Past projects 35
Flexible Seating, Help Us Stay Focused On Learning!
Funded Dec 25, 2017I can't thank you enough for your generous donations. These resources have really made a difference in the way my classroom operates. It's a difficult task for students to sit for hours straight while learning content, which is the reason I requested these resources. When the yoga balls, kick bands, cushions and colored pillows arrived students' faces immediately lit up. They wanted to use everything right away. I explained that these resources were new learning tools that would help us concentrate and focus on what's most important, which is learning. I implemented flexible seating arrangements and student choice so that students can move around a bit while in the classroom. I was nervous about 'letting go,' but to my surprise the transition went well overall. I told students that these resources came with responsibility and that for them to remain in the classroom they'd need to share, take turns and prioritize learning. In the few weeks that we have implemented our flexible seating I've noticed a difference where students are on task, participating, asking questions and genuinely happy. We've had moments in which students have let go of their kick band and/or cushion for someone who has yet to use one. They're learning to share while in the process. The classroom should be fun, should be a comfortable space and students should feel free. These resources definitely help create such a space. Thank you once again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
Help Us Promote and Expand Our Recycling Program!
Funded Sep 17, 2017My students and I would like to extend our gratitude towards your generous donations. Your donations have helped us expand our recycling program and now every classroom at our school is on board and helping our environment. Each classroom is now equipped with a blue recycling bin for any and all materials they can reasonably recycle. The trash bags are helping us stay organized and recycle frequently. Students utilized the markers, colored pencils and paper to design camping signs to encourage everyone to recycle for the good of our environment and for the importance of sustainability.
Our students are well aware of the positive impact a recycling program can have on our local and global community. They reacted with excitement once I unpacked the resources because it meant our recycling program would expand with ease. The recycling program at our school is pretty much student driven. I help facilitate the organizing of materials and the trips to the recycling center. Students decide where the funds go and do research on how foundations are being helped with those recycling funds. Funds go back to foundations that promote and support sustainability.
It's a joy to see them become responsible global citizens and take action on topics that matter to them. Our students know that by recycling they are helping the environment by lessening the trash problem. More importantly they know they are directly impacting animal lives who are greatly affected by the plastic problem around the world.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Tom's of Maine and 2 other donors.Becoming Competitive And Agile Runners!
Funded Aug 30, 2017First and foremost thank you for your generosity in donating these wonderful resources for our after school running club. About 85 Kinder through 5th grade students participate in our running club with a goal to increase students' overall health and to have the opportunity to participate in something positive after school. Our participants have opportunities to participate in community/local 5K and 10K runs. For these opportunities we need to train our core group to become agile, competitive and to be able to endure the conditions of each run. The skill sets, jump ropes and batons all play a crucial role in supporting our students endurance and overall performance as runners. When we first received the materials students were super excited to get started and try them out. We stretch, warm up and train with these resources during our running club and we've seen students more focused on meeting personal goals. Our end of the year goal is for students to complete a total of 4 marathons over the entire school year. That's a total of 104.8 miles over the course of this academic year. These resources will definitely help us reach this goal. Thank you and happy running!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and 2 other donors.Promoting An Optimal Learning Environment Through Cleanliness and Health
Funded Jul 17, 2017When both students and teachers are healthy the learning environment is optimal. Students that are healthy are more alert, energetic and focused on learning. Furthermore, less school days are missed due to illness when the classroom is germ free. Antibacterial wipes are optimal for cleaning our desks and chairs on a weekly basis and therefore significantly reduce the amount of germs. Flu season is around the corner and when a few kids get ill, it can rapidly spread. The donations received will help us control possible flu epidemics and will teach us valuable lessons on cleanliness and proper hygiene practices. Practices I hope translate to the home and that students continue implementing with their families. Thank you once again donors!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by The Clorox Company and 3 other donors.Media Literacy In A Bilingual Classroom
Funded Jul 7, 2017Since the transition to common core reading and reading instruction have been enhanced to better support our students' learning. Part of this transition is the need to increase our students' exposure to grade level informational text. Through reader's workshop I use the books donated to teach close reading and comprehension strategies suitable for non fiction text. Students learn to read through new vocabulary. Students also learn to use different text features like the table of contents, glossary, index , diagrams and maps. Students learn to synthesize these features to comprehend dense informational text. Students love these books because of the many imagines and diagrams attached to the text but more importantly because they are learning fun facts as they are strengthening their reading abilities. A plus to our bilingual classroom is that these books came in Spanish to support our learning in two languages. Thank you again to all those who donated to this special project!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by News Corp and 4 other donors.Depicting The Immigrant Experience Through Storytelling
Funded Jul 12, 2017My students write everyday and publish several stories throughout the year. Last year we received chromebooks for our students and they are now publishing their work digitally. We had a basic black and white printer for our students to print their work but it didn't do their work justice, especially when they included photographs and diagrams in their writing. Last year they interviewed their parents, researched their countries of origins. Their final projects included portraits and maps but unfortunately our old printer didn't depict the images clearly. With the addition of a colored printer my students are more excited and motivated to write and publish their work. This years' project will include a similar trajectory but my students will story tell their own migration stories. Many of my students are immigrants themselves or children of immigrants and have wonderful stories to tell in the quest for the American dream. I'd like them to trace migration paths and depict them not only in their writing but in their diagrams and pictures as well. More importantly I'd like them to take away that their stories matter, that they matter and that they are an important addition to the melting pot that is this country is. They are the future of this country and I'd like to instill this to them at an early age. The journals and pens have helped in the drafting process as the students collect their ideas and plan their stories. We are grateful for your kind donations and kind hearts as we become authors and storytellers of our wonderful journeys.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 3 other donors.Football And Fútbol: Both Promote Sportsmanship!
