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Kevin "Hip Upper Lip" Duel

Part of: Chicago Growers
  • $695raised
  • 9projects funded
  • 9schools served
  • 9teachers supported
It is with mixed emotions that I am participating in Mustaches for Kids. That's right, for the next four weeks, I will be subjecting myself to public humiliation and private doubt by growing what will no-doubt be a ridiculous looking Mustache. In order to justify this endeavor I need your support. Please sponsor my Mustache by picking a classroom project from the list below to support. And wish me and my Mustache luck. (By the way, DonorsChoose.org is a 501(c)3 charity. See below for ... more
It is with mixed emotions that I am participating in Mustaches for Kids. That's right, for the next four weeks, I will be subjecting myself to public humiliation and private doubt by growing what will no-doubt be a ridiculous looking Mustache. In order to justify this endeavor I need your support. Please sponsor my Mustache by picking a classroom project from the list below to support. And wish me and my Mustache luck. (By the way, DonorsChoose.org is a 501(c)3 charity. See below for approvals from Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau.) hide
  • Stories of the Orchestra

    Funded Dec 9, 2009

    Thank you for your generous support of my classroom and my students! We used the materials you donated towards to learn about the instruments of the orchestra, how they are made, and how to identify them based on appearance and sound. My students absolutely love playing instrument bingo and they get quite competitive about making sure they learn every single instrument's timbre and characteristic sound in order to maximize their chances of winning.

    Our school and student's families don't have the funds to purchase or rent instruments, so learning through high quality materials (books, pictures, DVDs, CDs) is the next best possible way for them to experience instrumental music.

    Thanks again for your support and please consider continuing to support arts education in the future!”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Kendall

    This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.
  • No More Buckets, Can We Play Real Congas!!!

    Funded Dec 13, 2009

    Thank-you so much for your donations. My students will be so thrilled with the congas. I will be able to teach them authentic Latin music from their cultures. My students love using the buckets, but they are always jealous by the few students who get to use real drums.

    In the past few months my students and I have really enjoyed using the Congas, we have used them to help keep the beat, to play rhythmic ositinatos with folk songs, and too explore the sounds the instruments can make.

    I look forward to sending you the student's thank-you notes, and please continue supporting this wonderful charity that helps educate our children.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Jazo

  • Year Round Plants...(Even When the Snow's Knee Deep!)

    Funded Jan 13, 2010

    We have completed solicited assistance from an electrical wizard to construct our units and they are complete. The students are excited about the possibility of having plant life in the room on a year-round basis.

    Two units utilizing plant life as a foundation are underway: the first are simple small potted plants with a few seedlings that we hope will flourish soon, demonstrating the full process of photosynthesis. You will note picture of students decorating their pot to their liking. Put together a paint brush, paints, imagination and the students' favorite radio station lightly blaring in the background and you have one engaged set of freshmen!

    The second project underway supports our unit on reproduction where asexual reproduction is simulating using tobacco seeds in a petry dish given just water. Students are able to see how the seeds reproduce without the connection of parent gametes, soil and the usual direct sun lighting needed for plants to flourish.

    The lighting systems are units that can be used over and over again, for years to come and for this I, along with my students are grateful.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Robinson

  • Creating Technology Savy Sixth Graders

    Funded Jan 7, 2010

    I would like to thank you for your support. Because of your generous gift, my students have gained access to technology. They were all very excited to receive our new classroom laptop and to begin using it to research information and work on classroom projects. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. It is my goal as a teacher to prepare my students for the future and giving them access to a laptop computer is one way that I am able to prepare them for our technology-rich world.

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Preabt

  • Fun With Art History

    Funded Dec 13, 2009

    Thank you all so much for your donations to this art history project. The kids loved the books about POP ART. They were really interested in Andy Wahol and the fun, bright and funny work he made. We invented our own POP ART by creating advertising for our own products. We also colored the famous Mona Lisa in our own style and created a wall of soup can art. It was a great art history unit and the students were really engaged and interested. We displayed our work in the hallways and got a lot of compliments on how eye catching and interesting it was. We appreciated your interest in our school and your support of our arts program.”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. Walters

  • Technology Savy Math Students

    Funded Dec 20, 2009

    I would like to thank you for your kindness in donating 6 graphing calculators to my 7th and 8th grade mathematics students. You should have seen their faces when they saw the results of their input of data after hitting the "graph" key. It was the greatest feeling! I saw students highly engaged in exploring their new graphing tool. They were able to graph and print data using the print option. They were also able to locate points on a parabola by tracing the displayed graph.

