Past projects 10
We Need Prizes and Snacks!
Funded Jan 29, 2023Thank you so much for your donations of prizes and snacks. They have rewarded students and made them super happy. The snacks have fed both hungry students and runners! My kids were super appreciative as they really like earning their "punches" on their punch cards. The snacks have also helped out some kids who just needed a little something to eat to get on with their day. My students were really jazzed by the ring pops- they were the first prizes to "sell out". I deeply appreciate your contributions to our community!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by A Philly Special Christmas and 3 other donors.Let's Help Readers See the Bigger Picture With Graphic Novels!
Funded May 5, 2022Thank you for your contributions so that we have brand new shiny graphic novels in our Learning Lounge! Graphic novels are such an easy way for students to engage in reading in a way that is accessible to them. They were so excited to see all of the new books and started to borrow them right away this school year.
Students get to hang out in the "lounge" area in the classroom and read comfortably. They love to lay on the rug or the pillows and get lost in a book. It's wonderful to be able to watch them enjoy reading.
Every time you donate to our classroom, you are helping to enhance the educational experience of our SLA-MS community, and for that, we are forever grateful.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 11 other donors.We Need Tools to Make Our Fun Friday More Fun!
Funded May 15, 2022Thank you so much for your donations to ensure that we have the tools to make our Fridays more fun. We started to use them at the end of last school year and one of the first things my advisees asked me this year was "When do we start Fun Fridays?". These games and tools have allowed for my students to engage with each other in respectful manners and help them to make up social skill deficits that have occurred over time.
I loved watching the students get so excited by building with the legos. They provide a creative outlet for my students, who are most definitely hands-on learners.
I really appreciate your part in helping my students be able to grow!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by Neukom Family Foundation and 4 other donors.Listening In The Learning Lounge
Funded May 5, 2020We were really excited to finally get out headphones and to be able to use them! Upon our return to in-person learning, we had students who needed to access virtual classrooms and these headphones enabled us to be able to access these virtual rooms and be able to be active in them.
My students were very happy to have such nice equipment to use in the classroom. We're also looking forward to using them when we return for full in-person learning next year! They will definitely help us out when we are using our intervention programs.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 4 other donors.Remixing History through Advisory
Funded Dec 1, 2020Thank you for your support of our project and for providing our students with copies of the book, Stamped. At SLA-MS, we really strive to bring out the best of our students and provide them with real-world relevant texts for them to engage with. It is super important to us that our students are able to recognize racism and the disparity that its longstanding systems have caused. We want our students to be anti-racist and anti-biased and strive for a community in which we all belong, seen, and recognized.
This has been a difficult year for our students in so many ways and we thank you for providing them with material to help us build spaces where we can change the future.
Thank you,
Ms. Londo & the 8th Grade Advisory Team”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by FamilyAlbum and 22 other donors.Flexible Seating for Bendy Brains in the Learning Lounge
Funded Nov 26, 2019I am extremely appreciative of your generous donations to help build our learning lounge. The flexible seating options have allowed for my students to feel comfortable and have ease of collaboration. The space also provides both bright and calming areas for students when maybe they just need to take a break. It's comfortable for them and creates a sense that they are special. A number of my students often become upset when they have to be pulled to receive their special education services and the furniture allows for them to feel a little bit special as if they get to be a part of something cool or special.
I love watching the students utilize the seating areas especially the cushions and the stools. They create these little areas for themselves and always express how happy they are to have comfy places to sit or stools to wobble on.
When we first received the furniture boxes, my kiddos just about lost their minds. They were so excited! All of them wanted to be a part of the "unboxing". Some of my students were able to help me unpack and build all of the furniture as well. It was such a pleasure watching them collaborate in order to get the tables together. They also helped me to rearrange the room so our new seating materials could fit.
Looking to the future, I'm hoping that I can seek out some leveled reading materials which are also high interest so that my students will be inspired to work on their reading.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 9 other donors.Let's Create and Make!
