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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. McSpadden from Katy, TX is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. McSpadden is requesting

Brilliant Biographies Bring Beauty to Music Class

My students need biographies about famous musicians and composers that may be read while listening to music during music class.

  • $397 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

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Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Ms. McSpadden for her next project!

My Students

The most joyous part of my day is the time that I get to spend singing and playing song experience games with my students. I teach in a school that serves a community that is both strongly connected and beautifully diverse. My students are excited to learn and especially enjoy music class. When attending music, students spend their time singing, playing games, playing instruments, listening to and moving to music and finding creative ways to capture their learning. Each activity provides students with experiences that lead to musical literacy including reading, writing and creating music.

Having the right materials at the right time enables students to spend every moment actively engaged in music making.

Students attend music once a week, which makes every minute of music class precious. Join us as we work to make excellent use of every opportunity to help students develop a life-long love of music.

My Project

My students love to learn about composers and listen to the music they create. When we listen to the music of famous composers, questions about the lives of these composers begin to flow as student interest increases with every new piece they discover. I want to encourage my students to pursue opportunities to learn more about the musicians we study by providing quality non-fiction and biographical information for them to read. To make this possible, I am requesting a variety of biographical and non-fiction texts from several authors and within a range of reading levels. Once we have these books, students will be able to read texts while listening to music created by the composer in question.

Imagine a group of third graders enjoying the “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven while reading a biography about Beethoven written at a level they can comprehend.

Now imagine listening to "The Maple Leaf Rag" while reading about Scott Joplin. Those are just a few of the experiences I hope my students will enjoy the books I have requested in this project. Thank you for supporting our learning through your donation to this project.

Ms. McSpadden Woodcreek Elementary School Grades 3-5

More about Ms. McSpadden

Katy, TX View local requests 999 students impacted 3donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Ludwig van Beethoven (Musicmakers: World's Greatest Composers) (Masters of Music) • Amazon Business $29.95 1 $29.95
Bold Composer: A Story About Ludwig Van Beethoven (Creative Minds Biographies) • Amazon Business $22.60 1 $22.60
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Musicmakers: World's Greatest Composers) (Masters of Music) • Amazon Business $17.95 1 $17.95
Scott Joplin (American Jazz) • Amazon Business $17.95 1 $17.95
The Life and Times of Franz Joseph Haydn (Musicmakers: World's Greatest Composers) (Masters of Music) • Amazon Business $17.95 1 $17.95
Franz Peter Schubert (Musicmakers: World's Greatest Composers) (Masters of Music) • Amazon Business $17.95 1 $17.95
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop • Amazon Business $15.99 1 $15.99
Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane • Amazon Business $15.35 1 $15.35
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra • Amazon Business $14.99 1 $14.99
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Candlewick Biographies: Ella Fitzgerald • Amazon Business $14.97 1 $14.97
I, Vivaldi • Amazon Business $14.68 1 $14.68
Becoming Bach • Amazon Business $13.35 1 $13.35
Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters • Amazon Business $12.75 1 $12.75
The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano • Amazon Business $11.98 1 $11.98
Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music • Amazon Business $11.00 1 $11.00
Raggin': A Story About Scott Joplin (Carolrhoda Creative Minds Book) (Creative Minds Biography (Paperback)) • Amazon Business $8.99 1 $8.99
Musical Genius: A Story about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Creative Minds Biography) (Creative Minds Biographies) • Amazon Business $8.99 1 $8.99
18th Century Superstar: Mozart (Time for Kids Nonfiction Readers) • Amazon Business $8.22 1 $8.22
Ludwig Van Beethoven (Revised Edition) (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
Leonard Bernstein (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) • Amazon Business $6.95 1 $6.95
Peter Tchaikovsky (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) • Amazon Business $6.18 1 $6.18
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) • Amazon Business $5.45 1 $5.45

Materials cost

$302.14

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$4.53

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$336.67

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$59.41

Total project goal

$396.08

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $396.08

2 Donors

-$223.04

Donations toward project cost

-$189.58

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$33.46

match offer

-$147.09

Match offer toward project cost

-$125.03

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$22.06

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. McSpadden and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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