read it with a buddy. I have also been able to load appropriately-leveled reading materials so that it can be used one-on-one with students who are struggling readers and need to be worked with individually.
Since these Nooks have Internet access, my future plans include using Internet learning websites to help them focus on specific Phonics skills in which they need assistance. As well, the wealth of nonfiction/real life reading materials that can be accessed through news websites will help broaden their world view. As students in New Jersey, this will become increasingly important as we study the effects that Hurricane Sandy has had on our beloved state and what we can do to learn more about nature and how we can work to help fellow New Jerseyans, particularly in the coming months.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by Kia Motors America and 3 other donors.21st Century Reading
Funded Jul 23, 2012In this very modern world, it is still surprisingly common to find schools equipped with materials that do not reflect the current times. While I love my school, it has been severely lacking in available technological resources since I have been there. So when I discovered donorschoose.org and saw that I was able to request technological materials, I was immediately excited. And if I was excited, you can only imagine the reaction my students had when I showed them the Nook!
Truth be told, many of my students had never even seen one before. They are all immigrant students who came to the US for new opportunities, so things like the Nook simply are not items that are common in their native culture. Compound that with the fact that they currently live in a very economically depressed area and it becomes readily apparent that if I was unable to obtain a Nook for school use, many of my students may have gone even longer without having access to such an exciting learning tool.
So far, we have begun using it for many different reasons. When I am working with a large group, I am able to use one to read a story to the class. When working with a small group, the students are able to hold it themselves and read it with a buddy. I have also been able to load appropriately-leveled reading materials so that it can be used one-on-one with students who are struggling readers and need to be worked with individually.
Since these Nooks have Internet access, my future plans include using Internet learning websites to help them focus on specific Phonics skills in which they need assistance. As well, the wealth of nonfiction/real life reading materials that can be accessed through news websites will help broaden their world view. As students in New Jersey, this will become increasingly important as we study the effects that Hurricane Sandy has had on our beloved state and what we can do to learn more about nature and how we can work to help fellow New Jerseyans, particularly in the coming months.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
Nature Books for ESL Students
Funded Jun 17, 2012The children I work with are incredibly fascinating. Every single one of them is an English Language Learner and they are all working diligently in Dual Language classrooms to become proficient in both Spanish and English. My hardworking little bees are so curious about everything and love reading and being read to. As is true of virtually all young children, they love learning about animals and nature. Therefore, selecting a series of books that focuses on these two areas was extremely important to me.
Since receiving our books we have begun reading them as they pertain to and align with the other content we need to focus on. For example, our reading series has a story about ants, so I was able to find a book about insects in my nature book pack and read it to them prior to reading the story together. This helped them build some background knowledge on insects and begin to develop an appreciation for this fascinating group of insects.
I have already been able to plan ahead and have identified several books within the nature pack that will be perfect for future topics about which we will be learning. These books have proven to be both invaluable and exciting for my students. I cannot thank you enough for your support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Pereira
This classroom project was brought to life by AKJ Books and 2 other donors.