David Z's Moustache

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These materials were vital to my curriculum this year. Unfortunately, the special education department at my school does not have books or resources for Science, Social Studies, or Math so we create or find our own materials and curriculum. The second half of my school year was made much easier with science materials you funded. For example, while we were studying life cycles the students created books on different life cycles by reading the materials provided by you. Furthermore, after we did our unit of study on life cycles using the life cycle books as one of our primary resources the students became obsessed with those books. They were constantly being checked out of the library. Those books peaked my students' interest life cycles, animals, and various habitats and they requested that I supply more like these in our library.

Later on in the school year, we studied magnets. I attempted to teach this unit last year, but I gathered my own materials to do so. With limited hands on resources it was a difficult concept to grasp. However, the kit that you helped fund allowed my students the opportunity for each of them to have hands on experiences with magnets. Most of my students are visual, kinesthetic learners, so having an opportunity for each child to work with magnets enhanced their understanding significantly. In fact, for the science fair project 3 out of my 13 students did projects that had to do with magnets. One student tested the amount of iron in different types of cereal. Another students tested which of his toys had iron. While, another students tested to see what everyday objects contained iron.

While we studied the planets, the game that you helped fund was most helpful. Not only are most of my students hands-on, visual learners, the use of games helps to test their understanding in an exciting fashion. Once the students had a good understanding of the planets and the characteristics of different planets and parts of the solar system the solar system trivia game increased their awareness and excitement for this unit of study. At first, the game was just a way to review for the final test, but the students enjoyed it so much that we incorporated the game into their free time.

Truly, gifts that you helped fund allowed my students to access curriculum that has often time been out of reach for them. Through your thoughtful contribution my students were able to see that content that once seemed boring or incomprehensible is content that they can learn, retain, and apply. Finally, I believe receiving the gift of science materials made my kids feel special. They felt as if someone truly cared about them and their academic success! Thank you! ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Allen

Thank you all so my for donating to our classroom. These dictionaries have brought another dimension to our classroom. Several of our students speak languages like Urdu, Nepali, an Gujarati. Finding dictionaries for these students has been difficult, but now our students are able to translate from English to their native language quickly and with confidence. These students are preserving their native language while acquiring English. This is so awesome to watch!

Just today, a student did not know what a sprinkler was. We are learning about items outside of a house and I had references how I loved to jump through a sprinkler. This student ran to our reference area and looked up the word in his native language. As soon as he found it, he jotted down the word sprinkler and wrote an equals sign and the word in his native language. He kept saying sprinkler, sprinkler, sprinkler, over and over again. He kept laughing at how funny the word sounded to him.

Working with ELLs is so rewarding. Please continue to donate to our projects. They truly touch so many lives!

Thanks again!

Mrs. T ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Taggart

It is exciting to see my students using the document camera. Just this past week they used the camera to show their classmates the proprieties of solids. It was exciting to see them sharing information with each other. This coming week they will be sharing the stories that they have created. They are excited about this happening.

The document camera also allowed my student teacher this week to show the class how to complete a worksheet. She has also used the camera to demonstrate a new math game. It was so much easier to explain the game to the whole class at one time; rather than having to explain it multiple times with small groups.

I really appreciate your generosity to this project. I want you each to know that I will use this document camera as a tool to provide my students with the instruction that will enable them to become lifelong learners. Thank you again for making this possible.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Smith

Thank you so much for your help in our classroom! We LOVE our Ipod Touch! We use it to listen to stories during our Daily 5 "Listen to Reading" rotation. We are able to listen to a recorded story and follow along with the matching book. This helps us in our quest to become better readers because we know that readers who practice reading are fabulous readers!!! We also use learning apps on our new Ipod, and we practice other skills this way. Without your help we would not have this great tool in our classroom! We are so glad you care about us and our learning adventures!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Martens

Thank you so much for your generous donation to my classroom! The children absolutely love the new books that you donated to the classroom. It is so wonderful to see them excited and eager to read. The children are so inspired by the new books because they have such colorful pictures and are about such interesting topics.

I can't thank you enough for your generosity, and I hope you know what an wonderful impact you have made on these kids! ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Hernandez