Past projects 35
Whiteboard, Let Me Upgrade You!
Funded Nov 29, 2019First and foremost we are so grateful for your wonderful donation in getting this project funded. Technology is quickly evolving and so is the way we need to teach to keep students engaged and interested in learning. The ebeam edge has taken my lessons to another level and students are excited to use it. The ebeam edge converts my regular classroom whiteboard into a digital interactive whiteboard in which students can now participate in the lesson sequence.
Students can demonstrate their strategies and share them with the entire class all while saving their work onto the software. Students learn better from each other and the ebeam edge has allowed them to do just that. Students are participating in sharing their strategies, demonstrating models and breaking down text. More than just the novelty of our newest gadget all students want to try it and it has elevated my classroom engagement. When students are engaged they learn and that's what matters most.
Our CGI mathematical work has taken a new turn as students are now able to share and document their mathematical reasoning through the use of the ebeam edge. We've only begun exploring the edge I can't wait to see where this technology takes us and the wonderful learning my students are about to engage in. Thank you for supporting us and for providing us with such a neat new piece of classroom technology.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and 9 other donors.Books, We Love Them!
Funded Oct 25, 2019Let me begin by thanking you for your kind donations. Books are an essential component to the classroom and student interests vary therefore it is important that a classroom library be stocked with a diverse set of titles. In a fifth grade classroom high interest chapter books are important for students to engage in reading books at their level. For this particular project I asked students about their favorite authors to ask for titles they can read during independent reading time. We read daily and these books were a great upgrade to our classroom library.
We read through the workshop model in which I teach a 15 minute lesson introducing a reading strategy for the day. Students then read independently to engage in the strategy while I work with small groups to continue supporting them with their reading. During independent reading time, students have choices and can "shop" for new texts on a weekly basis. Our new titles were a big hit and students were eager to read them. A few of my students are on their second or third title from some of the authors we asked for. As a teacher is warms my heart when students enjoy reading because it is an important life skill. These new books have engaged more of my readers all thanks to your support and generosity. Thanks!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
Bubbles, How Do They Really Behave?
Funded Apr 20, 2019We already thought bubbles were pretty cool but now we love them even more. We became engineers and explored all the wonderful things bubbles could do. This was a great lesson to implement the first two weeks of school because it was highly engaging and students learned about the engineering design process while having lots of fun with bubbles. This project gave us the opportunity to work on team building skills, to design, create and improve our work. We connected the process to real life engineering designs and learned that new technologies are always evolving through this process. We also learned a valuable lesson that technology is much more than electronics and new technologies can lead the way to solving problems. Valuable lessons for my students' future and some future engineers. Thank you for providing us with such a wonderful project.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Overdeck Family Foundation and 9 other donors.Flexible Seating, It Works!
Funded Jan 29, 2019My classroom environment has changed in a great way since I began implementing flexible seating, like I mentioned in the title it definitely works. Thanks to your donations my students now have more flexible seating choices and more students are able to use these resources. I had kick bands and wobble cushions previously but because of ware a tear some of them needed replacement. Students have taken the ownership and responsibility of rotating the wobble cushions and chairs with kick bands daily so that they all have a chance to use them. It's really beautiful the way they naturally started the rotations to include all students all on their own. Those kids that choose not to use them or don't need them gently pass their turn.
Instantly, students were ecstatic and even started cheering when these new kick bands and wobble cushions arrived. The wobble chair was an added bonus as one lucky star student gets to use it for the week. This adds for more motivation for students to follow our classroom rules and stay on task because students will rotate that chair on a weekly basis. It seems simple but these small additions to our classroom seating arrangement does really make a big difference in focus, motivation and behavior. Thank you for supporting our learning and classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Carol Kupers Whalen Memorial Fund and 2 other donors.Help Us Take Action In Our Community!
Funded Dec 29, 2018Thanks to your generous donations our students will be able to carry out their service project this year. Students participate in service projects every year and students choose a topic affecting their local or global community. This year students chose the experience of homelessness and wanted to help the individuals affected in their immediate community. The resources donated will go directly to an individual or shelter that helps those experiencing homelessness. Students created care packages and wrote motivational messages for those receiving these care packages. Parents and students have a choice of handing the care package directly to an individual in need or to add it to our group donation to a homeless shelter. Regardless of the choice 100% of the resources will be donated to this student driven cause.
Students were so excited when the materials came in because they are anxious to get these donations out. Kids are truly kind hearted and are always willing to give, this not being the exception. Many of our students walk by individuals experiencing homelessness on their way to and from school and have had someone in mind to gift their care package to. Now that our packages are complete students are ready to take action.
