Donors Choose Project Ideas

Who has used Donors Choose?  Who has never taken that first step?  Let me make it easy for you.

Donors Choose doesn't have to be difficult, and it's not scary.  Here are the basic steps:

1.  Go too www.donorschoose.org

2.  Click "New Project"

3. If you have a "campaign code", enter it at the bottom of the screen where it says "Got a campaign code?"

4.  Fill in the next screen about your students (Who page) - once you've done it, it saves for future projects as well.

5.  Go shopping, using their links on the What page (Amazon things need to be Amazon prime), lots more other options too.  I mainly stick with Amazon since it's fast and easy to do returns if needed.

6.  Fill out the Why page about the project.  They have text boxes to fill in with a specific word count.  

7.  Review everything and submit.. you'll get an email to let you know when it's live.  

Helpful things to do to help it get funded:

*Send the link to your social media pages, so many people want to help your classroom.  

*Send the link to your classroom families, so many families want to help your classroom.

*If you can, give a donation yourself - it will help get it jump started.  

After it's funded:

Do the thank you package soon to earn points - photos, thank you notes, etc. 

I've used Donors Choose since December of 2012, and have added so many great resources and experiences to my classroom.  Need an idea?  Go wandering around their site or talk to your colleagues to spark ideas.  

Here are my past funded projects in case you want to see what I wrote, what I ordered, etc:

*Class set of Frindle books

*Class iPad

*Class set of Who Was books

*5 Boogie Boards (LCD Writing Tablets)

*Class subscription to Scholastic News

*7 Wobble Cushions

*Class set of Bouncy Bands 

*Mentor Texts for Mentor Sentences Volume 2

*Mentor Texts for Mentor Sentences Volume 1

*Everything needed for an Owl Pellet Dissection experiment

*Legos for STEM Enrichment

*Class set of Wonder

*Class set of Blood on the River

*USA class rug

*Everything needed for a GLOW Day

*Class subscription for TIME for Kids

I'm so thankful for everyone that has helped my students throughout the years.  Large companies and individuals alike, friends, family, and strangers.  It's such a powerful site.  I now have to think of what I really want for next year... I'm thinking room transformation materials... We'll see!

I hope this helps! 

5 for Friday - Summer Version

Week 4 of vacation is over...  WAAAHHH!  I'm having a hard time that my summer is halfway over.  Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 happy things from this past week.  

One: Late Father's Day Celebration

My entire life Dad has been the one that is behind the camera.  Now he gets to be in front of it with his new selfie stick.  It's the little things people!  

Two:  Donors Choose!

A week ago I submitted 2 projects over at Donors Choose.  My Scholastic project was funded in one week.  I'm so thankful!  I have another project, It's Okay to Wiggle, that I still need help with.  $87 to go!  I'm trying to get 7 Wobble Cushions that will help my students with focus issues.  Can you help?  If you donate, please email me with your Donors Choose user name, and I'll send you a thank you present! 

Three: Target Craziness!

I have big feet.  I blame my boys for them as they grew 1/2 size during each of my pregnancies and never shrunk.  I also know that I can hardly ever find shoes in my size in the stores.  So to find so many options of Sketchers Sports (most comfortable shoe ever) for 50% off, I was definitely in my happy place!  I only bought 2 pair, but still!!!

Four: Dollar Bowling

Our local Bowling Alley hosts Dollar Days.  We took the boys this past Wednesday and my youngest bowled for the first time.  It was absolutely hilarious.  I can say that because I'm their mom, my boys really have no skills at this point in time.  Someday they might join a league, but it was my family that kept the employee running down the lane to fix all the issues.  2 of them threw the ball into the gutter, even with the rails up.  2 of them also caused the ball to just completely stop on the roll down the lane - just stopped completing in the middle...  It was so funny and embarrassing at the same time.  

Five: She Reads Truth

I didn't know about She Reads Truth before June 1st.  I'm so glad that I saw people posting pictures over on IG.  It's a daily devotional, this month is all about Women of the Old Testament.  I'm learning so much, many different views on the same scriptures I have read over the years.  Just wanted to share if you are looking for something to read this summer.  

Have a great day!

Donors Choose isn't Scary!!

Tried it Tuesday with Fourth Grade Flipper!  I have been asked by teachers that I work with to help them set up a project on Donor's Choose.  Let me stop right here and tell you that it is NOT Scary to create a project.  I've had 4 of them fulfilled (and others that weren't funded in time), but am I sad about it - Not at all!  

