Past projects 14
Build, Create, Act, and Learn!
Funded Mar 17, 2016Dear Friends,
We can't thank you enough for your generous donations to our classroom. The students absolutely LOVE their new centers! Most of our English language learners did not have experience creating, building, and pretending before theses materials arrived. The evolution has been miraculous! They are creating robots and spaceships and castles with their Lego's. They love to create and feel the texture of the sand table. The light table gives the children an opportunity to work with the Magna-Tiles. Students can explore ideas with 3-dimensional shapes. Our children love the wooden blocks and can create beautiful structures with their tools. The drama center is the students' favorite center to go to. We have had a pretend pizzeria, a vet clinic, a post office, and a fairy tale center. This center in particular helps our English language learners develop their listening and speaking skills. We are amazed at the progress they've made and they don't even realize how much they are learning.
Your contributions have made an enormous contribution in our classroom! We are so grateful for your financial contributions but also your continued support and love for our English language learners.
Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Smith
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 9 other donors.Magna Tiles Help Master Creativity!
Funded May 20, 2015Our first grade students are absolutely in love with our new resources! The Magna-Tiles are one of their favorite centers to work with and the test partitions provide privacy for students who like to take a peek at their neighbors paper.
When the students saw the Magna-Tiles for the first time they screamed with delight. They couldn't wait to explore and build with their new learning tools. They are drawn to the colors of the tiles and the ability to build with the magnetic pieces. Students really love to create fabulous castles, cities, and boats. The possibilities are endless, like their imagination.
We are so grateful for your generous contributions. Our English language learners are making enormous progress and it is due to your encouragement, support, and financial contribution. We can't thank you enough and please know that your support means the world to us!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Smith
Energetic English Language Learners Need Technology!
Funded Nov 12, 2014Thank you all so much for your generous donations! The students love the tablets and look forward to using them every day. When they use the tablets, they are engaged, excited and involved in meaningful learning. It is a pleasure to see! We hear the students say, "this is so cool" , "awesome", and "I love this!".
We use the tablets during our literacy block in the morning. They play fun games to to strengthen their knowledge of letters, sounds and sight words. These tablets are especially useful for our English Language Learners. The students are able to listen to the sounds that letters make and hear sight words read and repeated. A favorite application is Endless Reader. Students manipulate letters to spell words, see and hear the word in a sentence and then watch silly monsters act out the sentence. Our ELL students benefit from the variety of exposures, in particular the auditory and visual.
Our gratitude can not be expressed in words. We have taught the children that the tablets are to be treated like babies and they are extremely careful and protective of them. The beautiful green covers protect the tablets as well. We are looking forward to using them for many years to come. Thank you again for supporting our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Smith
Interactive Whiteboard Will Help English Language Learners
Funded Mar 1, 2014It's impossible to express the gratitude we feel for the donations that provided us with our interactive whiteboard. The improvement in classroom engagement and involvement has been tremendous. The students LOVE to use the whiteboard and myself and the other teachers are SO excited to continue to pursue the endless possibilities this technology provides.
Our students, particularly our English language learners, are using the interactive whiteboard, to project a book that we are reading with the entire class. Now, all 31 students (even 60 kids when we combine our classes!) can see what we are reading and can see teachers demonstrating reading behaviors (tracking, using picture cues, decoding, etc.) This technology allows us to model instruction for all learners to see and comprehend. We are able to show videos that provide invaluable background knowledge to English language learners who might otherwise struggle to understand. The interactive feature of the board allows students to manipulate letters and make words. Students can study sight words by touching the word on the board and the board will 'read' it, use it in a sentence, and see a visual of what the word means. We've also used programs that translate vocabulary into the students' first languages. I'm only beginning to utilize the countless modalities this technology provides.
This project improved my instructional practice IMMENSELY because I'm able to provide visuals to English language learners that they would otherwise not understand. It also provides students a chance to physically manipulate and interact with the board, which improves retention and comprehension. Student learning and enthusiasm has been PHENOMENAL and our class will continue to succeed and achieve because of your contributions to this project. Thank you!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Smith