Ms. Shailyn Rivas' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 58

• Thesaurus Books And Literacy Supplies Needed!

  Funded Feb 11, 2010

  Thank you so much for your generous donations. The children really enjoy using the thesauruses to look up variations of words they have constantly used before in their speech and in their writing. Whenever we have writing time, I usually get at least 2-3 individual requests (which soon turns into the whole group), to use the thesauruses.

  As a class, we have "buried" some of the overused words in our classroom such as "good", "nice", "cool", "bad". It is now the students' task to find other words instead of those.

  Thank you so much for the opportunity to show these children that words could be used in more than one way and that they are not limited to using the same vocabulary over and over again.

  THANK YOU!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Give & Learn and 2 other donors.

• Help Encourage Reluctant Readers!

  Funded Jul 19, 2009

  Thank you so much for your kind donations to our project, "Help Encourage Reluctant Readers!". I'm pleased to say that your generosity has helped spark an interest in many of my students. They love receiving the new magazines every week. My students who have difficulty reading look at the pictures and are able to relate to the stories in that way.

  We have done several projects related to the magazines - everything from writing letters to the veteran featured during the Veteran's Day issue to making collages out of the interesting images.

  The magazines also help me relate their everyday curriculum work to real life situations as well. We had gone over bar graphs and other types of data during their math units and in many of the magazines we have received, they have seen graphs using the information gathered from the stories we had just read.

  Thank you again for your generosity. ”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

• We Have Creative Needs!!!

  Funded Apr 17, 2009

  Thank you so much for the art supplies we were able to obtain thanks to your generous donations. The children LOVE working on their art projects and I love integrating art into their other subject matters, so that they learn in conventional and fun ways. Kids are most likely to remember things when they are interested in them, so these art materials have really impacted their learning.

  Working with art materials has also taught the children in my class about responsibility, respect for one another and teamwork. They have learned that if they are not responsible when using the materials, they will not be there the next time they want to use them, that they must learn to share and ask for things nicely in order to receive them, and that they must work together to maintain a neat and orderly classroom or work together to complete certain assignments that I might assign to groups of 3 or 4.

  Thank you so much for all of your help!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 8 other donors.

• Help! Writing Materials Needed!!!!

  Funded May 10, 2009

  Thank you so very much for your kind donations to our project, "Help! Writing Material Needed!". Due to your generosity, my bilingual special education third grade class received some beautiful Writer's Notebooks and Writing Prompt Journals. We have been using these books to supplement the curriculum materials which were not really meeting the needs of the these students. As a result of regular practice with these books, I have noticed that my students have learned how to look up high frequency words, write paragraphs and just become more confident in what they write. I love it when I ask "who wants to share out?" and almost every student's hands are waving in the air because they know that what they've written is their best work.

  Thanks again!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 4 other donors.

• Teach Me to Write!

  Funded Apr 15, 2009

  Thank you so much for the kind donations you gave to our project, "Teach me to Write!". The children love having a new way to learn how to write. The projection sheets help me link lessons from the curriculum into activities in different ways. I am able to teach in more effective ways than I was before and I could really see the difference in the children's academic work. The children are able to make connections with their writing that they were unable to before and for that, I have to thank you.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and one other donor.

• Please Help Us Get Some Dictionaries!!!

  Funded Feb 14, 2009

  Thank you so much for the reference skills overhead kit and the class set of pocket dictionaries that we received as a result of your kind and generous donation. The children were immediately able to put these materials to use and were happy to learn of a new game, the "find the word" game. You see, I told the students that the words were playing "hide and seek" and that they had to use alphabetical order in order to find them.

  As they learned to look for the words using alphabetical order, they got to be so good at it that I turned it into a group game. It was great to see the children interacting socially, cheering each other on as they learned a skill they will use for the rest of their lives. They were able to learn new vocabulary, learn to use a dictionary and learn the rules for good sportsmanship all at the same time.

  The reference skills overhead transparencies allowed me to introduce different types of reference skills to the entire group of children and then have them work in small groups or independently to answer the questions posed by the overhead slides.

  I can not thank you enough for all of the assistance you have provided. The children love their new materials and thank you for your help. ”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

• Help Bring Art into Our Lives!!

  Funded Apr 15, 2009

  Thank you so much for your generous donations! The children were so excited when they saw the materials we received! We already started using some of the materials, namely the colored sand art. We were doing a unit on Native Americans in Social Studies and were able to relate it back to art by using the sand to make "baskets".

  The other materials have also begun to be used. We used the Tempera paint to paint little jewelry boxes for Mother's Day but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of that. I am currently teaching the children how to make baskets with the basketry kit and how to weave key chains with the lanyards in order to create Father's Day presents.

  Thank you so much for helping me incorporate fun activities into the everyday curriculum. Also, on another note, many of the children get occupational therapy and the therapist says that these activities that we're doing is great for the children so they learn to improve their dexterity.

  Your help is GREATLY appreciated!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and one other donor.

• Can We Listen to a Story?

  Funded Apr 11, 2009

  Thank you so much for the volume control box and the headphones for the new listening center! The children love listening to the stories they are reading. They always ask to use this center. It's become very popular.

  Also, thankfully, with these materials, there are no longer complaints- "Miss, it's too loud! No, I can't hear!", which is great because I have some children who are very sensitive to loud sounds and others who are medically proven to be hard of hearing. These materials allow them to set their own volumes to hear the stories. I can not thank you enough.

  I have noticed that they are reading much better thanks to these materials, so your help has really made a difference! In some cases, they have gone up 4-5 reading levels!

  Thank you so much!”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 2 other donors.

• Supplies Needed!

  Funded Nov 18, 2008

  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

  These materials will help my class out so much! I was just about to run out of ink and paper, so this is such a help. I cannot even express how grateful I am. I am glad (and the children will be too) that we will be receiving materials so they can continue to learn in English and Spanish.

  Today, I had an incident with a child who fell asleep at her desk and slid off, so these rest mats are really coming at a great time. They will really help these poor tired children who wake up at dawn in order to catch their school buses and come to school every day.

  Thank you again for such a generous donation! The children will really appreciate all you've done for them.

  Shaily”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

• Math Materials Needed!

  Funded Nov 18, 2008

  Thank you so much for such a wonderful gift! These materials are sorely needed in this classroom. These children need all the help they can get especially when it comes to mathematics. They need to be able to see and feel things as well as hear them in order to learn basic math concepts.

  We are so excited that you decided to donate to our proposal.

  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

  Shaily”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Shailyn Rivas

  This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 4 other donors.