Now what have I asked for?  I have asked for nonfiction books, an iPad, Boogie Boards, a class set of fiction read aloud books, book boxes for my classroom library, etc... It's the whole saying that it doesn't hurt to ask, and if you are really in need then it's a wonderful opportunity to really ask for the moon.  Who knows, you might just get it.

The other night I set up a new project that I hope will be funded in time for school to start.  Yes, you can still ask for things in the summer.  If they are funded you won't get them until it's Back to School time, but they come right away.  (My iPad was delivered the Teacher Work Day at the beginning of the year.)  Here are some screen shots of my new project.  I'm here to prove that it isn't scary. 

First up, log in to you account.  Then click projects and find this button of "Create a Project."

It'll ask you to make up a title.

These points are important.  You can use them, and then when your wish is granted you can earn more by completing your thank you packages on time.  

Then you get to go shopping. They have tons of stores to choose from - even Amazon!  I really really really want a class set of Scholastic News for my new class, so I chose Scholastic.  

Then you load up the cart - and it's a special Donors Choose cart and check out.  The check out page looks like below.  

After the check out page you are directed back to Donors Choose to Tell Your Story.  There are different paragraphs with prompts and examples and you share about your classroom, your students (not personal information), your school (again, no personal information), and why exactly you need those items.

When done you click the button and it will ask you to Review and Submit your project.  

From there the company will review it and send you an email when it's published.  At that point you take the link they send and share it with your family, friends, coworkers, student families, etc. in order to get it funded as soon as possible.  Projects are not on the site forever, there is a due date that is about 4 months into the future.  This project will expire in October.  

I hope this helps!  

Random Classroom Photos

End of the year craziness has hit, and once again the photos have been sitting in my camera and haven't made it to the blog.  Wanted to show you some fun things that I have been up to:

Our Donor's Choose Boogie Boards were funded!  Yes!  We have 5 of them now in our classroom and it's made it extra fun to use during workshop time.

My Amazon order of glue sticks and Expo markers showed up tonight for next year.  I'll be keeping these at home over the summer - things don't tend to dry out as fast... These 12 packs of Expo markers were only a little over $4 each, they were as an add on price.  

We have been studying Greek Mythology in class this week (and will continue next).  It's the first year that Mythology has been in our standards, so I'm trying to make it fun.  I have the Year Long Weekly Reading Homework from Forkin4th and she has numerous Greek Mythology comprehension passages and questions included.  Since I have no curriculum it has been a life saver.  Today was Pandora's box, and after studying it, we tied in math and created boxes/nets from scratch.  Students had to fold, use the ruler to measure, cut it out, and fold it all together.  So much fun!

In all this craziness, I started taking down the stuff on my bulletin boards and saw a bunch of huge stains on my main student work fabric.  EWW!  So after years of using my beautiful blue fabric I had to go out and buy new stuff... and then decided to put it up pronto.  Now it has a lighter color backing  with a nice design that will make me happy.  In August I'll add my student squares and be done.    

I love using fabric!  It's so easy!  How I tackle a huge board like this (it's 9 feet by 10 feet), is taking the fabric, cutting it in half and use push pins to hold it in place on the top and sides until I get everything the way I want.  Then it's a quick staple on top of the edges, add a thick border to just the top and sides, cut the bottom, and add my thick wide ribbon to seal it up. I'm not even really worried about the bottom edge because the trashcans, ball bucket, lunch bin, and sweeper bucket all fit in that space.    

It's that time of year!  Have a Kool Summer!  Winco carried the packets for only 15 cents each... so much cheaper for a full class set.  This year I am giving the kids a package of Kool Aid, a copy of Homework Machine (only $1 from Scholastic - we don't have time to read it during the year so I already had it handy), and a "Have a Good Summer" bracelet from Scholastic's bonus points.  It all goes inside a paper lunch bag with a topper on top.  

Hope you had a great day!

Life in the Classroom {Giveaway and Donors Choose}

I love my classroom.  I really do.  It makes me happy.  So much blue and green on the walls that calms my soul.  I realized the other day that I don't know if I ever really showed you a picture of my classroom since the very beginning of school.  Well here are 2 overviews of the room.  It's not a perfect picture, goodness I just realized that one of my kid's whiteboard rags is on the floor... but that's life, right?  

Things I love about this room:

*The colors - the blue and green fabric have lasted for years, and they still make me happy.

