Past projects 32
Purified Air During COVID
Funded Oct 22, 2020My new air purifier came today and my students and I were so excited! It's small enough that it doesn't draw attention to itself, and doesn't make a ton of noise. My homeroom class barely noticed it today when they came in, and when I told them what it was they were all so excited. I have many students with asthma or other breathing issues, so them knowing that I was taking extra steps to make sure they remained safe helped them feel safe.
The air purifier came at the perfect time, we have had to quarantine some of our students at my school and it has made a lot of my students very anxious. So it's presence made my students relax for one of the first times I've seen. They were more comfortable and found the room less stuffy. They love how quiet it is, as well as the fact that just it's presence keeps us safer.
For my students we have a few things coming next. One group of students is working on Study Skills and how to be more successful in school and in their future education. Another group of students (my English Language Learners) are jumping into learning English. My homeroom is working on character building and growing our community.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Q
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 3 other donors.Bouncy Bands for Bouncy Middle Schoolers
Funded Dec 29, 2019First of all, thank you so much for the bouncy bands. It's been such an amazing impact on my students. All 28 of my desks have bouncy bands now, and many kids who struggle with attention issues are begging that I put them in all of their classes. My third hour class is called Academic Perseverance, which are students who don't need reading or math intervention, and I try to focus on keeping it low stress with real life situations to help them. They were so excited when the bouncy bands showed up, and we spent all class setting them up together. It was really cool to see them all working together, and some of the quieter kids were masters at assembling them!
Many of my students have never seen the bouncy bands before, but once they start using them they become almost addicted. Now, partially because of the bouncy bands, I have many students eat lunch in my classroom because they feel like the bouncy bands help them be themselves without getting in trouble for constantly moving. I have what I call lunch club, and the kids are constantly moving their feet on their bands. My students are always using them, and they treat them with such care, it's amazing to see how invested they are in them.
What's next in my classroom is a lot of things! We're currently working on learning about citizenship, as many of my seventh graders are interested in a trip to Washington DC. We are partnering with an organization called CloseUp in hopes to take at least 20 kids to Washington DC in the summer of 2020. This may sound cheesy but the bouncy bands you helped provide my students have allowed them to feel truly valued in my class, and that who they are is important and okay. We've been having conversations around how even when our brains are wired differently like ADHD, we can come up with ways of coping that help us. My students are so grateful, as am I, and I've already seen such an improvement in focus. Thank you for supporting my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Q
This classroom project was brought to life by Kaplan Early Learning Company and 8 other donors.