Donorschoose.org

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[cjp1973]

Because the 17th is fast approaching for my automatic donation today I went surfing on Donors Choose to fill up the 25 spots on the kivafriends list with teachers that had No projects completed  and that were on the count down to expiring.
Here are a couple that I found.
Reading for the Haitian Rescue
My second graders wanted to do something to help the children of Haiti. I wanted them to earn the donations requested of families, so we'll do an all day read-a-thon with pledges donated to the Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund.

My school has a moderate poverty level with many recently unemployed parents, yet the families are sending in pledges for the students read-a-thon to benefit the children of Haiti. Money raised will hinge on hours read.

Nothing sparks a frenzy of reading like new books, and we need enough of them in the classroom to spark the children's newly found love of reading and keep them going all day. The more they read, the more money we raise.

Your generous donation will help launch their first experience of working toward a common goal to benefit a group far away from their home, but who these 7 year olds relate to and have cried over in the last week.  FUNDED

Chicken Soup for the Community's Soul
Food tastes so much better in beautifully handmade ceramic bowls! I am an elementary art teacher. My fourth grade class is very artistic and caring and has found a way to unite these two wonderful qualities.

Our community, like most, have those who are less fortunate than others. Those who require meals from our local soup kitchen. Our fourth grade class exhibited great determination to help their fellow community members.

Our school is going to hold a soup can drive. In order to present our collection, the fourth grade class desires clay, glazes, and brushes in order to make bowls for our soup.

With our current economy, our budget was very tight and we were not able to purchase clay this school year. Working with clay and the element of form is an elementary art standard. I do not want my students to miss out on that. Also, for them to be unselfish and want to give their projects to those who are less fortunate is truly remarkable.

And the complete list is here

[Kewalee]

Charmaine,
Thanks for doing the hard work of locating worthy projects.  I'm off to the DC site now.

Kelli

[cjp1973]

As I am patiently waiting (ok, maybe a bit impatiently) for my automatic withdrawal from DonorsChoose to be posted to my account I have been surfing!  So here is a project, ok 2 that I wanted to point out.  First up.  KivaFriend Kelli needs help with her cool Word Wall.

Word Wall Needs Paper
It's the simple things that make for a happy and productive classroom. I teach accelerated and Advanced Placement English to students in upstate New York. We would really really love to get some basic supplies.

Like so many other districts across the country, our district has been hit hard by the economic recession. More than a thousand workers were laid off from our area's major employers during the last six months alone. Our budgets are shrinking; our needs are growing.

Some of my most effective strategies are also some of my simplest strategies. For instance, I have an enormous Word Wall in the hallway for my Advanced Placement students. Every two weeks, students put up new cards. An interesting result of the Word Wall is that not just my students read the cards. I often see clusters of students examining the words, the definitions, and the elaborate pictures that my students have created. Unfortunately, I am about to run out of supplies for the kids. Because so many families have been hit by layoffs, there is no way that I can ask or expect students to get their own supplies. We need some help.

If you could help us fund this project, then I will have enough supplies to get our Word Wall through to the end of the year. I will also be able to brighten up various other activities with the colored printer paper. The scissors and masking tape are necessary support players for many of our in class activities.

Wouldn't you love to be a part of something great? Just wait until you see pictures of our Wall.

Inspiring Special Education Students Through Dramatic Play
I teach kindergarten in a Special Education school in NYC for students with severe disabilities.

In kindergarten, in addition to teaching the ABC'S and 123's, a critical part of learning is SOCIAL SKILLS. I teach my students the acceptable skills they need for sharing, taking turns, using manners, and being good friends. What better way to teach these life skills to four and five year old children than through Dramatic Play?

My students need a "Pretend and Play" hardwood refrigerator, stove, and hutch for dramatic play. With NYC school budgets being cut so severely, my classroom lacks a Pretend and Play Combo Kitchen. This play center would give my students an area for role playing and practicing the life-skills they are learning in class.

Through your gift, you would make it possible for my special education students to practice and reinforce life-skills daily through Dramatic Play.

All 25 projects currently on the list can be found here

[Kewalee]

I have been meaning to share the Mahoney thank you stuff for a while now.  In case you don't remember, Mahoney Drinks Three Cups of Tea was a DC proposal for the entire school to read Dr. Greg's book. 

I am attaching a sampling of the thank you letters.  Adorable, heartfelt, awesome!