*The space - I can arrange the desks in so many ways.

*The 3 drawer storage drawers that line the side and back of my room.  I bought the Sterilite containers over a few summers, but now I'm so organized.  The kids know exactly where to put things back and where to find things. 

*Room for a carpet area - The ability to sit as a group on the ground.

I love so much about the room itself, and that's not even including all the kiddos that I get to work with every day.  

Over on FB, I'm having a giveaway.  Just find the post with my classroom picture, and leave a picture of your own classroom in the comments.  I'll choose a random classroom on Thursday afternoon at 5pm, and the winner can choose whatever task card or research set that he or she wants from my store.  

I'm also looking for help funding my Donor's Choose project.  I just created a new one last night - a class set of Boogie Boards, and this week all donations can be matched by Disney by using the promo code DISNEY.  Please consider helping my class, and get a tax write off in the process!  

Thank you!

Saturday Motivation: Donors Choose

It brings me so much JOY to see kids excited about books.  I love reading, but I know not every kid is wired the same way.  We all have different passions, interests.... but when even my reluctant readers are engrossed in books I know there is something to be said about the book. 

Not that all these kids are my reluctant readers.  They aren't.  They are my kiddos that finished their work on time this past week and I gave them the opportunity to read the new books from Donors Choose.

I started pushing our research center this week (we were learning about Abe and George for our mini books).  The kids made up their own folders and got so involved in their research.  They kept asking to research.  They want to learn about something that interests them.  That makes me happy. 

My Donors Choose project was for 30 biographies.  I found even more titles over at Scholastic in their bonus point section, so now I have a full class set.  Mainly men and women, some specific events in history... the kids don't care, they just want to read (and learn).  

My research station is just a basket to hold their folders and file folders that hold my research book pages (I turned my papers into half sheets - less paper).  I stressed that they are NOT to put the folders in their desks.  It's just a 2 pocket folder that they wrote "done" and "working on" on the pockets.  On the done side they have a piece of binder paper with a list of animals or people they have finished, and any of the completed research pages.  I'll take the pages out when I check the folders and give them research points.  The working side holds the pages that they are interested in that they are working on at that moment.  I'm planning on checking them every 2 weeks (since we go to the computer lab every 2 weeks) to give them time to get some work done.  They will eventually form a separate research booklet (per child) that will be on their desks for Open House. 

  

This week I added the research option to our ELA workshop time, though many kids asked me if they could do it during our writing time too.  I might add that in the future since they are so motivated.  They need to be done with the daily assignment to be able to jump on the computer or read a book though.

We have done a lot of research lately whole class.  Every day we have been learning about a different country (ties into the Olympics) in our What a Small World booklet.  They have seen me use Google to find specific information.  On Tuesday we went to the computer lab and I walked them through learning about Abe & George, and from there they created an entire booklet of writing.  Now having these new books will continue with their love of learning.  I'm so excited!!

It sometimes is the little things that get kids excited (and teachers too).  Thank you so much to the donors that helped fund this (and other) projects for my sweet class.

 Do you have a Donors Choose account?  What is a project that is working great?  

    Linking up with Joanne and her Saturday Student Motivation Linky! 

Have a great day!

PS - The Tricky Math Bundle is still LIVE over at Educents.  It's helping kids with multiplication, division, and fractions.  Only $10.99 for 14 downloads - games, task cards, and activities that reinforce key concepts.  Have you picked it up yet?  

Can You Help My Class?

I uploaded a couple projects to Donor's Choose the other night and I would love your help to fund them.  Both of these projects can have donations matched through December 29th.  Please make sure to use the code, "DISNEY" to double your donation.  Please help!     

Project #1 

Non Fiction Books Needed

I have a lot of fiction books in my classroom, but not that many nonfiction.  I would love to get a bunch of these Who Was series books for students to learn and research with.  I just need some help though!

   

Project #2

Technology Needed - An iPad Please!

My students have been blessed with one iPad through Donor's Choose - the issue is that it takes a LONG time to make it through a student rotation.  I've seen how great it works, how much it helps students, how motivated they are to work at their own pace.  I just would like another one to help the rotation go faster.  

If you are able to help out, please click the links above.  Remember the matching code will work until December 29th.  I would love to send you a thank you gift for donations over $5.  Just email me afterward and let me know which one of my new products you would like me to email you.  

When I Grow Up 

or What a Small World.  

Thanks so much for your support!  Have a great Christmas!