Funded Mar 29, 2017Thank you once again for your generous donations. Thanks to those donations my students now have more PE equipment to play their favorite sports. These extra resources also allow the class more opportunities to have several games going on simultaneously. We can have two mini soccer games going on at the same time as well as two football games. It allows for choice because students have individual interests when it comes to playing sports. With the added pennies our teams can be distinguished from each other and avoid problems on the field. It creates a more organized playing field thus promoting team work and good sportsmanship. The goal posts are also small enough for us to carry to field trips and allow us to enjoy the outdoors when traveling and exploring outside of the school. With the football resources my students are learning a new sport, the rules and are being exposed to other interests they may partake in as they get older. More importantly it allows us to continue promoting the importance of physical activity and healthy living. When we inculcate this to our students in the early years they'll lead healthier lives as they get older.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and 2 other donors.STEAM: Tackling Environmental Justice Through The Arts
Funded Mar 29, 2017First and foremost thank you for your generosity and for choosing to support public education. My classroom has been going green for the last 4 or 5 years. We have a recycling program and constantly think of ways to help our environment and sustainability. With the many curricular needs and mandates arts education is always getting cut. I wanted to integrate art in our ongoing effort to educate our students and families about our responsibility in sustaining this wonderful planet. What better way then with a STEAM project. With the acetate students researched and learned about alternatives to plastic usage and experimented with a material that is biodegradable. Students used the acetate to make wind catchers that depict the self, their dreams and the universe. Using the printing ink and brayers students made prints to depict an environmental or social cause the are really passionate about. I must say I was very impressed with the final outcome because every single one of them was unique, individual and shared a powerful message. My students love art and wanted to get their hands on the art supplies right away. It was interesting in this case to see students interact and create powerful message through the arts. As we conclude the school year I'd like to expand this project to include solutions to some of their causes. We identified some environmental and social challenges. Great, now how can we as responsible citizens create solutions to these problems? Let's see how creative we get. Thank you again for believing in our youth.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 5 other donors.Bilingual Media Literacy: Supporting Facts With Evidence
Funded Feb 21, 2017Thanks to your generous donations our classroom library is expanding with great non fiction titles. Reading is fundamental and I've said it plenty of times before. With the increase in STEM jobs and businesses non fiction text is key in preparing students to become life long readers and learners. Whether they are making an argument, researching a new topic or having a conversation students should always back up their statements with evidence. These text are are not only allowing us to explore a wide variety of topics but they are filing our students' buckets with facts. Facts that students can now use in their academic lives. With these books students are learning about the different characteristics that information text include like diagrams, timelines, table of contents, glossaries and indexes to name a few. They are learning to utilize these characteristics in their research as well as how to apply it in their own informational writing. Students are participating in reading workshop and choose their own titles to read weekly. As soon as I added these new titles to our library they flew like hot cakes. Students are excited to have new titles to read and to explore. They have book bags in which they choose different titles every week and read daily after mini lessons that teach different reading skills throughout the week. Thanks to these additional books students have more choices to read.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by News Corp and 4 other donors.Family/Immigrant Stories Told Through Still and Live Images Part 2
Funded Jan 13, 2017First, thank you for your upmost generosity in choosing our classroom for your donation. We are sincerely grateful and excited about our newest classroom resources. Technology has now become an educational necessity that helps our students explore, research, present and learn at an entire different level. Thanks to these opportunities my students now have access to such technological resources that will allow them to compete with other students around the world. These two additional Chromebooks and Insta Cameras have allowed more of my students an opportunity to utilize technology daily through the use of google classroom and the many apps that come with the Chromebooks. Specifically, we are guaranteed to complete our immigration projects in the next month or so. All of my students have had the opportunity to take the cameras home and capture portraits of their family members. They have all completed their interviews and are currently working on their transcriptions and immigrant profiles. It is truly exciting to watch their reactions as they learn about their families quest to the US and how they are able to explore and virtually travel to their origins through the use of technology.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Andrade
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 3 other donors.