Sarah Hagerman-Holm's Giving Page

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Not many people realize the gravity of the situation when discussing the current situation in public education. While criticisms of education have and always will be commonplace, the national dialog has increasingly begun to identify educators as parasitic and the public education system as one deserving an impending demise, individuals such as yourselves have taken up the mantle of radical civic responsibility.

As a result of your generosity, my students have been given the opportunity to interact with technology in a way that corresponds to their individual learning needs. These learning opportunities are like hairline fractures upon the edifice that prevents access. While the primary benefit is the access my students have gained, I believe that they have gained far more in their understanding of the power of generosity and decency.

Donors like you are what will be one day remembered as the grassroots spark that went on to help our communities rebuild themselves around our schools.”

With gratitude,

Teacher

Thank you ALL so very much for believing in my project and giving toward it so generously. I felt truly blessed and lucky to have found DonorsChoose.org and all of you. I finally feel like I will be able to provide for my students some of the essentials I was not able to previously. The ipod, speakers and case have been well loved by a wide range of students receiving speech and language services on my caseload.

The ipod, for example, has been used to give a voice to several of my students who are nonverbal by using an app called Proloquo2go. When they touch the picture symbols on the device, it speaks the words for them. One of the pictures above is of one of my students who was previously unable to verbally ask for a drink but now is able to request and get his needs met using the ipod touch. I also use the ipod to perform "trials" with students to see if this is the correct direction to go in terms of augmentative communication devices.

The new speakers have allowed my students to be heard! The built in speaker on the itouch and ipad is not loud enough for noisy parts of the school (cafeteria etc) and sometimes not even loud enough for the classroom. The addition of the speakers has been wonderful so that when my students request something, they can be heard and reinforced right away.

I have been inspired by your generous spirits. Thank you!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Hueffmeier

Thank you for your generous donation to the sensory activities for our special needs students. The fidgets and vibrating pencils have helped to refocus students who were otherwise overwhelmed with their assignments. The items (including the tactile ball and special seat cushions) provide relief from their over-active senses. Students have improved attention and awareness, and have an outlet to reduce overall anxiety and arousal.

There are several students at our school who benefit from the variety of special classroom aids. One of our students in particular enjoys painting now with the painting glove. Prior to the glove, she was very sensitive to getting her hands dirty and finger painting. Now, with the painting glove she is more calm during art.

As you may already know, funding for specific aids is difficult and sometimes impossible to get through the normal school district bureaucracy. Your commitment to help our students made it possible to give assistance to those who truly need it the most. Thank you.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Ahrens

I wanted to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of my wonderful students. They love technology and learn best when using it in its various forms.

This ipod touch has allowed us access to grade level stories from Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, English Language Development (ELD), Science, and Math. We have used this throughout all subjects. We also listen to music to tap into my students' multiple intelligences. We use our ipod touch every single day!! Each of my students have used this personally, and we also enjoy using it whole group. This gift has touched our lives!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Mercado

Words can not describe how much you have contributed to my classroom and, most importantly, my students' academic progress and success. In my classroom, we do an interactive circle every day. With the addition of the software you helped purchase by your donation, my students are able to practice life and critical academic skills.

Some of the software my students have used so far include telling time, counting coins, fractions,identifying beginning and rhyming sounds, and sequencing events. The students enjoy the game format of the math games, as they solve problems and work around the game board collecting cheese, golden coins, or pieces of pizza. Beginning and rhyming sounds, as well as sequencing events, are skills connected to the classroom curriculum, but the software allows the students to practice the skill in a way that is more engaging.

There is software that the students have not had a chance to use yet. After the New Year, they will begin working on higher skills such as making predictions, answering questions, and more. They will be much more engaged when they get to move around a skateboard park or pirate island. In Math, some of my students are beginning to add and subtract with regrouping, and being able to practice that skill on the interactive whiteboard will help them grasp the concept quicker and have a deeper understanding for why it works.

These are just a few examples of how your donations have impacted my classroom. Not only my current students, but classrooms of students to come, will be positively impacted by your kindness.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Holm

Thank you so much for your generosity. We put the ipods to use as soon as we received them. The class was and is still very excited. We have download lots of materials including the stories from our language arts books. We are a multi-grade classroom and how ever handy to have every grade levels stories all in one accessible place. We have also accessed the internet with the devices and have been able to go on some virtual field trips to multiple museums and landmarks. We have only just begun with all the things that we can do with these ipods in the classroom. We expect to utilize them in many more ways. Once again thank you so very much for assisting our classroom in receiving some of the technology that we needed to access the curriculum.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Range

My students and I are extremely grateful to the three of you who have so generously made it possible for us to have an ipad2. I am a speech/language pathologist and work with 38 children with autism. Many of my students have good understanding skills but find it difficult to express themselves. I have been able to download many apps, several which are free. I was able to obtain a communication app that speaks for them and many of my students use it during our classes to answer questions, comment or to participate in classroom discussions.

Other students have difficulty attending to speech and language tasks. The apps that I put on the ipad2 are animated or real life pictures. It is amazing how much they enjoy working on the ipad! They do not realize they are learning valuable language skills. A really great feature is the ability to take pictures and make movies. I use it to demonstrate appropriate social skills through the use of video modeling. It is instantaneous and my students love watching themselves on the ipad2.

In addition, my older students can now research topics that we are studying. Since I do not have a student computer, it was impossible to investigate any questions they had before you gave us the ipad2.

You will never know how much we really appreciate and value your contribution! By your act of kindness, you have just made the world a better place!!! ”

With gratitude,

Ms. Wilkens

I am truly grateful for your generosity in funding this project which is giving my first grade students the opportunity to read independently. They feel successful and are engaged as they read age-appropriate books of high interest. My students are increasing their stamina for independent reading and improving their reading skills while following along with the TAG reading system. I have also noticed that the TAG system has contributed to their increased levels of comprehension, accuracy, fluency and vocabulary.

Thank you for funding my project and allowing my students this great experience. The TAG reading systems you have funded will be used by my future students and will benefit many first graders in the years to come”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Jennrich

There are not enough "Thank Yous" that my students and I could say that would express how truly grateful we are for our Learning Centers. We've used the materials to learn new vocabulary, to practice our speech sounds, and to learn all about our surrounding community. The vocabulary cards, bingo sets, books, and hands-on activities are used with my special education pre-kindergarten students all the way through my 5th graders.

Speech and Language therapy is a crucial part of early intervention for my students. Without your help, we would not have the resources we needed.

Thank you for your support and dedication for special education. ”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Tariche