Past projects 46
Students Have a Voice, Help Them AMPLIFY It
Funded Jul 25, 2016Today's teachers are challenged unlike any teachers before us to prepare students for a world that we cannot yet comprehend. The only way that we can do this as educators is to keep learning ourselves - through vigorous and targeted "Professional Development" opportunities. A great way to work together on our campus is through book-studies of current educational literature, and for this reason I wrote this proposal for the "Amplify" book.
"Amplify" is written by teachers, for teachers and provides great lesson ideas to build 21st Century learning opportunities for our students. The book's goal is to build "literacy, independence, and critical thinking." On our campus 20 K-4th grade teachers read the book at our book study and developed lessons with students and technology in mind.
The book shared positive things that you can learn through social media. Our first lesson used our campus Twitter page @ALX_Adventurers to participate in Kid President's "Socktober" challenge. Our campus is over 80% free-lunch, but that doesn't stop our students from giving back. Socks are the least donated and most needed winter item at national homeless shelters. We set our goal at 200 pairs of socks, and we collected 538 pairs of socks that were donated to 2 local shelters. It was a great lesson in philanthropy and students used social media for real-world reading and writing lesson opportunities.
The "Amplify" book encourages you to use the Internet to talk with "experts" in their fields. Our Science teachers commented that students were struggling with learning concepts about weather. We reached out to a local weatherman on social media and he came to our school to give a great weather lesson to all of our 3rd and 4th graders.
In this election climate, teachers have been talking about bullying. Through an "Amplify" lesson and searches on social media, our "STEM" club came up with the idea to create "Buddy Benches." A "Buddy Bench" is a bench where students who are feeling left out at recess can sit on, and then everyone is trained to be a "bench watcher" and invite those kids to play. We're at the early stages of bench development, but excited about the lessons.
As you can see, lessons from the "Amplify" book have brought great things to our campus this year, and those lessons will continue. We cannot thank you enough for your generous donation and for supporting schools like ours on the amazing DonorsChoose. Follow us on Twitter @ALX_Adventurers for more "Amplify" updates.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
From Storage Closet To Science Lab: #MakeItWork
Funded Nov 20, 2015As you teach a child to read, add numbers, tie her shoes - you notice a glow of new learning in her eyes. Often you can watch the learning exchange as it unfolds; the child will change from timid, to curious, to determined and finally bask in the warmth of accomplishment. It's like watching them open a present with wonder. As a teacher I am blessed everyday by a bit of that "Christmas Morning" feeling; I have a front-row seat to the magic of new learning and it's the best feeling in the world.
Thank you for providing amazing resources that stoke the fire of the learning experience for my students. The large digital clock means that we're on-time and can conduct more precise lab experiments. The refrigerator/freezer combo has helped us learn about changes to matter, create jell-O earthquake models and even keep 1500 ladybugs dormant until could get them into new homes.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting my students, classroom, and teachers like me around the country through the amazing DonorsChoose.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Growing Budding STEM Learners into Blossoming Scientists!
Funded Oct 11, 2013As you teach a child to read, add numbers, tie her shoes - you notice a glow of new learning in her eyes. Often you can watch the learning exchange as it unfolds; the child will change from timid, to curious, to determined and finally bask in the warmth of accomplishment. It's like watching them open a present with wonder. As a teacher I am blessed everyday by a bit of that "Christmas Morning" feeling; I have a front-row seat to the magic of new learning and it's the best feeling in the world.
Thank you generous donors for providing amazing resources that stoke the fire of the learning experience for my students. We received enough Science materials to enhance EVERY learning unit from the human body through the solar system. The Lakeshore Learning kits contain hands-on STEM experiments and up to 40 different lessons in each box, many of which students can do independently, fostering team work and engagement. The video camera has been a blessing to my students; we can record lab investigations and play them back at a later date for review and attach clips to the website to show families what we're working on in class.
For teachers, sometimes the littlest things are the big things. The office supplies have been a godsend. I don't need to worry about sharp pencils or chart markers - I have them all thanks to you.
