hissen

Brag about your awesome class. Then it's full moon. Even when they drove me crazy today, I still saw plenty of sweet. A weekend will make things better.

It is possible that there is electrical going wrong in our house. I wish it would magically go away.

The weekend, it pleases me.

Winter break has begun and I'm all off-balance from craziness, but ready to relax. My current frustrations include far too much time in front of a screen of one sort or another and a lack of discipline to actually use those reading glasses my eye doctor told me to start using last spring. So there's some stuff to work on. I've also rejoined the YMCA and stopped by for a workout this morning. It's time to try to catch up on reading, reconnect with myself, my husband, enjoy my son.

I have two grant proposals at DonorsChoose.org that are going to expire in three weeks so I'm trying to get the word out in case someone is looking for a good cause.

Recently, we got funding for listening stations (cd players) to use during literacy, so I wrote this grant proposal for audio books. No donations yet, but I'm hoping it still might make it.
Read to Me For Fluency Part Two

Here is my other grant that is coming up against the same deadline. This one is even partially funded. It is for books for my classroom. A Good Fit Book For Every Reader.

What happens if you make a donation and my projects don't receive funding before the deadline? Donors Choose gives you the opportunity to give that amount as a gift certificate to me -or another teacher of your choice. Then I can apply it to an existing project or write a new one and use it for that. Donations can be any amount, and every little bit helps.

Thanks for your support in whatever form it takes. Community support makes my students successful.

We are home an so happy to be here. Eventually I'll post a picture, but the computer is not nearly so interesting these days as my beautiful son, born June 29th in an emergency c-section after 48 hours of labor at home. Turned out he flipped at the last minute and wanted to leave butt-first. Locke Magnus Brillig is amazing and beautiful.

editPictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/49022…

Generous donors have been plugging away at my grant projects at donorschoose.org. I have one that is expiring at the beginning of August and really hope it makes it. It's called Read to Me For Fluency and is for seven cd walkmen that my students can use to listen to audio books as they follow along with a text. It really encourages my low readers who haven't built up a lot of stamina for reading on their own -plus it allows them to enjoy books at a reading level that's higher than their own. It gives all readers a chance to improve their fluency and expression while building their love of books.

I've used cd players and audio books for the last three years in my class and supplied the cd players myself, but those are sadly dying as I could only really afford the "Fred Myers special." With a baby on the way I'm unable to share as much of my paycheck with my classroom as I did in the past.

If you or anyone you know would like to help out, follow this link or pass it on to others:
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors…

There is an accompanying grant for more audiobooks as well,Read to Me For Fluency Part 2, but it expires on a later date than the first one. Please feel free to check this out as well as my other projects at www.donorschoose.org/brillig

[Edit]
Read to Me For Fluency received full funding today by an anonymous donor. I'm so grateful and excited. I have no idea if the donation was a random stranger passing by or someone who read this post, but I'm extremely grateful for the support. If there are people who still want to support this classroom in a time of extreme budget issues, I'd love to start working on the Read to Me For Fluency Part 2 grant so that I can offer a wider selection of audio books to my students. This proposal will expire the first week of September if it goes unfunded and so far has no donors. A large selection of books to choose from makes the "listen to reading" option fun for the entire school year. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors…

My cd player grant expires in August, which is going to be here before you know it. These cd players will make listening centers in the classroom possible and build literacy skills. They replace ones I've purchased myself that have lived good lives and served my students for two years. Want to donate a dollar or fund the entire project? Any amount helps! http://www.donorschoose.org/donors…
Find out more by visiting my proposal. Don't like that project? There are others!

I'm working on several non-fiction book grants as summer rolls along. Here is one that recently was approved on donorschoose.org:
Research This!

Any size donation is accepted and appreciated -$5 to complete funding -so if you want to help, don't worry about it not being enough. It all adds up. If you think you know someone who might be interested in supporting my classroom, please feel free to pass the link along.

Two other grants I am working on writing are for slightly lower level non-fiction book sets for my struggling readers, books on the fifty states for the upcoming third grade state reports and speeches, and sea animal books for our biomes and habitat unit/animal reports.

Thanks!

Today over $200 has been donated to my book grant on DonorsChoose. I'm not sure what the trigger was, but I'm thrilled and excited. At this point I only need $30 more to have the funds for nonfiction book sets. You can follow my progress here.

If you get there too late but still want to help, you're welcome to contribute to my document camera grant on the same website here. It hasn't received any donations so far, but I'm feeling ever hopeful.

www.hissen.etsy.com