Stephen Colbert for President

Edit title

I am so grateful for your commitment to the educational needs of my students. We thank you wholeheartedly for such generous donations. My students have now been able to access the curriculum more effectively by using technology, sharing and explaining their work, and making presentations. The LCD projector is used daily and across all curricular areas. The students absolutely love to use this technology!

Your investment in the future of my students has allowed them to attain a variety of essential resources of information. My students have authentically been learning from one another and have gained more enthusiasm for learning. We look forward to our continued academic success!

Thank you for believing in us and helping us to become agents of change that continue to make a difference in our homes, school, communities, and the world. We sincerely thank you!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Robinson

I cannot tell you all how eternally grateful I am to have been able to receive the donations that you graciously gave to my class. They were absolutely elated at the fact that they would be able to learn more techniques in art than they'd ever before. We have had the chance to do a shadowing effect with the California Poppy and complementary colors activity. These students would not have been able to participate in an opportunity such as these. They can't wait to work with the pastels and paint with the oil paints on canvas! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You all are definitely angels in our eyes.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Clark

Thank you so much for your gift of a percussion cabinet. Immediately after it arrived the students were so excited to begin using it! The organization of our room has greatly improved and the students have really followed through with respecting our learning environment.

It is truly amazing, the acts of kindness I see. Through your gift, I am noticing the students "paying it forward". I hear comments like, "we are very blessed someone gave us this cabinet, what can we do to help someone else?" or "Be careful, we want to keep the cabinet nice".

I know that the added labels and pictures for each instrument has allowed our music classes to include a new vocabulary and language component to our class; which also gives students the extra help needed to practice reading and verbalizing words.

I cannot tell you all of the stories I see every day; nevertheless, we think of you often and are humbled by your kindness. Thank you for your support and wonderful gift!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Wheeler

The day our recorders arrived, my students and I were so excited to unpack them, number them, and hand them out. They have learned to play (and read) four notes so far (some students have learned many more on their own!) All classes have learned several songs to play as a class and the 5th grade classes have even begun to improvise!

All year, they have been so proud of their recorders and just this past week, they have started taking them home to practice. At first, I was concerned that they might not take this responsibility seriously enough but that is not the case at all! Each one of them carefully puts their recorder into their case and carries it to and from school. Every morning, the first thing I hear when I walk in the door is what new thing they learned while practicing the previous evening. Some of them have already learned to read music proficiently and it is only October which is so exciting since recent research shows a correlation between reading music and reading fluency, which is the new focus in reading education. Most students have a variety of songs they can play and enjoy performing both in class and outside of class for anyone who will listen. Thank you for helping instill a sense of pride, musicianship, and self-discipline in my students.

These recorders will be used by students for years to come and are not only developing the musical skills that are expected of elementary school students today but are also helping build the high school marching bands and orchestras of tomorrow.

Thank you for your generous donation; without people like you, the arts would not be able to remain in the schools!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Sublett

Thank you all so very much for your generous donation to my class.  I cannot even begin to explain the excitement in my classroom when the computer arrived.  Immediately, students were ready to learn how to use the computer and explore all that it has to offer.  Already they are using the computer for so many different things.  It is great to have this resource in our classroom.

The students are so grateful for the computer. They want to meet the "nice people who gave us the computer!"  Everyday, I am finding a way to use the computer to help my students succeed.  I would not be able to do that without you.  Thank you so much, your donations have made a HIGE impact on my awesome students who deserve the world”

With gratitude,

Teacher

My students and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate the LCD projector that you helped to fund. This will allow us to have much more interactive lessons and really prepare my students to interact with 21st century technology. We will use the projector to practice reading skills and strategies, build background by viewing websites that provide information about topics related to our novels, and present about our reading using power point presentations.

We work hard each day at our school and your gift will help to ensure that we are not only working hard, we are working smart. Your gift will ensure that my students are prepared for college and the world beyond. Thank you so much!”

With gratitude,

Teacher

I just wanted to thank you again for your thoughtful and generous contributions to our Art Program. Last year our art budget was cut in half, and this year it was cut completely. Thanks to donors like yourself our students now have the art supplies they so desperately need.

Almost 600 students have thoroughly enjoyed all of the supplies you helped fund this year, and some of the art supplies will still be around for years to come.I hope each of you received some of the thank you letters from the students. They really appreciate and understand what a wonderful gift you have given them.

