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Valerie Arvidson's Giving Page

  • $2,000raised
  • 4projects funded
  • 4schools served
  • 4teachers supported
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  • Future Doctors Need Materials to Learn!

    Funded May 14, 2009

    I just wanted to say thanks again for your very generous donation to my classroom. The materials you bought have totally changed not only the way the classroom looks but the way students feel when they are in it. To have a skeleton and several body systems to use to learn means more than you know for students who generally have access to very few if any science materials. I hope you enjoy the letters that I sent - they show that the students are extremely appreciative of your kindness. Thank you for making 2009 and 2010 great years for my students.”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Stewart

  • Fashion Design for Equal Access to a College Education

    Funded May 14, 2009

    After all this time, I am writing this official thank you to let you know what a difference your donation made in my ability to offer this fashion design project to my students! The project was one of my students' favorite, and my students explored issues around equity and access to college. With help from the organization World Savvy, we expanded our scope to include stereotypes and immigration, since both of these heavy topics influence how teenagers see themselves as college ready graduates. They unpacked the complicated and rigorous content by writing, acting, and finally designing.

    Their final t-shirt designs were a hit. A group of 20 students modeled them in a fashion show held at a major museum. The music to which my students walked was an original song recorded by other students at my school. We took powerful lines from "I am" poems the students wrote and edited them into a spoken word piece entitled "Am I a Walking Billboard?"

    I hope you see how your donation helped this project balloon into a major event for my students which inspired many of them to realize that art can "be about something" and can "change people's minds." Thank you for supporting their learning. I hope you will remain an advocate for integrated arts education.”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Key

    This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.

  • The Living Classroom

    Funded Jun 27, 2009

    Thank you so much for your very generous donation to my fifth graders.  The Science materials you donated are such an important addition to our classroom--the Science Lab.  Thanks to you, our classroom now houses a growing culture of beetles, (we're at least three generations deep), an aquarium with fish, aquatic snails, and mussels, a pet hamster, and a hydroponic bean garden!

     In this day and age of "high stakes testing," in which Science education is being squeezed out of elementary schools so that Reading and Math test scores will rise, my students are falling in love with Science.  I make a point to provide my students with hands-on experiences in Science, but your donation allows us to take Science education further.  We don't just read about Science, we do it!  The students are really viewing themselves as scientists, using their free time to care for the live organisms in our classroom, and going out to the yard to collect more!  

    Students are going deeper into their learning than I've ever seen them before. It's incredibly empowering for them to realize that they can learn things on their own, simply by observing.   

    Thank you.  Thank you for your generous donation, thank you for valuing Science education, and thank you for believing in my students. &nbsp”

    With gratitude,

    Ms. Tuohy

  • Do You Have A Color That Matches My Skin?

    Funded May 14, 2009

    After reading the culturally-relevant book "The Colors of Us', I wish you could see, in person, the look of appreciation and excitement of my students as they searched for just the right color of paper and crayons that match their own skin color! We had so much fun creating actual likenesses of each other as we glued people-colored hair on our face pads after decorating with the crayons that just matched our cheeks and lips! Thank you for thinking of my deserving students and allowing this special opportunity to happen. It is a life-long memory they will hold as they look back and remember creating a likeness of their own! All the best,”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. F.

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