I can not begin to thank you for providing my class with individual copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. My class absolutely loved reading a chapter a day accompanied by the audio book. When I would pick up my class in the morning they would immediately ask me with such excitement and enthusiasm, "Are we reading Harry today?"
We read a chapter a day for seventeen school days after lunch. My class was the first one in line ready and waiting for me to take them back into the building so we could begin reading. The story calmed them down after lunch and allowed us to have a very productive afternoon.
Giving each child a copy of the story and allowing them to hear the text being read aloud by a very proficient reader helped increase essential reading skills. After we finished the book I assessed all twenty six readers and each student increased their reading levels at least one month or more!
Shortly after receiving our Donors Choose package we found out that Grover Cleveland Elementary School was being shut down in the fall of 2012 for being a chronically under-performing school. I am very saddened by the news but this school year I was able to instill in my students a love of reading that I hope will carry with them for the rest of their lives. I only have one copy of each book in the rest of the Harry Potter series and I brought them into my classroom for students to read during independent reading time. I am happy to say that these books are NEVER on the shelf and sometimes students argue about who gets to find out what happens to Harry next!
Your generous donations have allowed students to develop and grow as readers. I can not thank you enough.
Thank you so much for your donations! My students and I really appreciate it. Science is an exciting thing for them. As students with special needs, school can be a frustrating place, where their reading and math disabilities at times hold them back from feeling successful. But in a content area like Science, where a lot of what we do is hands on activity and experiential learning, my students get the opportunity to finally feel like a success. I hear over and over again how "fun" science is. And giving them the chance to participate in a science fair is the most fun of all! So, thank you very much for the tri-fold boards you have helped to provide. We are so thankful. ”
MY KIDS LOVED THIS BOOK! Thank you so much for helping to provide them with their own copy of Robert Kimmel Smith's Chocolate Fever. They loved reading this book and they loved that they got their very own copy of the book to take home and keep.
Books like this make kids love reading. And if a kid doesn't love reading it is that much harder for them to be successful at reading. So thank you for helping my kids be successful and for helping them find the joy of reading.”
I can't thank you enough for the generous support you have given my classroom and my students. We are so excited to be able to work with the dry erase boards and markers! All of my students feel comfortable working with the boards and trying new mathematical concepts. Even the ones with the greatest "math-phobias"! We played a game practicing operations with exponents and used the dry erase boards to share our answers with the class. We also used the graphing side to learn systems of equations.
Before we had these materials, my students would struggle writing down their ideas for fear of being wrong. Since we got the boards, these fears have diminished.
It was with great excitement that my young students opened their new non-fiction readers. The full color photographs drew "oohs" and "ahhs" of amazement and delight as the children skipped from page to page to see what was in each book. The learners were hooked!
As we settled down to read these new texts, the children noticed right away that these books contained features about which they were already learning: charts, fact bubbles, an index, a table of contents. They felt so important, knowing that reading a non-fiction text is hard work and involves lots of new learning.
My children have been working in small skills level groups to read these new science books. Every few days we read a new text and share the information we learn with others in the class. As they read, the students build a store of new information and new vocabulary that I hear them use in conversations during science and see them use in writing workshops. One of my students recently wrote about a fish that hides in the shallows of a stream. He insisted that he could find the exact picture and sentence he wanted in one of the new texts. He was right. He patiently paged through the text he wanted until he found that camouflaged fish. "Here it is! I can put this in my writing!" he proudly announced.
Your generosity in providing these books for my children has made much new learning possible. It has had far reaching consequences. My parents tell me they are amazed when their children talk to them "about science" and they hear the words the children use ( very sophisticated, my five year old children!). Self esteem and parent involvement are on the rise in the families of my students.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Salaman
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 7 other donors.
Thank you so much for your generosity in making my project possible. I am so excited to read these books with my students - I'm already picturing them acting out the parts of Death of a Salesman and debating controversial topics in The Kite Runner. I know that these novels are going to enrich my English class and I'm very excited to share the good news with my students tomorrow. I look forward to sharing with you the impact that these new books have on my students.
Again, thank you so, so much for investing in this and I hope you have a wonderful upcoming holiday.”
Over the past few years I have attempted to have my students complete computerized assessments many times. Filtering noise without headphones is a difficult task for anyone but it is nearly impossible for my students, many of whom have attention and learning difficulties. The headphones that were donated have been such a tremendous improvement to our classroom. I can't thank you enough for giving my students the opportunity to make computer programs, projects, and everyday assignments possible. ”
With gratitude,
Ms. Leon
This classroom project was brought to life by Gap Inc. and 4 other donors.
Thank you so much for taking the time to donate to and fund my project! It is so nice to know there are people who are committed to providing our children with the resources they need to receive a great education.
As teachers we often lack the basic supplies, but we also lack the materials that take our lessons to the next level. By providing my students with listening center equipment, they are now able to practice their skills on a daily basis in an exciting, hands-on center!
Thank you again for your commitment to education!”
Thank you so much for your generosity! Your kindness has surely made an impact on our children's education and will continue to do so. Through your donation we will be able to continue to distribute newsletters and brochures to the school community and the homes of our deserving children. There really is nothing like seeing your child featured in a newsletter, in full color, detailing what they are learning in school! This exceptional form of communication helps to keep the parents engaged and the children wanting to excel!”
Thank you kindly for following me on my dream to engage our girls with art in the classroom. I love to do hands-on projects because many of my students feel most comfortable expressing themselves through artistic mediums (when given the opportunity). Many students also love to build 2D models so that they may get a closer look at the phenomenon we are studying. In addition, they get extremely excited when they are encouraged to make something that is representative of the unit or topic we are studying. Now thanks to you- we have the materials to help them create these renderings in our classroom! Thank you again,”
With gratitude,
Ms. M.
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