Financial Grownups Giving Back

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I'm absolutely delighted that you cared enough about my students that you felt the need to support our classroom. Having these new headphones in our classroom has made a world of difference. Although we place headphones on our school supply list, quite a few students show up without them and that places those students at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to using classroom technology. However, thanks to your support, our class has enough headphones to cover the students who have no headphones or have broken or misplaced them. This really makes my life easier, as a teacher. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Jones

Words can truly not explain the amazing impact that this touch screen computer has had on our teaching and learning. My students feel obligated to find ways to use this new computer every day! This is no ordinary computer. The students are super excited about the fact that it has a touch screen. They prefer using it over the iPads. I never imagined that would happen. Those students who once took forever to complete their assignments are completing them in a more timely manner in hopes of receiving some computer time. Thank you so much.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Jones

We live in an age where technology is involved in all aspects of our lives. This holds very true for the educational aspect as well. My students are considered "millennial", yet they lack skills in educational technology. It was at this moment that I knew I had to give my students the opportunity to learn through the technological lenses, however, this would also require basic technological skills. With the consistent assistance of the chromebooks, my students were able to become familiarized with one drive and google drive in order to store and share their work. They were also able to learn how to navigate the daily financial markets and acquire information needed to make decisions in their financial educational portfolios. Most importantly, my students were able to compete in a 6 week online stock market game with other students and districts across New York State.

The most exciting aspect of the chromebooks for my students was the daily access that they had to educational technology. Many of my students do not have computers in their household and being able to compete using technology against other schools was so rewarding for them. Most excitingly, 5 of my student teams finished the competition ranking in the top 10 places and one of my teams, ranked first place by the end of the competition. An amazing experience and memory for all my students.

This gift of technology has changed my classroom in so many ways. Many students now have computer literacy which will serve them for the rest of their educational careers and beyond. They also feel accomplished and a sense of pride to have the opportunity to compete against other districts and place so highly. Your gift has changed their educational experience with one they will never forget.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Gomes

Thank you so much for funding this project! My 24 scholars will be so thrilled to have new chances to learn through technology. We are excited for the new technological, hands-on opportunities afforded by your generosity. We are looking forward to exploring s'more and couldn't thank you enough for your help.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Jahnke

Today was the big day, the grand opening (and grand closing) of Pinky's Pizza! Thanks to your help donating to this project, our restaurant had all the bells and whistles of a real restaurant. My students were very weary when I said we would be opening a restaurant in class, but when they saw all the supplies we had, they were blown away! Thanks to your help we had all we needed to run a successful restaurant with some very happy customers. Parents and teachers alike could not stop talking about how authentic our restaurant seemed. Thank you again!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Brittany

First I want to thank each and everyone of you for supporting my students. As you all know life can be filled with curve balls. As educators we have to be able to switch it up with a moments notice when lessons aren't going as planned or something else unexpected happens. For the last five years our school has gone to the Federal Reserve Bank and Science City in Kansas city, Missouri. Being an economics school our 5th graders learn the ends and outs of money, creating a business, running a business, and actually advertising and opening their business. As the school year went on we noticed throughout 5th grade as whole we dealt with a lot of social and emotional issues between our students. As a 5th grade team along with our administration staff we quickly planned out another trip that would benefit this group of students right now and will help them be better overall citizens.

We began looking at alternative trips that would help our students build on their social skill, collaboration skills, communication skills, and etiquette. After narrowing down our choices we choose to revert our trip to Junction City, KS to the Rocks Springs 4H camp, 700 acres in the scenic Kansas Flint Hills . Rock Springs provides a fun way to discover our natural and historical world in a relaxed setting. Hands-on, engaging activities offer an enjoyable learning experience for youth of all ages, and participants get up-close-and-personal with nature. We figured if we get our students outside of the classroom and try to repair and create relationships it will aid to their continued success in life.

Our students really benefited from all aspects of this trip from the charter buses to and from and spending time bonding with classmates and staff for the entire day. With our next years group we are planning this same trip at the begging of the school year as a to start the year off strong and create strong relationships between students and staff. These relationships will help with the introduction to a successful 5th grade year. We will use this as a building block to be able to attend our planned economics trip to Kansas City in May 2018. Donors Choose thank you so much for your platform that allows programs and activities to come to life!”

With gratitude,

Mr. Mitchell

Thank you for supporting our project to get a math magazine for my students! They were excited to see real world examples, puzzles, and challenges using math. It's a fun change from a traditional math lesson. Best of all, there's something for everyone! Each of my students found something interesting and challenging at their individual skill levels. They started to see how the concepts we've been learning this year are actually used by professionals. Wow! My students will also get to take the magazine home and share with their families. I can't wait to hear about the conversations they have at home about math! Thank you so much!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Douglas

In my classroom, my students are grouped by their reading levels. This is determined by their MAP reading scores. First, I do a mini lesson to either introduce or practice a reading or language arts skill. Then, I meet with a group of students while other students read silently, write and complete centers. I will meet with 2 groups a day and students will rotate through centers. When I meet with students, I will review sight words, a language arts skill or reading skill and then read and discuss a leveled reader with students. Finally, we meet together again to discuss what the students learned for the day.

Sixteen of my twenty-one students are English Speakers of Other Languages. Therefore, learning to read in English can be very difficult. If the students do not know any English, I start with learning the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. Therefore, the alphabet centers were great! Next, I work on sight words to help with the reading process. The sight word books were wonderful because they were at varying levels and fiction and nonfiction. Also, they included words and pictures. This is especially helpful with ESOL children. I had students from Karenni and Vietnam that came to me not knowing any English in January. They left me knowing the letters of the alphabet, their sounds and pre-primer sight words. This could not have been accomplished without these resources. The books also helped with teaching story sequencing, cause and effect, drawing conclusions, etc.”

With gratitude,

Teacher