Their artwork amazes me everyday, and you have helped keep their vision alive during these financially difficult times. Your donations will have an impact on the students for years to come, and your kindness has already left an impression on the minds and hearts of our faculty and students. As I said before, our hearts our filled with appreciation and now our art room is filled with art supplies. Thank you so much for what you have done.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Worley

I really wanted to thank you all for your generosity. It has been very difficult keeping up with the supply and demand of our band and orchestra students. This year is the first year that we have 3 bands and 3 orchestras during the school day. I never thought that I would have to spend so much money on reeds. I also really counted on parents buying reeds to support their children. Unfortunately, many of our parents are struggling greatly right now. I have been supplying all of the reeds for our woodwind players. Reeds, bows, and sterilizer seem like they would be inexpensive but due to the large amount of students I have, it becomes very expensive.

The extra sterilizer definitely saves class time. Having multiple bottles makes it more accessible for the students who have to share instruments. (Low brass and alto saxophones players) Keeping germs to a minimum is definitely a necessity. Having more reeds to give to the students is great. This is greatly helping my woodwind players to have the materials that they need to be successful. I have several bows that are beat up. I have purchased many used instruments. Often the instruments are in great condition but the bows have been neglected. Also, many of my students have very cheap violins that they bought online. The bows fall apart after a couple months. The new bows will help 5 violinists to sound a lot better! They are all definitely grateful.

Again, I am so grateful that your donations have made my teaching experience easier. All of these little items add up to make a big difference. It truly helps me to impact the lives of my students through music. I am so proud of all my ensembles and thankful that your giving spirit helps me to accommodate my students' needs. It the little things that add up to make a big difference and all of the different items I received are those little things that make a huge difference. Your donations definitely make a big difference in my classroom and they are definitely appreciated by myself and all 180 of my instrumental students. I

”

With gratitude,

Ms. Roberts

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

Let me begin by saying, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! It's ironic that I'm writing this letter of thanks for your generous donation at the same time I'm reading 29 Gifts by Cami Walker. In the book she talks about the act of giving and how it benefits the giver too. "By giving, you are focusing on what you have to offer others, inviting more abundance into your life" (Mbali Creazzo, her spiritual guide). I hope this will be true for you as well.

When your gifts arrived, I brought the unopened boxes into my classroom. Later, as the kindergarten children marched in, their eyes caught the brown, cardboard boxes sitting in the corner. The excitement was palpable. They had to know what was hidden inside. One by one we opened the gifts together. Their eyes lit up. It was like early morning on Christmas Day. I hadn't quite expected them to be that thrilled. Immediately each student grabbed a book from the box and began "reading" it. They read the words they knew and made up the rest. Their fingers traced the illustrations. Some picked a book they had read before, a favorite. It was as if they had found an old friend. Each one wanted to share his book, with me, or with a classmate. The moment was a snapshot of community, a community of readers.

A few weeks later and they're still crazy about the new books. I knew the books would be an asset, but I hadn't expected what I witnessed and am still witnessing, that love for and curiosity about books. I make sure to set time aside during every class, so that the students can freely peruse our new collection, our gifts. One of the older students is so inspired that she started to write her own children's book. Maybe one day it will be a fond gift, too.

The pocket chart and stand have been invaluable also. First, I had A. B., an older student, assemble it. Of course, like most boys I know, he didn't bother reading the instructions first and just dove into it. Needless to say, he ran into a snag when the hooks wouldn't fit onto the top rung like they were supposed to. Dilemma! I thought having him figure it out on his own would be a useful life lesson, so I didn't help. Eventually, after looking at the instructions and using a little common sense, he was able to put it together correctly. It only took him twice as long. We've all been there, right?

My younger children love the pocket chart. At first I modeled how to use it. Basically, I write words on index cards and then line them up on the chart to make sentences. Now they are eager to create their own sentences. They know many sight, or simple, words, so that's not a problem. When it comes to writing the names of animals or other things, I have them look it up in a picture dictionary. It works well since they know the letter sounds at this point in the year. All they need to know is the first letter and then they can search for the picture.

In ending, I just want you to know that your gifts do have an impact. They do make a difference.

May you find abundance in your life,”

With gratitude,

Mr. H