Hopefully DonorsChoose will add a video link someday; you would have loved to see the excitement in my students as they opened and explored the learning kits. That look, that feeling of true learning â utterly priceless. Your generous spirit gave me and my students the gift of amazing resources, but in reality - you gave to me twice, once for them and twice for the gleam in their eyes that I will get to see each time we use these materials. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting my students, classroom, and teachers like me around the country through the amazing DonorsChoose.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Rrrraaaaarrr! It's Sciencesaurus!
Funded Oct 10, 2012Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." Hope is powerful, and my hope for the future of my students fuels my drive to make every day in the classroom count. Chevron, you have "fueled" me even more by providing your generous gift of 25 copies of "ScienceSaurus" to my Science Lab and school. Thank you; I am so grateful for your sweet gift!
This is my 3rd year as the campus Science Specialist and I teach in the lab dubbed the "Adventure Math and Science Lab." Students from all grades K-4 come to my lab to do different investigations. I also meet with the teachers to help them plan Science lessons in their classes.
I've learned to do a lot to get my student engaged in Science since being placed on my campus by Teach for America in 2006. Yet, one thing I haven't been able to always overcome is our overall lack of academic resources. This is especially hard in Science, where all the main assessments focus on students' ability to read and decipher non-fiction text. As I explained in my grant proposal, our current textbooks are garbage. They are more useful to use to prop open doors than teach Science. I tell my teachers that they don't even need to check them out at the beginning of the year, unless they are needed for work while a substitute is teaching. According to the Texas legislature, it is not likely that we receive new textbooks until 2015. Now in all honestly, most of the Science work in elementary school is hands-on investigations, but the upper grades need some sort of supplemental text. Thanks to you, we now have it! I promise you that since the day we pulled them out of the box I have been putting every single ScienceSaurus to excellent use with my students.
Our big focus this year has been connecting Science and literacy, after all a good reader can process the non-fiction text and writing that we do in class much better than a student who struggles in reading. To focus on literacy, we have been keeping interactive Science notebooks in every grade this year. Many teachers were slightly hesitant of using the notebook because they believed it would be a lot of work to keep up with them. Yet, we have found they have turned into a fabulous teaching tool, and students are using them to have an on-going dialog about Science with their teachers. Now having a class set of the ScienceSaurus books makes the process of learning academic information and completing research even better and easier for students. The books have bright pictures, great web extension lessons, and information that the kids can locate and consume independently. You'll notice in the photos that the students are using the books to study the patterns of Earth, and the layers of soil, and that's just in the week we've had them! The potential of your generous gift is endless in my classroom and for all of the students at my school in grades 2 and 3.
Thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift of the ScienceSaurus books. They have enriched my classroom instruction and the learning of my students. Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderful DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine.
Thank You, Chevron!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Fantastically-Fabulous Foldables!
Funded Apr 21, 2012Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
My students and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the kindness that you have shown us with your generous gift of the "Astrobrights Color Paper." I, especially, don't know how to thank you enough for supporting my Science classroom. I promise you that I have been putting every single sheet of paper provided by your goodwill to excellent use with my students.
This is my 3rd year as the campus Science Specialist and I teach in the lab dubbed the "Adventure Math and Science Lab." Students from all grades K-4 come to my lab to do different investigations. I also meet with the teachers to help them plan Science lessons in their classes. I've been on my campus since being placed there by Teach for America in the fall of 2006.
Our big focus this year has been connecting Science and literacy, after all a good reader can process the non-fiction text and writing that we do in class much better than a student who struggles in reading. To focus on literacy, we have been keeping interactive Science notebooks in every grade this year. To get students excited about using their notebooks, I created a PowerPoint that discussed famous scientists and how they use their notebooks and notably that not everything in notebooks are just notes on paper. Many famous inventors insert photos, scraps of paper, and even napkins with ideas into their scientific notebooks.
