Past projects 9
Let there be light!
Funded May 8, 2024Although it is only the second week of school I can already tell the impact this light table will have on my classroom. Not only is it easy to use and beneficial in many ways, but the students are always so entertained by it! They don't even realize they're learning!
When they saw the light table at meet the teacher, their eyes lit up (pun intended!) and they asked every day until yesterday (when we started centers) when they were going to get to use it! It is their favorite center every time for sure! Thanks so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 4 other donors.Social Emotional Rollercoasters
Funded Jun 3, 2019thank you so much. I apologize that I never uploaded this! But I do think all of the social emotional learning that was able to happen in this classroom this year helped my students during the pandemic.
They absolutely loved the stuffed animals (especially Brisket) and making them do centers with them and taking them home on the weekend. They were able to talk through their problems to the stuffed animals using the literature we had read together.
Every Friday we read to a pre-k classroom using all of the books we were donated and our stuffed animals and read to the 3-year-olds. It was a blast.
Thanks again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
Center time is the Best Time
Funded May 9, 2019centers time is truly the best time in any elementary school classroom. it allows the students to have individualized time with their work and small group time with the teacher. when they saw the new markers and centers that were donated to them they were so excited. the more engaging and colorful the centers, the better. so they were THRILLED. my favorite time was when they saw the new math games i purchased.
my next step is to purchase headphones with microphones attached so that they can read to the computer.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and one other donor.Craftivities Are a Must
Funded Dec 15, 2018thank you so much for purchasing these supplies for
My classroom. Normally it's out of my pocket, so I appreciate it. They were so excited when they saw the big box of paper and crayons. We have made great. Taft's like the rainbow, the hickory hickory dock clocks, and countless illustrations with our crayons. We will next use the paper to make giant food to go with our cloudy Witha. Chance of meatballs unit! Again, I really appreciate it. So thank you and I hope you donate to my class again one day!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
This classroom project was brought to life by Someone Who Cares and one other donor.Wiggles and Work
Funded Jul 12, 2018I cannot thank you enough for your donation! Our new seating has provided my students a great way to keep their bodies and minds busy. They are so young, so buy allowing them to get their bodies moving while they get their work done has helped them so much. They are able to bounce, rock, and swirl and not have to hear "sit still!!"
When they first saw the materials, we had to pick up their jaws off of the floor! They could not wait to get in their "fun chairs" as they call it. They fought over who gets to sit where at first....but now they have their favorites and they use the "fun chairs" effectively and smoothly. I don't think they would know how to sit in normal chairs now! They love being able to move around and be kindergarteners while they do their schoolwork.
The next step for this classroom is to help it run smoothly and efficiently storage wise. I am going to be looking for ways to store the "fun chairs" and for them to have tables and desks that are the same size, same color, and are newer.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
STEM Museum
Funded Apr 19, 2018All I can say is WOW. We told the parents to drop their kids off at 9 am, so I arrived at the school about ten minutes early. When I got there, I thought something was going on at the school because there were so many cars! It turns out every single one of our students going on the trip were so excited to go that they all got there early! Another "wow" moment we had was the amount of parents and siblings that came on the trip with us. As we were driving to the museum, there was a huge caravan of cars behind us, roughly 20 cars! It was amazing seeing how much family involvement came with going on this field trip. Once we got there, the students never stopped learning and applying what they have learned in the classroom to the museum. I heard them practicing addition in the fake grocery store by saying, "that's 3 dollars and 2 dollars and 1 dollar? I don't have 6 dollars!" When we went into the omni to watch our movie, we heard the students saying things like "this theater is a half-sphere!", "look! I see the algae on the coral reef!" We did hit a few speed bumps, we were not allowed to go during the school week so we had to go on a Saturday, but in the end that was such a blessing. Parents were able to spend time with their students at the museum and we were able to meet the parents as well! It was awesome!!
I cannot choose one highlight of the trip so I will give several! One highlight of the trip was the dinosaur dig. Our students LOVED digging for dinosaur bones in the sand! The dino dig might have been first, I have to say, the water portion of the trip was a close second. The kindergarteners and older siblings loved getting soaked and playing in the water tubs. But, they also loved watching the omni Imax movie about the coral reef, they loved drawing pictures of their dinosaurs and seeing their drawings come to life (see photo), and they loved playing in the pretend grocery store and hospital.
Once we got back, I definitely saw a new spark of interest in my students' eyes. At the museum there is a makerspace area. I noticed that after they played in the makerspace room at the museum, that the way they were building with the manipulative toys I have in my makerspace area in my classroom changed.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
Look...We Need Books!
Funded Mar 27, 2018My classroom has completely transformed since receiving these books. As you can see from the pictures, my students are even taking books to recess now! They are constantly asking me "can I read to you Ms. Kuykendall?" "Can we get our book boxes and read?" It is the most amazing thing ever!
I love that our reading now looks like this: the students grab comfy chairs and pillows and their book boxes. They either sit alone and read to themselves, or find a buddy to read with! They look forward to this time every single day and are sad when its over! It is not a "dreaded" time but a truly valuable and much anticipated time of day, the way it should be!
The books are allowing my already strong readers to add character and funny voices to when they read and its allowing my struggling students to master concepts they needed to master. Everyone is reading the same books, so no one thinks "Oh I am dumb, I am only reading these books!" Also, they are all becoming sight word superstars and are mostly all know about 100 words by heart! Its incredible!
No student is NOT enjoying the books. But I will share this tidbit. Some students have begun taking videos of themselves reading and posting it online to their digital academic portfolio. Its so sweet! I love listening to them read when no one is around them!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple.heARTs and chARTs
Funded Feb 2, 2018I cannot even begin to explain how much these new resources have helped our classroom. The easel has transformed our word work center! They love writing their words with the dry erase markers and the chalk! They also love building the words with letters in our pocket chart!
When they saw the pocket chart and easel they SCREAMED! They came in big boxes and they had so much fun opening them and seeing what was inside. They even helped me put them together!
Thanks again for helping my kinderg�rtners become stronger readers! They are all reading and writing so well now! Your donations are helping so much and we appreciate it so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 3 other donors.The Wizard of Literacy
Funded Nov 21, 2017My kindergarteners have loved the materials they received from your donations. When they saw the box, they actually screamed! They ask me every day to go "fishing" for letters and they even ASK to play with the pattern cards during indoor recess. They only want to do the fun learning activities now, they don't want to play on tablets or anything! Thank you for instilling a love of learning into my students!
We use the count and hook game and pattern cards during our daily math tubs. They fight over who gets to use them, its so funny! We use the magnetic letters about ten times a day, we use them during whole group, small group, and during independent work. I am not sure how we got by without them before!
Thank you thank you thank you so much for donating! Your donation is being well used!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kuykendall