    It is difficult now a days to be working in a public school. Our school in particular is under budgeted and would have otherwise not been able to purchase these calculators for my students. Thank you once again for helping these students in preparing them for their, very near, high school experiences. I feel much support in knowing there are community members out there that care about education. Muchas Gracias!”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. Villafuerte

  • A Big Rack To Dry For

    Funded Nov 23, 2009

    Thank you for all your generous donations to our big drying rack. It was delivered to our classroom just in time for the start of the painting unit. Students are always so excited to paint and we have been painting for the last several months. The large rack fit perfectly in a small back room and students could easily put their artwork on it at the end of each period to dry. It has been such a help to myself, and the English teacher I share my classroom with. It is a comfort to know that the paintings are safe and not in the way of other classes. It has been a breeze to paint with 4 different classes and never have to worry about where to put their paintings and not get them mixed up.

    We have been able to create more paintings this year than in the past, as well as work on a larger scale knowing we have the large rack to dry the paintings on. There is no way to fully express our gratitude for your generosity and how the drying rack will be appreciated for many years to come.

    There will surely be countless artists who will use it and be inspired by the work they are able to produce in my class due to this resource you have provided us with.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Thompson

    This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 9 other donors.
  • Creative Children in Crisis!

    Funded Nov 28, 2009

    Thank you so much for the donation you have made to my classroom! You have made a huge difference in the lives of many children in Illinois!

    With your donation, we were able to expand our supplies from basic pencils and paper to paints, shown in the pictures attached, canvases, charcoal, charcoal paper and weaving looms. My students were really excited to learn about the donation, and even more excited to use the materials.

    Personally, I am most excited about the paints and ten canvases. With those canvases, I will choose ten students to create special paintings for our upcoming annual Fine Arts Open House. At the Open House, the paintings will be auctioned off, to raise money for the Art department and our dwindling budget. It is great to see these students create something special that they can be proud of and will help their school.

    I encourage you to continue to support classrooms around America, as many children are in need of additional resources to improve their education. Thank you again.”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. Bailey

  • Who's In, Who's Out?

    Funded Dec 7, 2009

    I sincerely thank you for the gift of books for my classroom library. It was an exciting day when the books started arriving. The students were begging to open the packages, but I wanted to wait for all the invoices in order to do an inventory. When I finally started doing the inventory, the students would hover around trying to look at the books and asking if they could read this one or that one. I chased them away until I had accounted for the numerous books.

    The day I allowed them to choose a book for our silent reading, there was complete silence in this middle school classroom. One student, Michael, after reading the first few pages called me over and said, "You know how I hate reading, Ms. Allebach? Well, this book is really good and I'm sure that this time I'm going to finish it!" He has a habit of starting books but not finishing them. Another student who struggles with reading and receives special services hasn't stopped reading since we've received the books. There have been numerous times I have 'caught' her reading a book during a lesson. It's been very hard to tell her to stop reading when that's what I want her to be doing!

    I have overheard the students recommending books to each other and I have seen them swapping books. These are the kinds of positive outcomes I celebrate as a teacher. Additionally, my student teacher and I are going to create a thematic unit based on the book, "To Kill a Mockingbird". We look forward to exploring another time period and the theme of justice.

    As you can see, you have made my life more rewarding as a teacher as I see the students excited and engaged in the books. The students have encountered the horrific world of the Holocaust but have also seen how hope endures. They have read stories about other teenagers and have connected with the issues that are addressed, such as identity and self-esteem. The world of reading has come alive to them in new ways. Again, a heartfelt thank you to each of you for making this a reality.”

    With gratitude,

    Teacher

  • Stories Told Through Art

    Funded Dec 8, 2009

    Thank you so much for the art supplies for my classroom. When the supplies came to our classroom my students faces all lit up with excitement. Together we went through the supplies and started brainstorming ways in which we could use them to help us in our writing. My special education students were so touched that someone donated the supplies to them. They really felt loved and cared for that there are people out there who are investing in their education and want them to be successful.

    Currently we are reading Walk Two Moons in the fifth grade classroom. Many of my fifth graders are at a third grade reading level and the book is challenging for them. I am trying to have them understand the characters in the story and imagine being in their shoes. While we take notes on the characters as we read I knew my students needed more support in really understanding them. With the supplies you have provided us, my students started to make the characters come alive. They built character puppets in which reflected the appearance of the characters from the books. After using the supplies to make the characters, my students wrote descriptions of the characters in a biography form. Using the puppets as support my students were able to write beautiful summaries on their characters. They were able to picture themselves in another person shoes and feel what their character felt in the story. Their writing came much more quickly to them then ever before with the support from your supplies. Their confidence was so high that we went on to act out a play using the puppets to support scenes from the book. They loved doing this and they loved getting to be creative.

    My students also used your supplies in February to make Valentine's Day envelopes in which they would later write a description of their envelopes and their peers would have to guess which one was theirs. My students were able to use descriptive words to describe something they made with your supplies. They used so much detail in their writing and were very descriptive in which envelope they made.

    Having the supplies you provided my students has not only let them become more creative but it has also given them an outlet for their writing. Having a visual for my students to use before wiring gives them the push they need to get started. They have really grown in the classroom in just the few projects we have had so far with your materials. I plan on using these materials more this year with my other special education students and I will continue to use them again next year. Thank you so much for your support!”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Kirschenbaum

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