Enter -- your amazing gift! Many teachers were slightly hesitant of using the notebook because they believed it would be a lot of work to keep up with them. Yet, we have found they have turned into a fabulous teaching tool, and students are using them to have an on-going dialog about Science with their teachers. The bright colors of the paper instantly make the notebooks and investigations more interesting for students. Teachers have found that letting the students select their own color paper gives them ownership of the investigations and their notebooks. Students that resist doing assignments are suddenly intrigued because they get to complete it on florescent pink, green, blue, yellow, or orange paper! In my lab, and in the classroom, we've also allowed students to choose their own methods of creating foldables, holding them accountable for the lesson information, and not the way that they choose to display it. We have seen wonderful thinking maps, mind maps, and foldables created with the help of the bright colored paper. In the pictures you see students creating solar system, water cycle, weather, and nature pattern foldables but we have used it for so much more!
Thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift of the brilliantly bright paper, it has enriched my classroom instruction and the learning of my students. Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderful DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine.
Thank You! Bless You!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Sharpener That Actually Sharpens Pencils Please!
Funded Dec 30, 2011May 2012
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
My students and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the kindness that you have shown us with your generous gift of the fabulous Westcott iPoint School Electronic Sharpener. This is probably the most effective product in my classroom! It's reliable and always sharpens pencils to a perfect point! I don't know how to thank you enough for supporting my students. I promise you that I have been putting the sharpener to good use!
This is my second year as the campus Science Specialist and I teach in the lab dubbed the "University Math and Science Lab." Our campus has worked hard to get our students focused on a future that includes a college education. Our lab is also home to our beloved school pet CoCo, the chocolate-colored guinea pig. When students come to the lab, they often do not have supplies. Finding writing instruments can take vital instruction time away from my classroom, but even more if pencils aren't sharpened and ready to use. Being a science classroom we also do a lot of drawing during investigations, and my 3rd and 4th graders feel that they are "too old" for crayons, but color pencils can be frustrating. Yet, with your beautiful gift, my problems have been solved. We now always have sharpened pencils ready to go! This can save me as much as 10 minutes of instructional time per class, and that time adds up!
We have done many exciting lab lessons with the help of your sharpener. All grades K-4 did a matter lab where they investigated solids, liquids, and gases. We also did a snow lab where we hydrated "instant snow" which was a big treat to my Texas students who have not encountered snow. For live specimen studies, we observed lady bugs, goldfish, butterflies, and meal worms in the lab and documented all of the work with the gifted pencils.
Again, although I may be getting repetitive, thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift the best sharpener in the world! While it might seem like such a small thing, it was truly a huge gift to us, and I will be able to make use of it for years to come. You have touched my heart with your generosity, and I wish you many blessings.
Thank You!
PS: Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderfully-amazing DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine. I truly don't know what I would do without their amazing support and resources. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Newsweek: "Brain's Super-food is Learning New Languages!"
Funded Jan 12, 2012May 2012
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
My students and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the kindness that you have shown us with your generous gift the Rosetta Stone Spanish learning software. I don't know how to thank you enough for supporting my students. I promise you that I have been putting the software to good use!
Students love the program and showing off their newly-polished Spanish skills. We have a high population of Spanish speaking students, so other students without the background are ecstatic to be able to converse in even short phrases with their peers. They feel empowered by their new knowledge and as a teacher I don't think you can feel any better than when you see students from all different places uniting together in new learning.
Again thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift Rosetta Stone. While it might seem like such a small thing, it was truly a huge gift to us, and I will be able to make use of them next year as well. Each and every one of you has touched my heart and the hearts of my students with your generosity.
Thank You! Many blessings! XXOO
PS: Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderfully-amazing DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine. I truly don't know what I would do without their amazing support and resources.
”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and one other donor.Pencils Please!
Funded Dec 6, 2011May 2012
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
My students and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the kindness that you have shown us with your generous gift of 540 high-quality Ticonderoga pencils. I don't know how to thank you enough for supporting my Science classroom. I promise you that I have been putting the pencils provided by your goodwill to excellent use with my students.
