Mr. Hornbeck's Mustache

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Thank you so much for the contribution you made on behalf of our class! Thanks to you my students were able to create their very own Word Wizard "Picture Dictionary" by using alphabetized page templates and the 3 ring binders that you helped to purchase for our class. Students added each of their weekly vocabulary words to their word wizard binders, wrote a sentence using each word, and drew a picture to help show the meaning of each word added. This made learning new words fun for our class. At the end of the school year, students will be given extra page templates and encouraged to continue to add new words over the summer. It is very important for students to learn thousands of new words each year in order for their comprehension skills to keep up with their grade level. Because of your support, students did an outstanding job on the vocabulary section of their standardized 2nd grade test. Without your help our goal of learning at least 1000 new words in 2nd grade would not have become a reality. Please allow me to tell you how thankful my students are. One of my students stated that Donors Choose is like a "Fairy God Mother" for teachers and students. Another student says ask Donors Choose when I tell them that we don't have something that our class wants or needs. It makes them feel good to know that someone is there to support their academic needs. My students will get to keep their personal dictionaries at the end of this school year along with the many memories they created each day while using the binders that you helped to provide. Our entire class truly appreciates your generous donations and we hope that the same blessings of kindness and generosity that you have shown to us will be bestowed upon you. There are many people in many places that you could have chosen to help but you chose our class. Your philanthropy will never be forgotten.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Berkley

I have now been giving books to the parents at my school for the last several months. The parents have expressed to me how grateful they are to have this resource. I give the parent a book that they read with their children When they have fully enjoyed the book, they return the book to me to be used by another family.

What makes this so nice for the parents is the ease in accessing the books. I am on a first name basis with many of the parents at the school, and they simply step into my office take a book and leave. With many of them having very busy schedules and/or young children, this saves them the time from going elsewhere for a book. It helps that my office is conveniently located off of the main lobby.

This year, I focused on reading books for students. Next year, I would like to focus on books that will help parents to help their children succeed in school.

Again thank you so much for the wonderful gift you have given to the parents of my school.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Swann

Thank you so much for your generosity and support for our class! These cd players are going to be a blessing to have in my classroom. Now I can have scholars work on skills using familiar text and they love it!

The biggest difference these cd players are going to make in my room is that ALL of my scholars will be able to work independently on their fluency and not have to wait for someone else to finish with the two cd players I currently have. Then our fluency levels will increase on the district assessments as well as the federal initiative that we have in our school. Thank you so much!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Vaughn

Thank you never seems like enough when I have a project funded! I am eternally grateful for your generosity and support for this proposal. Now I can have my lower level readers practice in a non-threatening, and even engaging way that will build to love of reading I wish all children have. For my higher level readers, I now have acceptable fourth grade materials to push them harder and further than before.

We ALL are going to grow significantly because of this endeavor and it would not have been possible without...YOU!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Vaughn

Thank you so much for your donations. I absolutely love the Elmo and use it daily in my classroom. I no longer know how I would teach without it! It is so easy to use and just wonderful. I can't praise it enough and I certainly can't express how grateful I am for your donations, which made it possible for my students and me to have this tool in the classroom.

The Elmo has greatly improved the quality of education that I am able to provide for my students. My students know exactly what to do and where we are while reading a book or completing a worksheet. Those students who have vision challenges can follow along without needing to squint or look at a neighbor's notes. All of the students love to be the one to model their notes for the class or to put their completed assignment on the screen as an example.

Thank you for making all of these wonderful changes happen with your donation. My students truly benefit from your generosity. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. White

Thank you so much for the resources you have provided to my students. One of the first items we used was the place value magnets. My students have always struggled with this concept. We were reviewing in order to prepare for learning two-digit addition. My students were able to interact with the material and it really improved their ability to grasp the concept.

Additionally, my kids really love the math games. Whenever they finish their math assignments before the peers they are constantly asking if they can play one of the math games. Thier excitement is awesome. They come in excited about working on a game they started the previous day, and they are reinforcing the skills they need in order to be successful in their future academic careers”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Blahut

I want to thank you for all that you have done for my scholars. They have the opportunity to practice essential basic skills that they were lacking. This daily practice is provided in a fun and engaging way. They are now motivated to use these kinesthetic materials each and every day. Not only do they practice letter and number recognition but they also build upon fine motor skills. These are skills that are vital to everyday life. So thank you for sharing in the belief that demography does not determine my scholars destiny.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Clark

Thank you so much for donating money for the math manipulatives for my students to enjoy. These materials really grabbed the interest of my middle school students and they were excited each time we used the resources and started making real connections to our content. It was so nice to hear them chorus "ohhhh, that's why!" each time a new understanding was made.

The movement in mathematics is for conceptual understanding, and so often students miss out on the opportunities to really attain true understanding because schools cannot afford the necessary materials. Being able to get manipulatives into my students' hands has brought our classroom alive. Kids are making connections; they are "seeing" the concepts and actually beginning to process the information rather than just memorizing definitions and steps.

The students are still waiting to use some more of the materials as we dive heavily in Algebra to prepare them for high school assessments. They ask me daily "when are we going to use those?" and it's refreshing to see them engaged and interested in what we are learning!

Your gift is immensely appreciated, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share these materials with my students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Bovill

This is just a small token of my gratitude for your generous donation to my classroom. The overhead projector you have donated to my classroom has helped my students in many ways. We've used it every single day to complete math, read words, to take tests, and even get ready for testing! We have also used the crayons and pens everyday to help us check and complete our work!

Without your help, my student would have never had these vital resources. Having supplies in our classroom helps continue our academic success within the classroom.

Without donors like you, thousands of classrooms in the United States would go without.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Kramer

I just wanted to take the time to extend my most sincere gratitude for helping my program. The additional equipment has allowed the children to get more opportunities to use a basketball and has allowed me to convey the knowledge needed to play the game in a different way.

Before I received the 10 new basketballs, I only had seven basketballs that were of good quality. This prevented the children from getting the maximum repetitions needed to help improve the basic fundamentals of dribbling, passing and shooting. For example, with a total of 17 basketballs, I am able to give each player a ball during a dribbling or shooting drill. It is an awesome sight to see all the kids dribbling a ball.

When teaching court placement for an offensive play or a defensive setup, the white board's significance is unmeasurable. Some children need to see this visual to actually understand where they need to be on the floor. I can label the positions on the courts for the kids to help them understand the different positions. I have even used the white board during my normal physical education classes to post objectives and instructions for my students.

With 37 boys and girls from grades one through five participating in the after-school program, and an additional 15 participating on the school team, the equipment has been a blessing. After running this program for eight years, all on a voluntary basis, it has been reassuring to see that there are other people who want to see our children succeed and are willing to help make things better for the kids.

I think the largest impact on our children is one that is hardest to measure. Positive self esteem is a characteristic that a lot of my kids don't have. Many of them quit when things get too challenging. They would rather say they quit instead of saying they failed while giving it their best. It is difficult for many of them to trust people and many of them feel no one cares. They were extremely excited to hear we were getting new equipment, even if they didn't really understand how I obtained it. Before using the equipment for the first time, I sat all my kids down and told them how I went about getting the new balls. Some of them don't understand why people they didn't know gave them the new equipment, but they do know that someone cares. Thank you.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Coffey