Miguel A. Figueroa's Mustache

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I want you know how grateful I am for your generous contribution to sustain music education at our school. The implementation of the program has been tremendous. In strengthening student understanding of music and its relationship with the spoken word, we have integrated the instruments in cultural appreciation, accompanying student creative writing, and measures to be creative as a meditative retreat. The impact has been worthwhile.

Having worked in this school for a few years, I have seen the general progression to include musical education in our classrooms. As a community charter school, our resources are nearly 50% of the average classroom in our geographic region. Because of these short comings, we often have to prioritize spending to pay for basic materials. The students come attend the school with challenges, but the school should not be challenged in meeting their interests, academic needs, and diversity of instruction.

We appreciate your impact in providing an enriching environment for our students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Sokacich

The students have been enjoying the books they received. I have a constant stream of checkouts from the library. The students were besides themselves to learn that people they did not even know wanted to help them and provide for them. This alone made them more hopeful for the future. This helped them to feel supported and encouraged. Now, the culture of reading has been firmly established. We used the books you all provided to set that tone in the first few critical months. Students are reading, writing about, and exchanging books.

Students often talk about a lack of interest and connection to school. The books they received has allowed them to connect and feel invested in school. This investment in learning is more important than any content knowledge they will be asked to recall in school. It is through this investment that they will truly transform. We thank you all for everything you have done. ”

With gratitude,

Mr. Khan

I want to thank you for supplying the library at my school with the wonderful storytelling materials. It has been so fun to share the story telling kits and felt board sets with the students. We have been using the kits in many different ways. I have shared the kits with some of the kindergarten teachers as well.

I have used the storytelling apron to model how to use the felt board pieces by telling the stories that match the books we have read. We started by using all of the Three Little Pig pieces. Once I had modeled how to use the felt board pieces, I put them out as a center activity for the students to use on their own. Let me tell you, they LOVE it! Every grade from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade has had a blast acting out the story with the pieces. I have made an additional center for the story telling kits. The three little pig kit has the three pigs, the wolf, and a brick house. The children have been very inventive with making other props and acting out the stories. These two centers have become their favorite activities in the library!

It has been amazing to hear the students using the vocabulary from the texts that we have been reading. I have also enjoyed listening to them make up different versions of stories. I have seen Goldilocks befriend the Baby Bear and I have seen the three pigs pick on the wolf. These materials truly have inspired a love of literacy here in the library.

When the materials first arrived in the library and I told the students that they were a gift from people who didn't even know them, they were blown away at your kindness. Many requested that I be sure to tell the donors thank you! From all of us here, we truly appreciate your kindness and your support of the library.

Thank you!

By the way, do you still have your mustaches or are they gone now? That was so great! ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Herman

I hope this letter finds you well! Since I last wrote, I have thankfully been able to introduce my students to the plethora of literacy-enriched materials you purchased for our classroom. Students have utilized the non-fiction readers to become more aware of functional print within the real world, such as how to glean information from captions, labels, photographs and maps. My students have learned how to utilize their schema to think about the reading process. We have utilized the multicultural text to help build schema in relation to making concrete connections to the text. This process has increased my students' motivation to learn how to read and furthermore helped students experience text that is meaningful.

Each day my students attend one inclusion class for reading, which increases their exposure to literacy instruction and social interaction with peers who are non-disabled. I have been co-teaching the class with another first grade teacher and we have been fortunate enough to share the comprehension based materials, such as the story wands, strategy charts and non-fiction pocket chart. My students have begun to independently select 10 centers to visit each week while attending individual reading groups that enhance their individualized education plan goals. I am sincerely thankful because the materials you purchased have truly enhanced my students' literary experience.

When I asked my students to think about what this donation meant for our class, I was sincerely pleased with their responses. One student exclaimed, "Thank you for the new books you gave us! The new books are super awesome!" Another student shouted, "Super Star Students thank you for buying the books!" A sincerely thankful student stated, "Thank you for bringing the new books here. The books are going in my schema!"

Above all I would like to thank you for extending such a sincere act of kindness to my students! On a daily basis, we discuss the importance of lending a helping hand to those in need and are especially grateful for those who took similar strides to facilitate our ability to reach our goals! It is inspiring to watch my students grow each and every day, especially since people, such as yourselves, have helped make that process more meaningful and possible. I want to thank you for the belief you have instilled in my students as a result of your generous donations. We will continue to utilize the materials in an effort to become Super Star Readers! Thank you again. ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Gorman

Thank you again for donating. My students love to go to the reading center more than ever. They love putting on the whisperphone and listening to themselves pretend to read. They pick up book after book and pretend to read. Sometimes they don't have to pretend because they are reading the color, number, shape and alphabet books that were also purchased. These books are in English and Spanish so the students are reading them in both languages. It is a joy to listen to them.

They are also enjoying the puzzles. Unfortunately they all can't use the puzzles all at one time. They tend to wait in line for a chance to work on the puzzles. They love them! They also love saying the colors, numbers and letters of the alphabet when they complete the puzzle. This is helping them to recognize the numbers, colors and alphabet.

I don't want to forget the labeling pictures. The students are able to recognize what is in the different areas by looking at the pictures. This helps them to identify what they are looking for.

Once again thank you for making learning so special for my students!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Hawkins

Thank you very much for funding my Donors Choose project, " Let's Drum." By funding this project, my students will be able to use their own drum in a percussion ensemble without having to share and take turns and wait patiently for their turn to play the drum. This project helps tremendously in my general music classes because students will have enough instruments in order to perform the percussion ensembles. Students will use these drums to read and perform rhythms as well as create their own rhythms.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Williams