Funded Aug 21, 2017This project has opened up a lot of amazing opportunities for our students. The opening of our makerspace was really exciting. The kids have been super excited to use the machines in order to create their products. Your generous donations have helped us to add additional machinery to our makerspace to make it a place where our students can really flourish. Unboxing the technology was really exciting because the students were super psyched to begin creating their projects and imagining ideas! It's amazing what our kids can do when they have the resources to do awesome things with.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Donor and 9 other donors.Breakout of the Classroom Norm!
Funded Mar 29, 2017We are so grateful for the opportunity to have received the Breakoutedu boxes for our classrooms. They have helped my students to fully engage in our core values of inquiry, investigation, reflection, and collaboration. These boxes have helped students to think critically and problem-solving skills to situations. While we have only been in our introductory stages, it has been wonderful to see how to the students reacted to different scenarios with the boxes.
We had been doing some digital breakouts, and when they saw the boxes that enable physical breakouts to happen, they were so excited! The opportunity to play the "game" and have the chance to explore the area and to really think through a situation helped them to become fully engaged with the process. When they were stuck and couldn't open particular locks, they even begged to skip lunch just so they could keep working to solve the clues! It was also awesome to have our older students help by assisting with set up of the boxes and our "escape" room. The students really enjoyed both "Attack of the Locks" and "Dr. Johnson's Apocalypse Lab". There is no greater joy than seeing kids think through a problem on their own and be able to solve it. There is a such a great sense of pride and accomplishment that I was able to see on their faces as certain answers began to dawn on them.
As we become more proficient with our breakout experience, our next step is to use the kits to design our own breakout games to play with each other! We're looking forward to developing our own clues and puzzles related to what we are doing in our classes to create games for other teams to play.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 13 other donors.Help Us Get To Hogwarts!
Funded Apr 24, 2015When I first introduced the idea of reading Harry Potter to the students, their reactions basically involved that we were reading a book for "nerds". Their opinions are certainly different now. For 90 minutes a day over the past three weeks, we were able to experience thirty-one super engaged students who provided thoughtful responses to reading. It brought me great joy to hear from parents how excited they were that some their children were tackling the reading of a novel on their own for the first time.
They were enthralled with the magic of a good book so much that they requested the ability to read the second book for their summer reading assignment. This project boosted their learning because they were willing and ready to read every single day. We were also able to incorporate technology and have project driven learning experiences take place in the class to tie in with all our curricular work prior to the reading of Harry Potter.
I loved the opportunity to introduce this novel to students who might otherwise not chose to read this book because of their own personal biases or hesitation to read. Your contributions made this possible and I'm forever in your debt for the last several weeks of a "magical" school year. I'm looking forward to using these resources in the future as well!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
Help Us SCOPE Out Scholastic Scope Magazine!
Funded Aug 24, 2014I'm so grateful for your donations which helped us to receive the Scope magazines to use in our Literacy and Social Studies classroom. It was really awesome to watch the students become so engaged in their learning by utilizing them. Even though we've only gotten two issues so far, the students are really excited to use them. The first thing we did was work on creating an argument about whether or not we should put warning labels on sugary drinks. We used the Yes and No opinions to craft our own arguments. It definitely created some debates around the class although not as much as October's argument about sports fans. There is something special about watching students actively engage in open dialog on topics that they have knowledge about and can relate to their own lives.
In seeking out their opinions, they've all expressed happiness in having articles that are real. Articles that are also engaging and interesting. We've been able to make comparisons to other things going on in our lives. A great example was with "Unbroken" which focused on a year in the life of a cancer survivor. The John Green-Fault in Our Stars fans were enthralled. They love the writing contests which are starting to inspire them to write more.
I'm so appreciative of each student having a magazine because Scope provides awesome and easy to access resources especially ones aligned with the Common Core Standards. It's made my job easier which now allows me to have more time for things like effective feedback and thinking about new and different approaches to instruction. Having the sources had allowed me to save time in copying and searching. The students love the graphic organizers and how things are broken down for them. The Special Education teacher that works with me loves having materials that are provided especially for those with learning differences. The articles really help us a "starting point" so that we can dig deeper into other issues around us.
Your donation wasn't just dollars, it was the gift of reading and engagement.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Londo
This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 10 other donors.