Well, it has been another big week over at The Project. Here are some highlights.
1. Ten more Kindles are coming soon!
Because of the generosity of 29 donors (yes, you read that correctly: 29!), my $960 DonorsChoose project for 10 more Kindles was fully funded.
This means that, for the first time ever, every student in my Kindle classroom will have access to his or her own Kindle.
There are many people to thank, but I’d like to give special mention to Millie and Brent of Las Vegas, who pushed me to go for the project; Iris of San Diego, who started the contributions off strong; and a certain Anonymous Donor from California, who kept up the momentum.
Also crucial: Jenni of Berkeley and Laura of San Francisco, who both donated and then got the word out so others contributed, too!
2. Three more Kindles arrived!
We’ll have to wait for those 10 Kindles, but in the meantime, I am happy to report the arrival of Kindle #15, Kindle #16, and Kindle #17. There they are, side by side, over to the right!
Kindle #15 was a gift from Caitlin of Oakland, a kind and generous colleague at my new job. Her Kindle was waiting patiently on my desk when I arrived to work this morning.
Kindles #16 and #17 were contributions from Tony and Chris of New York. They found me online (go Google! go Iserotope!) and sent me their Kindles not once but twice. (The first time, the mailing label came off and the package got returned). Now that’s dedication!
3. The ebook library grew by 16 titles to a total of 166.
One of my dreams was to be able to purchase books that students request. Because of last week’s generous $1,000 donation from DSW in Saratoga, I can now be confident that I can follow through with my promise.
Here are a few of this week’s new titles
(You’ll notice that these are high-interest books. That’s because students choose good books when they’re given the chance!)
4. There are rumors of additional holiday cheer!
A previous donor is upgrading to the Kindle Paperwhite and says two more Kindles are on the way. A kind person from Petaluma filled out the form on the new Kindle Classroom Project page and wants to contribute her Kindle Keyboard. And another previous donor says that she’s asking her friends to donate their old Kindles, too. The word is getting out, and the momentum is building. I don’t want to get too crazy, but I can see The Kindle Classroom Project adding an additional classroom — maybe back in San Francisco — before the end of the school year!
Thank you all again for your support and for caring about young people and their reading lives.