Besides creating and donating these care packages we are learning about homelessness as a whole. We will be researching the different causes of this epidemic, how individuals and families are affected and will also be brainstorming possible solutions for this worldwide problem. Our goal is that students understand that experiencing homelessness has many layers attached to it, that it's a product of certain circumstances and we want them to understand different perspectives around this issue. Our students are our future and by teaching them about the real world through service our hope is that they become the leaders to drive social change.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by The Home Shows Coalition and 8 other donors.Bringing Our Projects and Stories to Life Part 2
Funded Dec 19, 2018Thank you for your generosity and kindness. With this donation we now have enough headphones for each student in the classroom. Headphones are not just for listening to music, gaming or for watching videos. They have become a staple in the classroom as an accessory tool for our chromebooks and iPads. Many of our assessments and student surveys come with audio accommodations that dictate text to students therefore now every single one of my students has access to that accommodation. We often research student lead topics and projects therefore the headphones allow students to focus on their individual research topics. Some research educational videos on their topics, some sample clips, and some just need to flush out the noise to focus on their work and the headphones allow for this.
At the moment students are working on their service project about the experience of homelessness. They are driving the questions and learning and students are using different resources to do online research. With a class set of headphones students now choose and can walk up to pick up a set when they need them in their research journey. Students will be completing a publishing project through our classroom iPads so these headphones will also help with the editing process.
My students are simply excited that they now each have a set and choice to use them when they need a pair. There's no need to schedule time now for small group usage and we can now all be working on the same project when the time is given. Surprisingly, for my quieter students this has been a greater gift for them since they get to focus on their work and block out the classroom distractors with their new headphones. Thank you for providing these tools in our classroom, we are truly thankful!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
Help Send Us To The LA Chinatown Firecracker Run
Funded Jan 8, 2019First and foremost thank you for providing the means to send a special group of students to this year's LA Chinatown Firecracker Run. It was truly an amazing experience to remember for our students/runners, parents and teachers. Five of our students ran the 10K and eleven students ran the 5K in a very challenging course that included inclines in the heart of LA. Every single runner crossed the finish line to a group of cheering parents and supporters.
The students that participated are part of our school running club and have been training for the past few months. The 10K course is particularly challenging because of the steep inclines but all of our runners were able to complete the race with decent times. Furthermore every single one of our runners crossed the finish line with a smile and a feeling of accomplishment. It's one of my favorite events as their running coach to participate in.
For most students, this was their first firecracker run and they all said they wanted to do this again. That's what really counts, the fact that students want to continue running and continue participating in local runs. We want students to continue their lives in healthy ways and movement is important. We will celebrate our runners at our next monthly assembly for this great accomplishment and hopefully continue this tradition for years to come. Thank you to donors like yourselves these opportunities are a reality.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and 5 other donors.Running to the Sound of Music!
Funded Aug 22, 2018Thanks to your kind donations our running club kicked off our running season with a bang! We started our running club last week and inaugurated our brand new speaker. With this speaker we play kid friendly music every Thursday and Friday as our students run lap after lap trying to accomplish their Marathon Kids goals. Through our running club and Marathon Kids our students have set a goal to run 4 complete marathons through the course of the school year. That's 104.8 miles, a difficult feet to accomplish. This season with the addition of our speaker we hope this final goal will be easier to attain through the sound of music. We play music to help us with our warm ups and cool down. We then set a playlist that is energetic and contagious to keep our students pumped and motivated while they run, jog and/or walk. It made quite a difference this year, students were signing along, dancing and running faster with the addition of fun music. Thank you once again for supporting our running club, most importantly our students' quest for a healthier life style. We appreciate you and happy running!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 3 other donors.Books, Learning Important And Fun Facts Through Informational Text
Funded Jan 26, 2018Thank you for choosing our classroom and providing us with more reading opportunities. My students love books, love to read and can't get enough books. Students are working on close reading strategies through the use of informational text. Through informational text and these new books I'm teaching students how to tackle specific vocabulary and how to read using all the features of informational text. More importantly we are learning how to annotate to extract important and interesting facts as well as citing evidence from the text to support reasoning. These are important strategies and tools needed in the implementation of Common Core Standards. The strategies learned through the use of these books are also supporting our writing process as we are also focusing on informational and argumentative writing. Some students have chosen topics from the books donated to focus on in their writing. We read everyday and in two languages therefore the more books we have the better. Thank to your generosity our library is growing and we love it!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 6 other donors.STEAM: Let's Reduce Climate Change Through The Arts
Funded Dec 6, 2017Thank you for your generous donations in supporting a very special project for my students and I. The resources donated are being used to help create Public Service Announcements to teach our community about climate change and its impact on natural disasters. Students are working in groups to focus on a specific natural disaster, creating a story board, creating props and and filming using school provided iPads. Their message is to teach their peers and community about the harsh effects climate change is having and continues to have on natural disaster. With the earphones donated student will record, edit and publish their PSAs. With the art materials donated student are working on their backdrops, characters and props to use while filming. This is a grade level project and students are also getting an opportunity to work with grade level peers. In the next month when students complete and publish their PSAs we plan on holding a premier night. We will invite parents and community members to our red carpet event in which students will share their final PSAs. As educators we are developing our future leaders and policy makers. Exposing, teaching and working with topics such as climate change will hopefully spark a passion for change within our youth and the community around us. Our students were so excited to get these resources and are excited to present their final projects very soon. Thank you, we appreciate you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 2 other donors.