How DonorsChoose.org Match Offers Work

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My 15 Minutes of Fame, Thanks to DonorsChoose.org and Volkswagen!

So... over the summer, this happened:

...and then this happened:

And then... I was featured in this article on the Volkswagen website! 

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to both DonorsChoose.org and Volkswagen for this opportunity!

How I Use ClassDojo's Class Story to Communicate with Families

Class Story on ClassDojo is a powerful tool for communicating with your students' families.

Here are a few of the types of things I share on Class Story:

1. Important Notices and Reminders - things that are happening that parents need to know about

2. Scholastic Book Club Information

3. Photos of fun class activities

4. Photos of anchor charts and things we are learning in class

5. Links to helpful video tutorials and websites

https://www.khanacademy.org/join/F8FGKK

6. ClassDojo created Class Story Cards and videos

7. Info about my DonorsChoose.org projects (very sparingly)

Any Project Matched on DonorsChoose.org!

Donating to a project on DonorsChoose.org? All donations will be matched (except those with existing match offers) using my Ambassador promo code: MAIOLO (my last name)! 

Use, share (just grab the image below!), and enjoy! 

Looking for a project to support? http://www.donorschoose.org/mrsmaiolo 

Classroom Library Update 2018-2019

My classroom library is the part of my classroom I am most proud of! It has been a work in progress for the past 18 years. I am sure I have thousands of books... I am not really sure of a total number (or amount of money spent!) over that time. 

My books (most of which came from Scholastic Book Clubs and many, many DonorsChoose.org projects over the years), are sorted by genre. Each genre is in a different colored tub/bin/basket from Really Good Stuff. 

Here are the latest photos of my classroom library. Little changes make big differences! Keep reading to see what's new since my last post!

The newest sections of my classroom library are books by popular authors and a section just for graphic novels.  This picture was taken before I finished labelling them, but the author bins and books have white dot labels. 

And the graphic novels have bright/light blue bins and labels.

I also added a LOT of new Biography books, thanks to Donorschoose.org! This section has quadrupled in size in the past year or so!

Here are all of my Informational/Non-fiction books (green).

The biggest change I recently made is to organize my Fiction sections horizontally across the shelves instead of in vertical clusters. Before, all of the Fantasy (blue), Realistic Fiction (purple), Mystery (pink), Science Fiction (orange),  Historical Fiction (brown), and Traditional Literature (red) books were clustered vertically on top of each other. Students weren't looking all the way down the shelves for all of the choices. Now, to look for each genre, they have to look across all of the shelves. Not sure if I am making sense, but it HAS made a difference. Kids are noticing different books that have been there the whole time!

For example, this is what the Fantasy section looked like before:

Here is what it (and the rest of the Fiction books) looks like now (with each color stretching across instead of up and down, and some room for new additions):

All of my bins are labeled with these labels I found on TeachersPayTeachers. This set had ALMOST everything I needed. (No set could possibly cover my entire ridiculous classroom library, but this comes close.) Each bin has a colored dot with a number (the color matches the bin color) and all of the books have the same colored dot/number which makes them easy for my students to put away.

My students each have their own book box. They trade their books every Monday. They are supposed to pick one from each genre (color) every week, to encourage them to read a variety of different kinds of books. 

I hope this helps you organize your own classroom library! Please comment down below with your questions or suggestions!

TPT/DonorsChoose Giveaway!

Enter to win a $10 TPT gift card!

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DonorsChoose Student Thank You Notes

After your DonorsChoose.org project is funded, it is time to create your thank-you package!

If your project requires student thank you notes (not all projects do), you are probably looking for some good ideas! Doesn't everyone want to get this note in their email?

Here are some tips from DonorsChoose.org for Fantastic Student Thank-You Notes:

All that being said, I don't think you have to go "over the top" to create fantastic thank you notes. I think the most important part is having your students express themselves! 

Here is a thank you note freebie I have found VERY handy from TeachersPayTeachers:

This is my go-to thank you letter template! I use this every time. I brainstorm sentence stems with my students and then they write, draw, and decorate. Everyone's is unique, and I have received that special note from DonorsChoose.org several times!

Here is an example - this is actually NOT from a DonorsChoose.org project (I always forget to take photos), but hopefully you get the idea!

What are YOUR creative ideas for thank you notes? Post your ideas, comments, or questions below!

Breaking Up a Large DonorsChoose Project Into Manageable Chunks

One of the best tips for writing DonorsChoose.org projects is to keep your project cost as low as possible. This increases your chance of funding!

Oops, did you already write a BIG project? Read below to see how to easily break it apart into more manageable chunks!

STOP and read this first: Does your project already have donations? If they are from someone you know, this is good news. They will get an email about your project being removed and they will be able to pass the donation back to you. If they are strangers, chances are 50-50 they will re-donate the money to you vs. another teacher. This is important to think about before archiving!

OK, Ready to get started?

First you will need to archive your existing project...

Then, write multiple, smaller projects for the items you wanted for your large project - break it into logical parts. They can even have the same title, just name them “Part 1” Part 2, etc… (I do this all the time - see photo.)

If you need to go back and look at your old project to cut and paste ideas or see what items you shopped for, look here:

Hope this helps! Post a link to your new project in the comments below!

Are you a teacher in Florida who wants support with DonorsChoose.org? Please comment below with any questions you might have. Also, please come and join our Facebook Group!