Lakeland Lion Mustache Madness 2011

Edit title

I would like to thank you again for your generous donation and help towards making our Guided Reading Library a place where students can learn and grow. Upon receiving the books, the students were very excited and eager to get to work. We have made some significant gains already and these books will help to push our students even further.

One student in particular spent 15 minutes looking through all the books that he could "finally read". For the past few months he spent the majority of reading time looking at the pictures and asking a friend to help him with words. Now, he is able to pull from a number of books and get the satisfaction of reading on his own.

In order for my students to be successful, they needed access to materials that were on their level. Your donation has made this possible. Independent work time has become less of a burden on students now that they can truly be independent. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Baker

Thank you so very much for donating to my project! The children in my classes were so excited to hear that we have plenty of pencils to last us the rest of the year!

A few years ago, I had a Donor's Choose project funded for pencils. That project lasted clear through this year! However, as our pencil supply ran low, I started to get nervous. Good pencils are expensive - and kids lose them all the time!

For a while, I resorted to picking up "garbage" pencils from the custodian's swept-up pile of trash at the end of each day. I'm so glad I don't have to do this anymore!

Your generosity is helping a lot of kids (and teachers!). We don't have to worry about where to find a pencil - we can just get straight to work!

It's so nice to know that there are people out there like you guys - who don't know me, or my kids, but still went out of your way to help us meet our basic educational needs. It's unfortunate that school's can't provide these essentials, but with budgets being cut left and right, my school tries to save every penny so that we can hire as many teachers as possible. We knew that money for supplies this year would be tight - we decided to hire extra teachers to help bring class sizes down. Although I don't regret that decision, it has made life a little harder when it comes to having what we need to get our work done.

However - with your help, I no longer have to worry about pencils! Yay! Thanks again for your donations - and please look out for the "Thank You" cards my kids wrote. They had a blast doing them and are very excited for you to get them!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Griffith

The tadpoles were a big hit! My students came in each day and went straight for our tank of tadpoles. They could not wait to see them! Our little "pond" became the talk of the school. Many classrooms from different grade levels visited our tadpoles. This project not only benefited my students-but the entire school!

The students also loved the greenhouse! They were able to grow plants for loved ones for Mother's Day. My students loved taking care of their plants everyday, and took great pride in watching them grow. We even planted herbs and the kids got to taste them!

Thank you again for your support. This was an experience that my students would not have otherwise had and they will remember it always!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Williamsen

There aren't words to describe how grateful we are to you! Thank you SO much for your donations. It is late April, and we still have 3 boxes of paper left! Our 2nd grade team has been able to copy worksheets, study packets, and tests with your donation.

Additionally, my students have been able to complete some awesome activities and crafts with the donated paper. We have decorated our room and hallway with our wonderful work.

Without your donations, we would have had a lot of trouble completing the necessary work for 2nd grade. I'm happy to say that this paper will carry us through the rest of the school year, and hopefully even in to next year.

Once again, thank you sincerely for your donations. You've made a difference!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Griffith

I wanted to personally thank you for your generous donations this school year. The science kits that your donations have provided are doing wonders towards enriching science instruction. The children are getting many opportunities to use the kits and to answer many of the scientific questions that have been presented in their reading.

With our big testing just around the corner we are really buckling down to make sure that we show the world that we are serious about science instruction and providing this city's children with a quality public education. We are not just teaching how to be good students, but also how to be good citizens. Your donations have gone a long way to ensure that we achieve those goals.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Gottlieb

My entire class is very appreciative of the new pencil sharpener, golf pencils and construction paper. While I try to keep the number of pencils I need to resharpen, or just sharpen because students have lost their pencils, it is immensely helpful to have a high powered, quiet pencil sharpener to zap our pencils into shape for use! The construction paper makes teaching much more interesting than just using plane paper (plus, it's nice to save that for making out worksheets and homework copies on!). I like the golf pencils because it's what I give my students who are constantly losing their pencils - and they don't like them because they are so small. Hopefully getting a golf pencil will encourage them to take better care of their own pencils!

Thanks again! We are using everything we received and a weight's been lifted off our (well, really my!) shoulders!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Stevens