Welcome to Sparky's Give-Back page! We rescued him from a shelter and for 9 years he quietly wormed his way into our hearts but passed away on Mother's Day 2014. His lasting legacy is he showed us we have the love that bonds a family together when another needs support. We have selected a variety of projects which touch our lives and remind us of his loyal, gentle nature.
Our students have really enjoyed the new collection of books with deaf characters. They are identifying with the characters in the stories. Many of the characters in the books are dealing with some of the same experiences as our students: living in residential dorms, having hearing siblings, etc. When we return to our "normal" school day, they will be excited about discussing the books with each other.
Before the addition of these new titles, we had very few fiction books with deaf role models. Your donation provided our students with new book titles that will motivate them to read.
Thank you so much for your generous donation. It allowed me to provide my students with new sweatshirts and pants. They were very excited! I was also able to provide hygiene supplies for them, which they all appreciate. Your donation means so much to my students. They no longer have to worry about having appropriate clothing for the weather. The students have also taken responsibility in keeping our classroom clean. They have used the cleaning supplies to make sure our space is one we are proud of. Thank you again for your kindness.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Primakow
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 8 other donors.
Thank you so much for your generous donations to our new creative block area! I love that these blocks do not fit together like legos, allowing students to have total creativity throughout building. The blocks are large enough for our students with fine motor issues and small enough that they can build a whole community! Students went right to the shelf of new blocks and started building instantly.
We have block play people from different cultures and professions that students are able to put in their building areas. The block play people will hopefully aspire students to be creative and build communities and work places with the new blocks!
Thank you so much again for your incredible generosity to our students! I am so excited to have this block area for our youngest students to play with each day!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Dolan
This classroom project was brought to life by PNC Grow Up Great® and 27 other donors.
Our students LOVE our new instruments! The tubano drums are a perfect tool for helping reinforce ensemble playing and steady beat. Our students have been excited to use them for a variety of activities. Many have had the opportunity to improvise rhythms by playing the drums. We also love the "community aspect" these drums provide. Thank you for being supportive of our project and helping our classroom grow its resources. You improve our music room, which helps our kids have a rich music experience.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Seratte
This classroom project was brought to life by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and 15 other donors.
Thank you so much for your generous donations. Your kindness provided printer ink to make visuals, a pencil sharpener, pencils, paper towel, and Kleenex. My students no longer need to worry about having a sharp pencil. With the crazy winter we are having, my students and I have been a constant source of germs. The Kleenex has allowed my students to blow their noses on something soft, instead of brown paper towel or school toilet paper. The paper towel has been helpful in sanitizing our classroom and our hands. Thank you again for your generosity. It is people like you who give my students hope.”
Thank you so much for supporting our class project, Giving Generously. Every day we try to find ways for our students to help others, from assisting our preschool room to get ready for home, to pairing up with younger deaf kids as reading buddies. Having these books available to our class is definitely reinforcing our philosophy regarding the importance of giving back. I have noticed that the students are beginning to really think outside of their own lives and are beginning to think about making the lives of others better. We will begin planning for our community service projects and these ideas and stories are a fabulous place to start! The student have enjoyed reading the various books independently as well as when I read them aloud to the class. Thank you for caring. Thank you for your generosity and kindness. It is amazing to us that there are so many wonderful, generous people out there who care for others.”
Thank you so much for supporting our Kindergarten classroom. We now have a charging station for our tablets, ipads and chromebooks. Thanks to this charging station our technology is ready to go when we need it and we do not have to worry about it not being charged. We also got ink for our printer and we have been able to print out pictures and new activities to do in our classroom. We got folders and labels to organize our work and our work stations/folders. All of these items have been a great addition to our class and we appreciate you more than words can express!”
Thank you so much for supporting the students in my classroom with such a wonderful variety of books about kindness! My students have absolutely loved reading some of the new books! We read together as often as we can and the students are really enjoying the overarching theme of being kind. When we complete a read aloud, we discuss each story on a variety of different levels. The majority of my students come from homes where the parents do not know sign language and if they do, it is minimal. They most likely do not get those opportunities to have books read to them at home, as most of their parents do not sign. That bond that forms while reading a book together is amazing and I am so happy that I get to share that with them. My students are older, but there is so much of value that can be learned from picture books and story books. It is wonderful to introduce such great books to them. After signing one of the books to them, one my students signed, "Kindness can change the world." Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Your kindness had touched our hearts and has added so much to our classroom.”
Thank you so very much for our new IPad! The students were SO excited when they opened the box and saw our new surprise that you so graciously funded for our class. This technology has been used every day. We use an app called spelling city that is a great tool to help further the students' language skills. It is all individualized so the students can use the app to meet their specific needs.
We also use our new IPad for research and to record our learning on Seesaw. The students get really excited to share their learning because their parents have access and can be more connected to our classroom and more involved in their learning.
Thank you again for being so willing to support my students. Your donations truly directly affect and impact my students' learning.”
We are very excited to report what has been happening since receiving the new equipment we were able to obtain thanks to your donations. The very next day after opening the boxes, we distributed some of the new instruments to current members of the band who were in need of them. We put some back for anticipated needs in the very near future.
The students were in awe of all the new "stuff" we got. They absolutely could not wait to see and begin working with the new instruments. The ones that didn't get a new instrument were a bit disappointed, but even they could see how much getting the new instruments was going to help them, too.
As I mentioned above, I put some of the new instruments back, because in the next couple of weeks, we will be starting a new group of instrumentalists, and these new instruments are going to allow us to do that, when otherwise, we might not have been able to. We anticipate drastic growth in our program in the next year or two, and it will be largely due to the instruments received by way of your donations.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Thomure
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 22 other donors.
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