Love,
Kelli

[Natasha]

Lunch for Learning - A wonderful community project (and on the Kiva Friend's Donors Choose Page)   

This project is for a K-12 rural native Alaskan school. Our school does not receive federal or state funds for the lunch program. Out of necessity, we have developed a home grown volunteer program. With the help of community donations of subsistence foods, such as salmon, moose and locally grown vegetables, we provide daily lunch, Although 90% of the students meet income standards for free & reduced lunches, they pay $2.50 daily. All students get lunch regardless of ability to pay.

The lack of a consistent income makes planning & delivering a variety of consistent nutritious lunches difficult. The current program provides approximately 30 meals per day to students, staff and community members. Elders eat free.The budget for the 30 meals fluctuates between $15-$20 per day. The program would like to expand to offer breakfast, extend outreach to elders and shut-in community members.

The program needs staples, breakfast items, cookware, cleaning supplies, food service gloves and numerous other food service supplies. Volunteers have brought the kitchen up to department of health standards. The kitchen is approved and has a volunteer food service manager on site. This program has already benefited students in that it provides a consistent, nutritious hot meal daily, (seconds are free) as well as an opportunity to socialize with community members. Parents or grandparents often come to school and stay to have lunch with the children. The reduction in lunch room chaos & the improvement in academic performance has been measurable.

Your support for this program is an investment in the future; education is the hope of the future. Learning is more apt to be successful if one is not worrying about their next meal. This is an opportunity to support a community that takes pride in its children and cares for its elders with limited assets.

My students need kitchen appliances, paper goods, and cleaning materials to keep our volunteer run lunch program providing nutritious meals 5 days a week.

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=343122&challengeid=20825

[Simran]

This is a wonderful project that only has 4 days to go. It sure could use some helping hands!   

Pillowcases For Patients   http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=358926&challengeid=20825

"Pillows For Patients will provide patients with a bit of cheer during their hospital stay!
I teach an enrichment cluster for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in a public magnet school for gifted and high achieving students. This enrichment cluster is titled "At Your Service" and the students met ... MORE

"Pillows For Patients will provide patients with a bit of cheer during their hospital stay!

I teach an enrichment cluster for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in a public magnet school for gifted and high achieving students. This enrichment cluster is titled "At Your Service" and the students met for an hour and a half each week. At our first session, the students brainstormed things they wanted to do.

One of my students recently spent several weeks in the hospital. He told us that he had an autograph animal that all of his visitors signed. This led to a discussion of a similar project that our group could initiate.

The students decided that they would like to decorate pillowcases to bring to children in the hospitals. These pillowcases will not only be to sleep on, they can also be used as a place to gather autographs. We plan to include a Sharpie Marker and a note stating this intention.

My students are so excited about this opportunity to bring joy to patients! Help to help them - the sick children in our area!


To go: $150
Time left: 5 days
Any amount welcome.
My students need fabric paint and Sharpies to complete a service project that they initiated.

[cjp1973]

"Houses For Haiti" Our Giving Back Project
"Be the change you want to see in the world," Gandhi once said, and my students are learning to do just that. We are wanting to create miniature houses as pins and magnets to sell for a fundraiser that will contribute every penny earned to help those in need in Haiti. Help my students help others.

My art students attend a public Charter School in Illinois. For this project we range from grades 5-8. Every year we try to create a project that will help us contribute to people in need outside our own little learning community. This year we are going global! With your help we would like to make art projects that will not only brighten the day of members in our community but will also raise money for those in need due to the recent Earthquakes in Haiti. We will be making miniature houses that are magnets and pins/broaches. Every penny of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross as a charitable donation. We are also going to have the option for people to purchase the pins/magnets to donate to cancer patients at the local Hospitals. We have a somewhat small learning community but we love to give back in a BIG way!

My students will be using Sharpies to draw designs onto matte board which will then be cut out to make miniature house with small 3D elements. We will then Mod Podge over them to seal in the color and add Envirotex Lite over the tops to form a resin like layer. Lastly we will add magnets backing and/or bar pins to the back of the houses so that they will be functional. Mt students wish to use these houses to sell as a fundraiser to members of our community. It will not only showcase our amazing artistic ability but will also give back something very important to our broader community. My students wish to send every penny of the funds raised to the American Red Cross to help those affected by the earthquakes in Haiti. We also are going to give people the option to purchase and then donate houses as gifts to brighten the day of local cancer patients at the hospitals in our town. It is my hope that through this project my students will achieve a sense of community by helping others in need.

