Making Math Magical. Mrs. Kelsey’s Classroom 2nd grade Carlisle County Elementary School Bardwell, Kentucky.

Making Math Magical.
Mrs. Kelsey’s Classroom 2nd grade Carlisle County Elementary School Bardwell, Kentucky.

We were one of five donors to this project!

Mrs. Kelsey’s project:
To give her students engaging and exciting math lessons and activities that are tied to our core content! These activities will make our math class magical and meaningful!

Her Students

I teach in a very rural public school with a high poverty rate and extremely limited resources. Every student at our school receives a free breakfast and lunch. I teach about 55 second graders on a daily basis that love learning and are excited to come to school every day. My classroom is a safe and fun learning environment for my students.

My students are authors, illustrators, readers, mathematicians, historians and scientists.

They have big dreams and I want them to be able to achieve those dreams! My dream is to provide them with everything they need in order to be able to successful.

Her Project

My passion has always been for my students to love and enjoy math. Our current math curriculum does not offer many fun and engaging activities. By purchasing the Magic of Math bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers, I can supplement my current math curriculum with fun and engaging math lessons and activities! These activities will provide my students with exciting activities and projects that they will remember beyond just learning that material for the test. My students will be able to make connections while learning and having fun! By donating to this project you will be helping me create a more engaging and exciting math class for my students!

College Bound...Here We Come. Mrs. Goines’ Classroom 12th grade Massac County High School in Metropolis, IL

College Bound...Here We Come.

We were one of three donors to this project.

Project:
Extra calculators that they can use on state mandated and college admission testing.

Mrs. Goins Students

Our high school is in a small rural community in deep Southern Illinois. The high school has less than 600 students; because of state funding issues and lack of programming, many of our students miss out on educational opportunities that are available to students in other school districts across the state.

Many of our students are first generation college students attempting to pursue a college education.

Despite the many challenges that face first-generation college students, our students are excited about the opportunity to attend college and our school district promotes a "college bound" culture as early as kindergarten.

Our students are college-bound and should be recognized for their hard work and achievements.

Mrs. Goins Project

Each year, the State of Illinois requires that students enrolled in 11th grade participate in the SAT exam. We administer this exam to all 11th grade students as part of an accountability program with the state but also as it aligns with our College Bound Culture. All students, before entering 12th grade, have taken the SAT Test and are one test closer to College.

A portion of the test, SAT Math with Calculator, allows students to use a calculator on the exam.

Each year I have students that are not able to afford a calculator and do poorly on this portion of the exam. Because of funding, our district has a limited supply of calculators for students to use on test day, creating an unfair advantage among our students. Students with the means of buying a very expensive calculator are able to utilize this calculator, whereas students that are unable to provide their own calculator do poorly on this portion of the exam. I try to gather as many calculators as possible but always end up short. I would like to fund a set of calculators that our students can use when taking college admission testing.

SENSORY SUPPORTS ARE SENSIBLE! Pre-K Jefferson Elementary School Marion, Illinois.

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SENSORY SUPPORTS ARE SENSIBLE!

We were one of three donors for this project.

Mrs. Gibson wanted to give her students sensory supports like the weighted vest and lap blanket that will help them function more effectively in the classroom

Mrs. Gibson’s Students

She teaches 3-5-year-old special needs children housed in a public school in their community.

They are included in a pre-k center with typical functioning children. Her kiddos have a variety of special needs including autism, physical limitations, speech and language delays, sensory differences, deafness, and cognitive delays. The main emphasis in our classroom is language and social skills.

Almost daily we are able to celebrate accomplishments that may seem small to most but are HUGE for our little ones with exceptionalities.

Just today our little guy with down syndrome said his first two-word sentence! "Ball in." It was a big deal! Even pointing to a picture to make a choice for a snack is a giant step for some.

Teaching these exceptional children have been the highlight of her teaching career. They are so excited to learn new things and be involved in new experiences.

Mrs. Gibson’s Project

Children with sensory differences have difficulties with processing information from the five senses: vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, and taste, as well as from the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception).

Learning to deal with sensory issues is very frustrating for the very young children in my class

Items such as the weighted vest and weighted blanket can help a child feel "grounded" and enable them to calm themselves when upset.

Other items such as the chewy toys provide sensory output for children who "mouth" items. Many children with autism are also very sensitive to noises, music, etc. The sound reducing earphones will be so beneficial to them in and out of the classroom.

Swing Away To A New Playground. Kindergarten Carlisle County Elementary School Bardwell, Kentucky.

** This may have been one of my favorite projects, thus far **

We have sponsored a series of www.WeatherTalk.com charity events over the past few months.

