Brian "Stush-Stache" Shuey

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The class subscription to Career Weekly greatly benefited my students. The magazine will provided practical advice and information on career awareness and vocational opportunities. It gave my students the guidance they so desperately need as they make decisions about their future. As a bonus, it also provided some wonderful reading material for my reluctant readers!

These magazines helped my students realize all of the opportunities that await them! It opened their eyes to careers and a future that they otherwise might not have thought about.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Amodei-Blum

I am so excited to write to you today and thank you for the wonderful gift you have given my classroom. My students are loving their time at the listening center. The stories are wonderful and everyone at the table gets their own book! Every day I have different students experience the story of the week and they are just having so much fun. I wish you could see their faces as they turn the pages and enjoy the stories, sound effects, and even just getting to wear the headphones. Thank you again so much for this terrific experience for my kids.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Weikert

Thanks and gratitude for your generous donation of our Spanish/English dictionaries! The dictionaries have allowed students to access real world high interest materials, and develop greater engagement in the Spanish-speaking world around them every day. Students have enjoyed using the dictionaries to increase their target language vocabulary and satisfy curiosities of the meaning of specific phrases they may have heard. As a teacher, I have been able to increase the practicality of assignments I have issued, because the students are no longer limited in the vocabulary they can use and understand. The bottom line is; your donation has increased student engagement and achievement. Thank you!!!”

With gratitude,

Mr. McCloskey

Thank you so much for the donation of leveled books to our classroom. It is so important for the students to be able to read books on their levels. We have such a variety of readers in the classroom, so it is great to have a variety of books to fit their needs! My students love to read the new books with their reading groups. They are also able to read a book that is just right for them during independent reading time.

Having the books at all levels for my first grade classroom, has helped out a lot with differentiating to student needs in my classroom. These books will be useful for next year and years to come. Hopefully we can grow our leveled library even more. We are so happy to be off to such a great start!

Thank you from myself and my first grade students for your generosity!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Motsney

Thank you so much for donating dictionaries to my classroom. You would not believe how excited we were to receive them! My students are becoming truly independent thanks to your generosity. The dictionaries not only help them in their daily definitions of vocabulary words, but also in their writing and pronunciation of words.

For you to give us these dictionaries is a deed that I will never forget, as well as my class. My students look forward to their daily routine of defining vocabulary words. The dictionaries are colorful, bright, and have wonderful pictures to enhance the meaning of the words.

We have truly learned the meaning of kindness!”

With gratitude,

Teacher

I just wanted to update everyone on the progress that has taken place in my classroom since we began using books and posters about feelings for social skills instruction. My students have started relating their feelings and moods to the children found on the posters and in the literature that was purchased by you! I know that none of this would be possible without your generosity and I am very thankful! My students have started to self-regulate each others behaviors and feelings by using "feeling words" like frustrated, angry, selfish, etc. I feel that the posters and books have helped us relate these feelings to real life. Thank you again for making it possible for us to learn social skills through literature! ”

With gratitude,

Teacher

Thank you so much for donating The Lightning Thief to our classrooms. The book was first read as something to do during our state exams when kids were done. One of the 8th grade teachers simply handed the book out to kids who were finished a little early. Many of the students immediately were engrossed. Some kids finished reading the book before the first week of testing was over. Multiple students tell me how much they loved the book and ask me for the next one in the series. One girl told me that The Lightning Thief was her favorite book ever. None of these kids even knew that I had acquired these books through you. They were only telling me because they were excited about reading, which is always the ultimate goal. This books was originally intended to be used with 7th grade during their study of Greece and mythology, but ended up being read by the 8th grade as I explained. The 8th grade literacy teacher decided she might as well have all of the students read the book since so many had started it. Even the kids who had finished the novel were excited to re-read it. This worked out really well. Many of the students are participating in our school play which is a hip-hop version of the Greek Myths and already had a great idea who some of the gods and goddesses mentioned in this novel were. They were able to make some great connections to the play and some other short stories that they were reading in literacy class. Needless to say, the book was a fantastic success.

My favorite part is when I walked into the 8th grade classroom while they were watching the DVD of the Lightning Thief after reading the book. The kids were complaining. "This is nothing like the book." "They ruined that part." "Persephone is not in that scene." "I thought Poseidon would be stronger." It was really exciting to see the kids make the comparisons between movie and book. My students really had a great idea of what happened in the novel. Most importantly, they seemed to like the book so much more than the movie. Thanks again for bringing interesting literature into the classrooms at my school. I can't wait to teach the book alongside greek mythology in social studies next year and hopefully, the literacy teacher will read it again with next year's 8th grade who have not yet had the opportunity to enjoy your wonderful gift.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Fox

Thank you again for your generosity! It is such an amazing thing to see how many people truly care about the children of America. You in fact care so much that you choose to invest in their future. It is my hope and desire that your gift, of the storytelling kits, will not just be a fun center for my kids. But that it will inspire them to embrace reading and make it a lifelong habit.

My students come to me with a one to two year deficit in language. The more they hear, read, and retell stories, the more their vocabulary will increase and the closer they will get to their peers in education. These storytelling kit books are at levels that most of my students are able to read independently. But even if they are unable to read it they can listen to some of them.

These books will enrich their vocabulary, heighten their interest in literature, and open up a whole new world to them. I hope that over time that we can close the educational gap that divides the children here in the USA. Your gift will take us one step closer to that goal. ”

With gratitude,

Ms. B.

We received our alphabet books late last week and excitement is in the air! I spread the books out around the classroom so the students could have access to them immediately. We are immersed in state testing right now, so the books have provided a great deal of variety and enthusiasm for everyone.

Now that we have the books, my first goal was for the students to select one book that is of particular interest to them. They are currently reading portions of their self-selected book looking for bits of information and taking notes on what they think might be of interest to other kids their age. Each student will write a paragraph about their topic to be shared. The final step will be to integrate technology into the project. We will record our paragraphs in a blog to share with other students at our school.

These books have had a huge impact on the students in my classroom! My goal was to expose the students to nonfiction text in a stimulating and meaningful way. I hope that by blogging about the different subjects, students will become interested in something new and be enticed to read more about it!

Again, we thank you for the impact YOU have had on our classroom. Thanks for donating to our reading project!!!!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Czubiak