Our project is important because it gives back to not only our community but a community that is in much more need than even our own. It teaches the students the importance of caring for others and it gives them a great sense of accomplishment and fulfillment knowing that they were able to do something for someone else. This project also teaches about money handling, budgeting and organization through volunteer work that they will be doing to sell their art pieces.
$134 left

Find all the projects here  And watch for some fun on the donorschoose thread starting Monday

[cjp1973]

MARCH MADNESS –MATCHED !!!!
March 1-March 8…psst that is today!

Announcing a Friends & Family challenge:

We teach. Those who don't, get matched!
It's time for our own March Madness... starting Monday, March 1st, for one week only, all donations to your projects made through your Teacher Page will be matched.  The fine print: contributions made via your Teacher Page between March 1st and March 8th will be matched until $100,000 has been spent.
Now, doesn't that make the winter blues a bit less dreary?

Remember: donations to your projects will only be matched if the donor donates through your Teacher Page.  So starting March 1st, email, Twitter, Facebook, call, or pigeon messenger your friends, family, and that guy from high school who friended you last week and direct them all to your Teacher Page to make this spring a special one for you and your students.


 I don’t have a pigeon messenger but I thought this was a good place to start!  We have some dedicated teachers on KivaFriends that could benefit greatly from your help.  And it doesn’t have to just be $$.  You can post their teacher pages on FB, twitter, hand them out to the neighbors, or any other means you would like to undertake, all help is welcome. 

Giving Page for CherylS
•   Crossing the Divide: A Lake Story

Giving Page for Kewalee (Kelli)
•   HP loves Commas!
•   The Great Letter Writing Campaign
•   Kiva Books for Amazing Students

Remember the donations have to be made through these links for them to be matched.
So go, donate, promote, run outside and yell the news, It is March 1st and we are “mad” about Donors Choose and the kivafriend teachers that use it.

[cjp1973]

UPDATE:

Hey, everyone.  I have just called Customer Service at Donors Choose to find out how the match is working since I did not receive a notification when I made my donation.  So here is what I found out.  "This week we have staff members manually checking for donations coming via teacher pages, and then manually processing matching donations. So it won't be automatic, and may take up to 3 business days to be reflected on that teacher's project."  So:

1.  If the project you donated to is not funded the match will go to that project.
2.  If that project is funded the match will be applied to another project on teachers list.
3.  If there are no additional projects to be funded the teacher will receive that money in Giving Cards to apply to future projects!

So don't worry if you get no notification.  The matches will be made as long as you use the teacher pages to donate!
 

MARCH MADNESS –MATCHED !!!!
March 1-March 8…psst that is today!

Announcing a Friends & Family challenge:

We teach. Those who don't, get matched!
It's time for our own March Madness... starting Monday, March 1st, for one week only, all donations to your projects made through your Teacher Page will be matched.  The fine print: contributions made via your Teacher Page between March 1st and March 8th will be matched until $100,000 has been spent.
Now, doesn't that make the winter blues a bit less dreary?

Remember: donations to your projects will only be matched if the donor donates through your Teacher Page.  So starting March 1st, email, Twitter, Facebook, call, or pigeon messenger your friends, family, and that guy from high school who friended you last week and direct them all to your Teacher Page to make this spring a special one for you and your students.


 I don’t have a pigeon messenger but I thought this was a good place to start!  We have some dedicated teachers on KivaFriends that could benefit greatly from your help.  And it doesn’t have to just be $$.  You can post their teacher pages on FB, twitter, hand them out to the neighbors, or any other means you would like to undertake, all help is welcome. 

Giving Page for CherylS
•   Crossing the Divide: A Lake Story

Giving Page for Kewalee (Kelli)
•   HP loves Commas!
•   The Great Letter Writing Campaign
•   Kiva Books for Amazing Students

Remember the donations have to be made through these links for them to be matched.
So go, donate, promote, run outside and yell the news, It is March 1st and we are “mad” about Donors Choose and the kivafriend teachers that use it.

[Kewalee]

You rock, Kiva Friends!  My HP Loves Commas! proposal has funded.  I cannot wait to send my munchkins out in town with those cameras. 

I can't do what I do without you.  Hugs to all of you.  Kelli