Thank you to those who pay $5 a month to help support WeatherTalk. A portion of your money helps with local charity projects, as well.

Not a subscriber? Subscribe at www.weathertalk.com/welcome

This! ---> Their school needed playground equipment. Their students did not have any playground equipment. <—

They had to play on an empty lot with a drainage ditch and gravel road running through it. <---

This project was for the Carlisle County Elementary School Kindergarten class. Bardwell, Kentucky.

Swing Away To A New Playground

We were one of 79 donors for this project.

The project:

A new swing set for their playground. Their school did not have any playground equipment.

Mrs. Walters Students

The children in their community needed a safe and engaging place to play.

Their students were playing in an empty lot behind the school that has a gravel road and drainage ditch running through it.

There is no shade to keep them cool and protect them from the sun.

Their school is located in the middle of a rural county which limits their students' opportunities for recreational activity and public playgrounds. They had to travel at least 20 miles for fun, healthy activities

Their school is a Title 1 school with over 61% of their students that qualify for free and reduced lunches.

Their students don't have much but they deserve the world! They are wonderful children and greatly appreciate the donation for a playground. This project was for a swing set with 8 swings

Playgrounds are more than just a fun place to play.

Their students needed a chance to feel the breeze on their skins as they swing through the air.

The swing set helps their students gain balance, fine and gross motor skills, and coordination. Also, it is helping students brains learn to make sense of speed and direction which is beneficial for visual perception.

The Books U Give: Diverse Books for Modern Readers. Mrs. Filbeck’s 9th grade classroom at the Anna-Jonesboro High School.

Help me give my students ground-breaking new books that they're looking for, like To All the Boys I've Loved Before, that also reflect the world they're growing up in.

We were one of four donors to this project.

Mrs. Filbeck’s students

My 9th-12th graders come into the library for all kinds of reasons. Some can't wait to check out that next Percy Jackson book in the series, some want a quiet place to study, and others are just looking for an adult to take some interest in them and the things they care about.

This is the second year these kids have had a librarian of any kind, so they don’t have much experience of their library as anything more than a storage room.

They are just starting to discover that it can be an exciting place with endless possibilities.

Despite our older collection of books, many of these students have determinedly found stories they are excited to connect with. They are very ready to have a collection put together just for them.

My Project

We've been really productive so far this year updating the library's collection (97 new-to-us books to be exact!), but there's still so much progress to make. I've found the books in our current collection that the students want to read, but there isn't a lot of variety.

Something powerful happens when a student sees herself reflected in a great book.

When she sees herself as a hero in a story, her confidence grows and she feels ready to do heroic things. When a student reads a book about a character who is different than himself, he learns to empathize with a new culture, background and struggle, and as a result, can empathize better with the people around him.

I've selected books like To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, and The Hate U Give for exactly these purposes. My students want and need these sort of books to grow in compassion and gain hope for their futures.

Building a Climate of Character. Calloway County, Kentucky. High School.

Building a Climate of Character.

We were the primary donor on this project. Our donation was matched by Sonic.

Help me give my students a calm climate with light filters, sensory devices (and more) so that they can build character and learn.

Mrs. Hoback’s Students

I am a special education teacher in a rural community. My students range in grade levels from ninth to twelfth grade.

Her Project

Her students would greatly benefit from character education books, and a climate conducive to building character and learning.

I want to teach my students reading, writing, math, AND how to be productive, upstanding members of society.

Lighting covers, sensory devices, and small craft projects would aid in producing a climate of calm where her students can focus on learning and becoming the best individuals that they can be.

2nd Grade Stem Activities to Expand Creative Minds. Carlisle County, Kentucky.

This is her project.

We were one of 14 donors for this project.

My Students

I teach a room full of All Star second graders who are eager to learn! This group is extremely bright, energetic, and creative! However, they face many challenges. We have many “at risk” students in our school, and our school is the only school in our low-income/rural community. We have qualified for a free breakfast/lunch program. Many of our students have a lot of family struggles but have a lot of support!

My students are truly an incredible, loving group, and I am so lucky and thankful to have a group of learners that are excited and ready to learn!

My Project

Each Friday I have a "Fun Friday" time where the students in my room are encouraged to explore and create, build and engineer.

My students absolutely LOVE "Fun Fridays," where they get to collaborate together with STEM activities such as engineering gears, coding, creating puzzles, and mazes for marbles to travel through, etc.

However, I am limited to the STEM resources I have available. I have purchased several items on my own, but would love to give my students more of an assortment to choose from.

The coding robot, electronics kits, and building kits will be used during "Fun Fridays," science, and indoor recess and will allow my students to explore their creative sides as well as build the engineering skills. Thank you making a difference in the lives of our future leaders!