Red Ops: Tomato Nation (Dakotas)

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Pilamaya Ye, (thank you in Lakota) for your thoughtfulness, dedication and donation to our classroom. Your generosity has impacted our low funded classroom. We were able to create a Flat Stanley project.

We started off by reading the book, Flat Stanley. Next, we created our flat people. Then, we wrote a letter explaining our activity. Students brought in addresses from friends or family and we mailed out our flat people. One went all the way to Australia!

We also walked to our local Post Office and went on a tour. We wanted to know exactly how our flat people were going to get mailed out! Then, the fun began...we started getting our flat people back from our friends a family! We were able to see where and what our flat people did while they were away, from the photos that were sent back. We have a large map in our hallway pin pointing the locations that our flat people were sent.

This wouldn't have been possible without your donation! This was a fun, engaging activity. I will definitely be done again in my classroom!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. White

Our students are so thankful for the 5 graphing calculators. Many students do not have access to this technology and will now be better prepared for their ACT test and college with this generous donation.

There is a particular student who lost everything in a fire, and was given one of the granted calculators as a replacement. The student was very touched and sends their deepest thanks, wanting you to know it will be taken to college after graduation and continue to provide opportunity for success.

Again thank you for your generosity in pushing these students closer to achieving their goals, in college preparation.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Bartels

Words alone cannot express my true level of thankfulness to you for your generous contributions to my classroom!

Initially, your gifts began with Flashlight Friday, but have now allowed my classroom to transpire into a world of reading at many levels! We utilize the flashlights and pillows not only on Fridays, but also for reading to self and reading to partners within our classroom. We have now taken it to a new level, incorporating our 3rd grade reading buddy times and our new Kindergarten reading friends! We LOVE reading with our flashlights and cozying up on our pillows!

Our school is a very high poverty level Title 1 school. Without your help in providing these wonderful resources, my students would not have the opportunity to experience a variety of ways to enjoy reading, and as you know, reading is truly the root of all academic success! Thank you so very much!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Howes

I can not begin to express the opportunity afforded my students as a result of the generous donations. My students are using the recording equipment to document the history of their own town. It is not lost on them that the stories they hear passed down from their family and other members of the community are important, but it's only through this project that they now understand the necessity to document and remember those stories for an eternity.

Small-town rural schools and businesses are dwindling at a far greater rate than is acceptable. My students understood the impact that losing a business or school cn their lives and future endeavors. However, the direct connection made to members of the community has now become a part of their own history. They have now taken ownership of their own history and understand the necessity to pass their stories along to the future.

With this project I hope, ultimately, to stop or emphasize the "brain drain" and help students understand that with their efforts small towns can be saved from the mass exodus they are experiencing. Thank you again for making this possible.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Schneider

Thank you so much for your donations. My students have had a great time making posters for our poster contest, and displaying them around the school. We have had lots of great lessons on ways they can help stop bullying around our school! Hopefully the posters will serve as reminders for all of the students in our school on how we should treat each other!

Thanks again for your generous donations! Your giving spirit is an inspiration to us all! What a great we to teach generosity to my students, by showing how others are generous to us.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Williams

I would like to extend a sincere thank you for your donation to my project. I was thrilled to learn that my classroom would be receiving this tool to enhance student learning, and that it is possible because of the generosity of others who believe in the value of our children and schools.

Kindergarten learners are active learners and this rug will allow for whole body learning. The rug that you have funded will serve as a resource for color identification, counting, graphing, basic addition and subtraction. In addition, it will be used as a classroom management tool, minimizing transition time and maximizing learning time! Every child will have their own place and space for carpet time.

This rug will be such an exciting resource and addition to our kindergarten room! I can't wait to introduce it to the children. Let the learning begin!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Frank

I just wanted to let you know how excited my students were with the paintbrushes you provided for us. Most of them had never had the chance to use brushes like these. The kids where really impressed with how much easier it is to paint with quality materials.

I am so grateful to you for caring about my students. They are really great kids that love art, and are eager to learn and create. Your gift makes students feel like they have self worth, because you cared enough to provide them with quality materials. I only wish that you could personally see how you have made an impact with my students.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Myrlie

Thank you so much for donating to our project! The kids have had SO much fun with the dice this year. As I mentioned in my project details, my school focuses heavily on math instruction, and having this project funded has been so helpful in my students' learning.

We used the dice at the beginning of the school year to introduce dice patterns and counting. The kids have used them to play many games which practices the skills in such a fun way. As the year continues we will use them to teach addition and subtraction and counting forward and backward. It just makes the learning so much fun for my students! They love when I walk over to the dice drawer to pull out some new dice! Thank you so much!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Erickson

Thank you cannot begin to express our appreciation and gratitude for your contributions towards making this dream a reality for our students. We had an increase in student enrollment over the summer months so having more books available to put into the hands of students was wonderful. The students love these books and many have been read over and over again in the short few months we've had them in our classroom. The illustrations are superb and make the story come to life. They have been a great asset to our guided reading time as students have gained further understanding of comprehension skills and strategies through reading these texts. This would not have been possible without your support and generous gifts. Thank you!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Riddle