Saturday, July 2, 2011

Donor's Choose

Do your students ever randomly say things like, "Raise your hand if you like cookies", "Raise your hand if you like things that are pink"?  My kids do that all the time!  I love to listen to their conversations during free time and hear things like that.  :)

So, here's mine for you... Raise your hand if you LOVE Donor's Choose?  Can you see my hand up and frantically waving?  I LOVE IT!

I had two more projects funded this past week by a high school friend who has funded many projects for me over the last two years.  I'm so excited to be adding several graphic novels and comic books that are full of "boy" themes and a set of different board games to my classroom!

Last year I added many comic books and graphic novels to my classroom and, during my search for them, was amazed at how many there actually are that are appropriate for a lower elementary classroom.  Now even books like The Boxcar Children have been made into graphic novels to entice kids to read.  I just think it's awesome!  Donor's Choose had partnered with Townsend Press who funded 50% of my project for the books.  I believe you had to order books from the AKJ Books, Inc. catalog to get the funding bonus.  So, if you haven't done that yet, head over to Donor's Choose and get yourself a project for some books!  I don't know if the 50% match is still going on, but it's worth a try!

The second project that got funded was for board games and came from having a "game day" with my students at the end of the year.  So many of them just couldn't lose gracefully, be patient in taking turns, or even patient enough to sit through an entire game!  It occurred to me that, in this world of video games and instant gratification, they just don't have any experience playing games collaboratively or interacting with plastic pegs and pieces of paper money!  So I'm getting Clue, Trouble, Battleship, Guess Who, Candy Land, and Operation!

I have one more project up right now that still needs quite a bit of funding.  It's getting ready to expire, so I'm not holding my breath... does anyone know if I will get a "credit" for the current level of funding it has received that I could apply to a different project?

My next goal is to buy a Lite-Brite for my classroom... I was thinking it would be a great way for kids to practice making arrays!  Does anyone know if they still make old school Lite-Brites?  I figure a project for a $20.00 Lite-Brite is a little silly, so finding one is my quest for this summer.  I haven't gotten very far in my Debbie Diller "Math Stations" book, so I don't know if this would be appropriate for a multiplication and division work station... but the idea has me so excited!

I guess that's it for today... enjoy the holiday weekend!

6 comments:

  1. I have lite brites in my room that we use to practice fie motor skills and sight words. I bought mine at Walmart. Batteries are seem to go quickly.

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  2. I do!! I do!! I've gotten a new rug, an Ipod Touch and two Nooks!

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  3. Thanks Mrs. Parker! I will have to check Wal-Mart! :) As if I needed another reason to go shopping!

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  4. I also found Lite Brites on Amazon!! i always check there for things!

    I am working on my first Donor's Choose project right now to try and get chair bags!!

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  5. So far I've had one project fully funded. One just expired. :( That's okay. I was able to get a credit, because I was the only donor. I applied it to my latest project. If your donors chose to follow your projects, their credits can be applied to your next project(s).

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  6. I had one expire and I donated as well as another individual. I reapplied mine to a current one, but I assume the other donor applied it somewhere else. I wish you could just transfer them!

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