Past projects 26
Comfy Corners
Funded May 16, 2011Wow! We have really been enjoying our bean bags in our classroom! We are so thankful that you were able to donate to our project and help us add some "comfy corners" to our classroom! It's such a simple, but great way, to motivate students to read independently! It also has had another impact in our room - students finishing work quickly (but correctly) just so they can read! Our class has really enjoyed cuddling up on a bean bag chair with a good book to either read by themselves or with a buddy. A teacher walked into our room one day and was surprised to see so many students, many of whom are struggling readers, all reading quietly or sharing a book! She asked what was our secret! :) It's amazing how just having a comfortable, inviting looking space makes all the difference! Thank you once again! Your generosity is amazing!!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Supplies + Engaged Students = Success in Math!
Funded Aug 31, 2011Thank you so much for your support with our classroom and our math program! We are so grateful that you chose us to help our supply of math manipulatives grow! It's amazing the "common things" we use that really help enhance a student's understanding of certain concepts. Recently, we were able to use the thermometers that were part of our project to discuss weather, and how we use temperature to help us predict how warm or cool things will be. We've used the clocks to practice telling time to the nearest hour, and were able to use the scale to measure mass in an object. So, as you can see, we have found uses for these supplies beyond our math time!
Thank you again so much for your support in helping us gain these useful objects. I can't wait until the students are able to use our metric tape to measure objects (so much more useful than a stiff wooden ruler!).”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
That Finishing Touch!
Funded Jan 18, 2011Thank you once again for your support in granting my class's wish to receive a personal laminator. It is such a wonderful addition and tool in our classroom! So far, we have used it to laminate clocks, koalas, and other items to use as centers. Not only does it make the item more durable, but students are able to write on them now with dry erase marker, to be used over and over again!
With future projects on the horizon, I know that it will also be a terrific asset so that we can laminate projects students turn in, so that it can be displayed safely in the hallway. It will also help to preserve it for years to come, so that students can look back on their second grade year and remember the good times we've had!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
We'll FLIP for This!
Funded Dec 3, 2010We were so excited to receive our Flip camera for our classroom! Our first video was of a slow span of our class to celebrate our new gift! The students have MANY ideas on how to use this device and many included, in detail, ideas in their thank you letters! Having a tool like this in our classroom is awesome! Before, we would have to use the video function on our digital camera, which was not always clear and forgiving of shaky hands. The Flip camera, however, is so easy to use and seems very "stable" when we play back our videos! We can't wait to present our next project and be able to post videos to parents of the presentations! We will also be using it to record songs we sing in our class for our different subject areas to share with future classes, as well as recording math and science concepts! What a great resource for our classroom! You are awesome! :)”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Hey, Listen to This!
Funded Dec 10, 2010We were so excited to use our centers today! After a snow day, the students were very antsy and talkative. Receiving the box with the centers you donated really made our day! We pulled them out and they were ready to go! We really enjoyed working with "Context Clues" today during our reading time. I have never seen students so enthused to work on reading skills!
We are also excited about the book sets we received to go along with our reading center. My students saw many of their favorites and have already requested which ones we leave out for centers! It's great that 4 students will not have to huddle around one book to read as they listen to the story. This has made such a positive impact in our classroom. What a great way to encourage good reading skills! Thank you so much Yahoo for providing us with this opportunity! :)”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Podcasting: Can You Hear Us Now?
Funded Jul 26, 2010How exciting it is to be able to play with technology and apply it in the classroom! My students, having previously earned a listening center, have really enjoyed listening to the stories, but after awhile, our collection gets "old" and students want something new! That is where your generosity helped us out. Because of you, we now have a device that will download different "audiobooks" that students can listen and follow along in a book, or simply just sit and listen. With the addition of the headphones, we are able to not only listen, but try some podcasting on our own as well! You will have to check on our class website for our own podcasts! Our next exciting adventure with our ipod is to download lessons where we will learn how to speak Chinese! Our Social Studies unit is on ancient China - how cool is it that we will be able to learn to speak part of the language as well! Thank you once again for all you have done to help the students in my classroom! We are truly blessed!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
What are you Reading?
Funded Sep 10, 2010Wow! What a terrific gift you have given my students! Opening the box from BarnesandNoble.com with all those sets of reading books really took my students' (and my) breath away! We were so excited to receive our books for reading groups! Students can't wait to get reading!
Being in a new school, our supply of sets of books for students to read in guided reading groups has been slim. With your help, we are now able to have more resources at our fingertips (and be able to share with other classes in our grade level!). As students read books, my lower readers "earn" them for their book box, where they can practice reading with a partner or by themselves. Once they master the book, they "turn it in" and receive a text copy (typed copy) of the story. They can then keep these forever in their binder, which we add to until the end of the year. Students then take home those binders and keep reading over the summer! Your help made this possible for us and we thank you whole heartedly!!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Can I Get a Definition, Please?
Funded Sep 17, 2010My class and I are so grateful for your generosity in voting and funding our project! Being in a new school, we were short on supplies this year, such as dictionaries. With your help, we received a much needed resource. My students have had a blast exploring the dictionaries! As you can tell by our photos, the students have discovered many uses for the dictionary. Besides looking up how to spell words or find out what a word means, they have discovered the maps inside the dictionary! It took one student to find the colorful map, and then my class started enthusiastically looking through the dictionary, finding pictures, sharing with others what things were (pictures with the definitions mean so much more to second graders!), and finding other things as well! What a great impromptu lesson it was, showing the students how to use a dictionary and finding other uses as well! My class truly sees this as a gift and I appreciate what you have done to garner this enthusiasm! ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Building an Interactive Whiteboard
Funded Apr 17, 2010Words cannot express how appreciative my class is this year for your gift of an interactive whiteboard. Having a Mimio product in our room is great! It is easily portable and easy to stick up or down on our whiteboard, so we can use it in a traditional manner, or with the laptop and projector to make it more interactive. We have been so into using it, we haven't had a chance to take pictures of ourselves using it yet! :) These will be coming soon, trust me, to show you all the wonderful things we can do with this product and how it enhances our instruction. We have explored the Water Cycle, dressed a bear for the weather, and moved words to match their definitions...all with the help of our fingers and hands! What a great way to keep students engaged and learning, while also appealing to their technology needs! Without you, this would not have been possible! Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel
Exploring The World On A Magic Carpet!
Funded Jun 23, 2010Thank you so much for our fabulous rug! We are so excited to have this addition to our classroom. Not only does it brighten up our room, but it really adds to our curriculum! Right now, we are studying about weather and weather patterns. Since our rug is not merely just a rug, but a world map, we can use it to study weather patterns across the world. Students can actually have a hands-on map with our rug, and be able to actually become the sun, clouds, wind, rain, hurricanes, etc. It's a great way to really make learning "stick" with students!
During our map unit, our rug becomes a type of "game board." We will be "hopping" from one continent to another as we sing our continent chant, as well as identifying and "hopping" on the oceans as we sing our oceans song. Students remember activities so much better than a worksheet or lecture! Thanks to you we have this wonderful tool, a beautiful rug to brighten our room, and a comfortable place to sit during direct instruction-all rolled into one! Our thanks to you, because you made this possible!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Youel