Robert E. Dallos Memorial Fund

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We were able to complete the Humans of Brooklyn project this past semester with great success. Thank you so much for your support in the initial stages of this project and it's funding. I think it will be a part of my yearly curriculum because of the skills I saw my students develop as well as the enthusiasm my students displayed.

Students generated a list of questions, chose someone to interview, recorded and transcribed their interview and photographed the person. The end product was a photo and quote in the style of Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York.

Thank you.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Overturf

We would like you to know that the new books you provided for our library are a hit! They are all checked out and students are asking when they will be returned so they can get their hands on them next. Stephen Krashen, a well-respected professor of education at USC, has written repeatedly that research shows the best way to truly improve reading ability is not through direct instruction but rather by providing access to high-interest texts students can self-select. Knowing this, these books are exactly what we need.

In particular, our large English Learner population is really enjoying having the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. While the reading level is a little high for them, the inclusion of images in these texts makes the stories engaging and more accessible. If I even consider suggesting these students look at a different book, they vehemently shake their heads no while clutching the book, fearful that I will take it away from them--which I would never do!

The I Survived books are heavily sought after by the sixth graders. What makes these books such a success in the library is that you can read them in any order and the students come back wanting to read another in the series. Students who normally take a month to read a less engaging book are, as a result, reading a book a week.

We are in the process of planning a comprehensive outside reading program at our school and such a program would not even be possible without the addition of these high-interest materials to our library. We are very appreciative to have these books for our students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Schlatter

Thank you so much for choosing to contribute to our project "Critical Thinking Through Visuals". Our classroom truly appreciates your contribution. Because of your generous gift, I was able to create math and reading centers that are interactive and engaging for the students. This is extremely exciting for me the teacher but also for my students because children learn best through play and hands on activities. Because of the color printer in our classroom, I was able to print out centers that focus on reading skills such as sight words and math skills such as understanding parts of numbers.

Not only did the addition of the color printer help benefit the students in my classroom, it also helped to benefit the parents as well. Since the addition of the printer, I have been able to send home home activities for parents to work with their children at home and print out color books to send home for parents to read with their children. Parents and students alike have truly benefited from your generous contribution that made the color printer possible.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Dermody

Thank you so much for funding my first project! I felt like a child waking up on Christmas morning waiting to open presents. My students were so excited to receive their own brand new slates with their erasers. We especially love the new easel. In a class of 32, space is very limited. This easel is compact and moves around with us during lessons. The children love to use it because it is magnetic and they can manipulate the materials. The fraction tiles were the biggest hit! It made it a lot easier for students to grasp the concepts of comparing and ordering fractions. The fact that they are magnetic made it easier for the children working in groups to show and explain their work. Looking forward to utilizing the rest of the magnetic materials in upcoming lessons. Thank you so much for your generosity and your kindness! It was greatly appreciated.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Papazoros

Our class is beyond excited to start publishing our American Revolution books! The students have been working hard researching and drafting out information to prepare to publish their very own American Revolution hardcover book.

In preparation for our American Revolution red carpet event, the students have used the confetti glue and glitter to create the patriotic bulletin board and the glamorous entry way into the event. Some have even created a replica of the first American Flag to hang in the hallway! We are all very thankful to all our donors for making this unit special with all the amazing supplies!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Levenstein

Thank you so much for supporting my budding classroom library. This donation of books and other journalism materials have helped my students explore their interest in journalism.

We have used the reporting notebooks for interviewing students for the yearbook and newspaper and writing down our quotes, as well as to cover events. We have used the newspaper books to help spark some inspiration in design and work flow for our Knight Writers newspaper. The design books have helped the yearbook think of the rules of design.

We have used the design books as a lesson to help create our own logo to help think outside the box for the newspaper. Some students are also using our little reading nook to research ideas for their next project and update some of their writing skills.

Thank you again for the donation. Robinson journalism sincerely appreciates it.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Webster

I cannot begin to describe how excited the students in our newspaper club are about this amazing new camera that you have provided to us. I am so thankful for your generosity that has allowed us to take our photojournalism to the next level.

There are so many student photographers who have used, or cannot wait to use, our newest piece of technology in creating our school newspaper. Students have only just begun to learn the basics of how this high-quality DSLR camera works, therefore we are just experimenting with using the automatic settings. Once students become more comfortable with all the parts of the camera, as well as familiar with all of the rules I have in place when using this camera, we will move on to learning about more advanced photographic techniques. (I can't wait to teach students about the bokeh effect!)

This camera has excited the already-excited group of newspaper club students that have published two editions of our school newspaper this year. All the photographs in our third edition, which is due out in late February, will have been taken with our new Canon DSLR camera. Thank you many times over for supporting the students at our school and giving them the opportunity to learn more about the world of photojournalism and photo editing!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Beyer