Past projects 3
Playful Linguistics - Games for Language Acquisition!
Funded Dec 18, 2023Thank you so much for your generous donations. Games are such a great way to engage learners. My students love all of the games. We have some games specifically for learning phonics for my younger students and my students who are newcomers to the United States. They are excited when I pick them up for their small groups.
Students who have been playing the phonics games have improved their letter naming, phonemic awareness, and letter sound identification. An added benefit for my students when they play the phonics games is building their vocabulary. For English learners, building their vocabulary while developing a strong reading foundation is crucial.
Another type of game my students love are the memory match games and question games. These games are great for building vocabulary and practicing speaking skills. For newcomers, the more they practice speaking the more confidence they gain. The questioning games are especially important because some students struggle with asking questions. These games provide a format for asking and answering questions.
Finally, some of the games we have are critical thinking games, but my students just view these games as fun. It's been great to see a new side of my students' personalities come out when they play competitive games.
I'm so grateful to have new materials to use with my students, and my students are as well.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kirby
Equipping English Language Learners for Success
Funded Feb 10, 2018Thank you for the Chromebooks, printer, laminator, markers and other materials.
Using the Chromebooks with my English Language Learners allows them to play learning games online to improve reading and writing. The Chromebooks also allow students at different levels to simultaneously engage in materials suited to their specific level. The learning games work for students of all ages and skill levels. My youngest students and my newest English Language Learners are able to use online games to improve their skills matching sounds with the corresponding letter. As they progress, they can move on to games where they match spoken words to written words. Then they can move on to games where they rearrange words in a sentence to put them in the correct order. Eventually, they use the Chromebooks to complete reading comprehension and writing assignments.
Chromebooks also allow students to use an online voice recording site which lets them speak and record information. They can then listen to their own speaking and improve with practice. They can keep a copy of their recordings, along with their written work, in Google Classroom, so they can track their progress through the school year. Using Google Classroom allows me to provide individualized, practical, written feedback in real time while working with several students at once.
The color printer, laminator and paper cutter have been invaluable in my work with my youngest students and my newest English Language Learners. Being able to make flash cards and bingo boards that are engaging and long lasting, allows us to work on repetition. With repetition, comes mastery and progress toward the goal of becoming proficient in English.
My students are most excited about using the laptops for learning games. They come into the classroom on a regular basis and ask if they get to play games each day. The games and activities on the computer are so engaging, they don't realize they are learning. My youngest students like having the bright, colorful flashcards to move around. They also hold up the flashcards to ask their classmates about the picture that is on the card. This promotes learning how to ask questions as well as how to answer questions in the classroom. This also encourages the youngest students to use short sentences when answering questions. This eventually leads to writing about the pictures on the flash cards.
In addition to helping students improve their reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in our ESOL class and on their English proficiency assessment, these materials are likely to help them on other standardized tests like i-Ready and PARCC. These tests are computer based, so having the laptops allows the students to get used to using computers throughout the year for practice on low stakes assessments which better prepares them for high stakes assessments later in the year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kirby
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 23 other donors.Namaste - Free Your Mind (And The Mindfulness Will Follow)
Funded Nov 9, 2015Our weekly yoga sessions are going very well. We started small with a committed core group of students. As the weeks have gone on we were joined by coaches and members of the baseball and women's lacrosse teams for pre-season conditioning. Many of the students had never done yoga prior to City's yoga club, but they have enjoyed the benefits of better sleep, stress reduction and increased focus in class.
Benefits of Participating in the Yoga Program:
"Academically, Yoga has allowed me to persevere through challenges that come with school being over for seniors in a couple of months." - 12th grade female
"The following day I felt much calmer in class, and completed my assignments with ease." 10th grade female
"It has helped me focus on my health and not focus on minutia." - teacher
"Increased physical strength, better mood." - 11th grade female
"I feel more calm." - 10th grade male
"My body feels better and I have more energy." - 11th grade male
"A happier/ simple state of mind." - 9th grade male
I'm grateful to the yoga instructors who have volunteered their time each week and to all of you who made this program happen.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kirby