This is my second year as the campus Science Specialist and I teach in the lab dubbed the "University Math and Science Lab." Our campus has worked hard to get our students focused on a future that includes a college education. Our lab is also home to our beloved school pet CoCo, the chocolate-colored guinea pig. When students come to the lab, they often do not have supplies. Finding writing instruments can take vital instruction time away from my classroom, but with your gift, I now always have pencils ready! This can save me as much as 10 minutes of instructional time per class.
We have done many exciting lab lessons with the help of your pencils. All grades K-4 did a matter lab where they investigated solids, liquids, and gases. We also did a snow lab where we hydrated "instant snow" which was a big treat to my Texas students who have not encountered snow. For live specimen studies, we observed lady bugs, goldfish, butterflies, and meal worms in the lab and documented all of the work with the gifted pencils.
Again, although I may be getting repetitive, thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift of pencils. While it might seem like such a small thing, it was truly a huge gift to us, and I will be able to make use of them next year as well. Each and every one of you has touched my heart with your generosity.
Thank You!
PS: Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderfully-amazing DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine. I truly don't know what I would do without their amazing support and resources. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
CoCo Needs a Home!
Funded Dec 31, 2011May 2012 Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr. My students and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the kindness that you have shown us with your generous gift of the "Super Pet: My First Home Guinea Pig Kit." I, especially, don't know how to thank you enough for supporting my Science classroom. I promise you that I have been putting all of the materials provided by your goodwill to excellent use with my students. This is my second year as the campus Science Specialist and I teach in the lab dubbed the "University Math and Science Lab." Our lab is home to our beloved school pet CoCo, the chocolate-colored guinea pig. We inherited CoCo from another school that couldn't support her because of a student's allergy problem. When she came to our school, I placed her in an old plastic container and I cut a hole in the side for a makeshift water bottle. It was not a perfect situation, but my students love watching and playing with CoCo so we made it work. I had hoped that we would have budget money to purchase a real cage for CoCo, but when it came down to it, we just couldn't find the funds. I turned to the fabulous people at www.donorschoose.org and they found you! I couldn't believe how quickly the grant was funded; as we say in Texas, "y'all are amazing!" We have used CoCo's cage to discuss habitats, living and non-living things, and what animals need to survive. With the younger grades we have also practiced how to correctly (softly & safely) pet an animal. The cage has an easy access door so that I can reach CoCo and present her to students. The space in the cage bars also allows many students to gather around and look at her, whereas they were not able to do that with the old container. The cage also came with a supply of food and bedding, which helped us save additional money. CoCo has become the campus "rockstar" in her new cage. The cage fits perfectly on an old TV cart that I found in a storage room. This means that I can wheel CoCo's cage into other classrooms for a visit. This has been a crucial help with end-of-year behavior management! Every classroom gets a page with a picture of 10 guinea pigs. When the class is doing a nice job in the hallway, playing nicely at recess, or overall doing a great job, the teacher can decide to circle one of the guinea pigs. When the class has circled all 10, CoCo gets to spend the day in their classroom as the "honored guest." The students love this and it has become a very powerful (and teachable!) incentive. Again, although I may be getting repetitive, thank you so much for blessing my students with your gift of a home for CoCo. The cage and supplies are a wonderful resource to have in the classroom, and I'm sure I will use them for years to come! Please, please, please keep supporting the wonderful DonorsChoose.org and the classrooms around the country just like mine. Thank You!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin
Help Turn Math Frowns Upside-Down!!!
Funded Jul 30, 2008Thank you for your wonderful gift to my classroom. I'm so excited about having these games to use with my students, and I've already been up late typing lesson plans to go with the games because I'm so "giddy" about using them. There just aren't many "bright spots" at my school, but these games will add color and enjoyment to the learning of my 3rd graders. Our first day of school isn't until August 25th, but rest-assured you will receive glowing thank you notes from all of my students after the beginning of the year. Thank you for opening up your heart and your wallet to my needy learners!
Peace,
Sarah ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Milianta-Laffin