October 27, 2017: Equipping Pre-K Students for a Bright Future

We were one of two donors for this project.  Our donation was matched by another organization.

This is Mrs. Collie's classroom.  She is located in Metropolis, Illinois.

This is her project in her words.

My students need 2 iPads with cases to work on pre-writing, fine motor, and communication skills.

My Students

Welcome to Early Childhood. These students are Massac County's very youngest most fragile students who come in from a high poverty area with special needs.

The students I work with are very excited about learning, but they learn in different ways then other students and need special attention and care.

 

My students disabilities range from Autism to behavior disorders. Many of them need extra help in speech and fine motor skills. They learn best with hands on materials in small group settings.

My Project

By putting an ipad in our students hands they will use fine motor and communication skills to increase their accuracy in both handwriting and verbalizing . Children love ipads and come to school knowing how to use them. This makes the transition from home to the classroom setting much easier. The Students will work on the Hand Writing without Tears app . Children will learn and practice correct formation habits for writing capitals, numbers, and lowercase letters with accuracy. The students will also be able to use the Busy shapes app to motivate little children to find solutions to various shape puzzles.

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This project has been ongoing. Collaborative Desks Promote Tolerance 2

We were one of a handful of donors for this project.  This is Mrs. Thommason's class at Jefferson Elementary School in Massac County, Illinois.

Here is the project in her words.

My students need collaborative desks to promote tolerance in the classroom as well as collaboration.

My Students

A day in my classroom is a day filled with learning, respect, and hard work. My school is in a rural area, and the students that I teach come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Our class motto is, "In this room, we don't do easy.

We make easy happen through hard work and learning!"

I have high expectations for my students and do everything in my ability to help them achieve their goals! I enjoy planning creative lessons and projects as much as my students enjoy working on them!

My Project

In my third grade classroom, students work on many group lessons and projects, and through the course of these lessons I teach my students many life lessons. I teach them it is O.K. to make mistakes because that is how we learn, but it is disrespectful to make fun of those who give a wrong answer. I teach my students how to work out conflicts within their groups peacefully while making sure that each voice is heard. I teach them how to work together and to stand up for one another. I teach my students to be tolerant of one another so that they then know how to be tolerant of others in the world around us.

Teaching kids how to interact and exchange ideas while being mindful of their language and behavior toward others is crucial to the future of our society.

Our students need to know how to express differences but still be respectful. By using our new Neomove collaboration desks, students can easily pair off in small groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5. The desks move easily, which will make changing groups for various activities a breeze. By learning how to work with one another in the classroom, students will then know how to work with others in their future communities and workplaces.

Collaborative Desks Promote Tolerance (part II)! Jefferson Grade School.

Beau Dodson Weather Talk was one of two donors for this project!

Mrs. Thomasson is the teacher.  This is her project in her words.

My Students

A day in my classroom is a day filled with learning, respect, and hard work. My school is in a rural area, and the students that I teach come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Our class motto is, "In this room, we don't do easy.

We make easy happen through hard work and learning!"

I have high expectations for my students and do everything in my ability to help them achieve their goals! I enjoy planning creative lessons and projects as much as my students enjoy working on them!

My Project

In my third grade classroom, students work on many group lessons and projects, and through the course of these lessons I teach my students many life lessons. I teach them it is O.K. to make mistakes because that is how we learn, but it is disrespectful to make fun of those who give a wrong answer. I teach my students how to work out conflicts within their groups peacefully while making sure that each voice is heard. I teach them how to work together and to stand up for one another. I teach my students to be tolerant of one another so that they then know how to be tolerant of others in the world around us.

Teaching kids how to interact and exchange ideas while being mindful of their language and behavior toward others is crucial to the future of our society.

Our students need to know how to express differences but still be respectful. By using our new Neomove collaboration desks, students can easily pair off in small groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5. The desks move easily, which will make changing groups for various activities a breeze. By learning how to work with one another in the classroom, students will then know how to work with others in their future communities and workplaces.

Flourescent Lighting...Ouch! Fourth grade Lone Oak Intermediate School

Beau Dodson Weather was one of nine donors for this project.

Mrs. Mayes is the teacher for this fourth grade classroom in Lone Oak, Kentucky.

Here is the project in her words

My Students

Students will be coming to my 4th grade class to learn about Science and Technology and Social Studies. Our school is in Western Kentucky and houses only 4th and 5th grades. I teach many students with learning disorders, ADHD and autism in my mainstream class. We work on computers a lot and use our Mimio interactive projector all throughout the day. We appreciate any fundraising help we can get for these light covers. Thank you for reading this!

My Project

Have you ever bern under harsh Flourescent lighting all day long? It's terrible! It causes headaches and eye straight and makes it hard to concentrate. We would like to purchase flourescent light filters that ease the effects of traditional classroom lighting! These fabric covers are engineered to be heat resistant and fire retardant. They have magnets that hold them to the metal framing around each light. In my class we are constantly turning the light on, off, and halfway off to accommodate the tasks we are on. Having these filters installed would increase student engagement and of course, student learning!

 

iCompose with an iPad Jefferson Elementary School

Beau Dodson Weather was one of 48 donors for this project!

This project was for Mrs. Kennedy's classroom at Jefferson Elementary School in Massac County, Illinois.

This is the project in her words

My Students

I teach elementary music, band, and choir at two small schools in our district. In my music classroom, we are learning the fundamentals of music, like notation and rhythm. Music should be a fun class to attend, so we like to learn by playing games and getting out instruments. The students have music once per week for forty minutes.

We have a very enthusiastic group of students who love to learn and have fun at the same time.

My students show such pride in their school, district, and our town.

My Project

Teaching at two schools is great, except when it comes to equipment and technology. I am usually only able to buy one of any given thing, then transport it back and forth. My students need an iPad to go with the Recording Studio equipment that we recently received. The addition of another iPad will allow me to leave the equipment set up at each school so that the students will be able to get more use out of it.

I have so many creative students who will be able to use this to write their own songs!

In addition to using it with the Recording Studio, we can use it in other aspects of our classroom as well. I can allow students to listen to songs, research different things, watch videos, use apps to work on note reading...the possibilities are endless!

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Making Science Fun! Metropolis Elementary School project.

Beau Dodson Weather was one of two sponsors for this project.  The teacher, for this fifth grade classroom, is Mrs. Warren.

We were happy to participate in this project.  Science!

This is the project in her words

My students need science materials, such as electricity and microbiology kits, to conduct as many science experiments as they can this school year.

My Students

Many of my students come from low-income homes and do not have the resources to help them to continue to grow academically. Despite the challenges some of my children face in and out of the classroom, they are eager to learn and do their best.

I want my students to be able to walk in their classroom and be surrounded with an abundance of fun and educational resources that will help encourage them to want to explore and continue to learn.

My Project

In our classroom, I'm trying to bring Science to life by allowing the students the opportunity to conduct various science experiments. Students will grow their own gardens, feed and watch birds grow from our windows, build various electrical circuits, grow bacteria, and much more. These experiments will allow them to have fun while building lifelong memories.

These resources will allow me the opportunity to make our science textbook become more exciting.

This will help create an interest in students willingness to want to learn more about science. Every year, I always have a couple students asking the first day of school if we will be doing science experiments. It is my goal to do as many as possible and keep it fun!

You can read more about this project at this link.

Click images to enlarge.

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