Past projects 19
Let the Games Begin!
Funded Aug 4, 2015Thank you so much for contributing to our project to purchase "pinnies" for our elementary physical education program. Students wear these during pays. ed. when the class is divided into teams. In the past, it has been a bit difficult to play team sports at our school. Simply put, it's difficult to remember who is on your team when you're playing basketball if no one has the same color shirt! Now the yellow team can challenge the blue team, and the kids are having a lot of fun!
In addition to being fun for the kids, we can work with the children on a wide variety of interpersonal skills during team sports. Whether they are cooperating, planning a strategy, or being a gracious winner or loser, team sports teach kids critical life skills. These skills will benefit them throughout their lives.
Once again, thank you so much for your continued support of our children here at Valley Alternative.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
iPad2 for Professional Development
Funded Mar 6, 2015As the controversial Common Core national education standards are implemented in classrooms around the country, educators are charged with the responsibility of mastering not only the content of their lessons, but unique and untested methods of delivering instruction. This alternative approach to education requires a significant increase in the role of technology in the classroom. In these times of funding cutbacks and a misguided push for privatizing education through charter schools and voucher programs, public school teachers are saddled with enormous burdens that combine with the already existing, herculean task of educating children from a wide variety of socio-economic and literacy backgrounds.
It is thus a relief that organizations such as DonorsChoose.org exist. Without this support, I do not know how I could have access to new tech. Schools such as mine, which are supported by the federal Title 1 program, still use computers purchased a decade ago. Thank you so much for helping me in my efforts to deliver quality instruction to my students.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.Help! Our Laptop Died!
Funded Feb 18, 2015After months of struggling with a computer on it's last legs, our new laptop is up and running. We have you to thank for helping us reach our goal!
The laptop in our classroom is running from the very first bell until long after the buses have left the school. There are no many slide shows, audio tracks, websites, and video presentations that add an extra dimension to our lessons, that the laptop has to work overtime!
It's easy to say that, in a perfect world, schools would have enough money and teachers wouldn't have to beg for financial assistance. However in this world, we have generous and caring folks like you!
Thank you so much for your support.
Sincerely,
The Members of the Room F Community
Valley Alternative Magnet School”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
Help Me Boggle Their Minds!
Funded Feb 22, 2014When I was a kid, there was a time when we didn't have much. There was no couch or comfy chairs, just a pool raft on the floor in front of a television. Our beds were mattresses on the floor. What we did have was Boggle. For those who don't know, Boggle is a word game. There are 16 dice in a frame, and the dice have letters on them. Players shake the frame, so there are 16 new letters showing on the dice. The object of the game is to write down as many words as you can, words that no other player wrote down, in three minutes. What I didn't realize until later in life was how important playing that game was to my spelling skills. It is the classic game for learning while you're having fun. Now that my students have been introduced to Boggle, they are hooked! Thanks for helping me introduce them to this fantastic, old school game!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
This classroom project was brought to life by 100 Women in Hedge Funds and 11 other donors.Whatever Happened to Reading Books?
Funded Dec 16, 2013For many years, language arts programs have eliminated complete works in favor of basal readers. Students are reading parts of stories and short articles which are condensed into a 700-page text book. While this exposes students to a variety of literary styles, it completely eliminated the necessary experience a student has in school of reading an entire book, cover to cover. Teachers strive to nurture a love of reading, but are limited to a fifteen- to twenty-page segment of a novel they likely will never finish. The books I selected for my students very from humor to suspense to drama. They are memorable stories that have provided countless children with wonderful reading experiences. Thank you for contributing to this most worthy project!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Disney and 16 other donors.So Many Students, Only One Teacher!
Funded Oct 23, 2012It is really nice to know that there are some folks upon which you can always count to throw a little money at a school. Imagine trying to teach 28 nine-year-olds how to make a PowerPoint presentation, without the aid of a projector in the computer lab. Imagine running back and forth to each computer terminal, explaining the exact same task over and over again, maybe getting through one-fourth of a decent lesson before time expires. Then imagine doing that every Wednesday for three or four weeks! It really is an insurmountable task. Something as trivial as a $400 projector now seems priceless. I am not working up a sweat like I did in our "pre-projector" days, but I'd bet you would be mighty impressed with my students' PowerPoints on influential American women.
Thanks Feris, Carolyn, Aida, Greg, Vicky, Romy, Kia Motors, General Growth Properties, and my good friend of 30 years, Darci. The "thank you" might seem like just good manners, but it means a lot more from where I sit.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Kia Motors America and 9 other donors.We Really Should Upgrade That Dell-osaurus.
Funded Mar 28, 2012 I truly don't know how I could have improved the technology in my classroom without the generous help of donors such as yourselves. With school budgets and teachers' salaries being slashed to ribbons, resources such as DonorsChoose, and civic-minded people such as yourselves, are an integral part of providing our children with the education they deserve. While a $700 computer might seem like a small component of the "Big Picture," the reality is that kids need to see improvements such as these. These types of contributions show our kids that we, as adults, think investing in their education is important. When students see us making such investments in their classrooms, I feel it reinforces in them the value of an education is recognized by everyone in our society”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
Help! Technology-Challenged Classroom Needs A Laptop!
Funded Feb 2, 2012Wow, that was fast! Thank you so much for contributing to our grant for the laptop computer. It really will make a huge difference in our lessons, and it will give me the chance to incorporate more engaging technology into the classroom. I already have a bunch of ideas of what I can do with this computer. Thanks to caring, generous people like you, I will be able to move forward with these ideas.
It really energizes me when I know I can rely on the support of our parents. It tells me that you truly care about the quality of the experience our children have in school. I am so excited to get started, and it is all because of you. Thank you just doesn't seem enough, but for now, I hope it will suffice.
THANK YOU!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman
This classroom project was brought to life by Wasserman Foundation and 3 other donors.How Do You Spell "Thesaurus?"
Funded Dec 6, 2011Thanks to your generosity, 36 new thesauri were delivered to Valley Alternative Magnet School! One of the fourth grade standards is that students should be able to use a thesaurus to look up antonyms and synonyms. It has been an enormous challenge to try and teach this standards without the books! These thesauri will help not only our current students, but also students for many years to come. It is heart-warming to know that, even in these uncertain times, we can call on our friends to help our students achieve. All of the members of our classroom community are thankful for your kindness.
We have already begun to use these books in class. We use them when we have a lesson specifically about how to use a thesaurus, or if students are working in their writing journals. The students are very excited to have these new resources available to them. As their teacher, I am looking forward to the impact these books will have on their writing. I am positive that these books will not simply sit on the shelf, gathering dust.
Once again, thank you for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Engelman