CogKnition

Donors Choose: Knitting Edition

March 29th, 2006 | View Comments

If you read my regular blog, you know that I am an avid supporter of Donors Choose. Donors Choose is an organization that lets teachers write grant proposals for exactly what they want, and lets donors donate as much money as they can to help fund exactly those proposals that they like.

I first found out about Donors Choose through Tomato Nation’s contest/fundraising drive last year and have donated regularly ever since. Most of the teachers who submit proposals come from urban schools that are in serious need of resources.

Knowing that knitters are a generous bunch, I thought I’d alert you to some of the proposals that involve knitting:

Kids Helping Others by Knitting!

This year, instead of the “fun” but perhaps not-so-meaningful holiday party, my class is going to learn how to knit… and then use that skill to create scarves for people in their community that need them….

Knitting, far from mundane or non-academic, has myriad social studies, historical, and mathematical links to the curriculum. Thus, we will use the activity both as a fun reward and a way to integrate our academic work.

This proposal still needs $560 $511 to buy knitting needles and yarn for 6th graders.

Knitting Scarves for the Needy While Learning about South America

During the next few months, our entire school will be learning about South America and its rich cultural heritage. My third graders’ specific country of study will be Chile, and I am looking forward to exploring this fascinating country with them. Among other things we will be studying Chile’s economy, examining its imports and exports. One of the major exports of Chile is alpaca wool….

To help my students better understand the value of Chile’s exports, I would like to teach my students to knit with alpaca yarn. Knitting is a skill taught to me by my mother, and I would now like to pass it on to my students.

As the students learn to knit, we will make scarves for the needy in our community.

This proposal still needs $484 $427 $341 to buy knitting needles and yarn for 3rd graders.

Knit to Succeed: Help Struggling Readers Learn Needed Skills

I have realized over the past few months that my students would progress significantly faster in their reading if they could acquire certain skills that I believe they could develop through knitting. First, my students need to learn to concentrate and focus for extended periods of time; many of them have a difficult time sustaining their attention when they read. Second, they need to improve their fine motor skills; they struggle greatly with handwriting, which negatively impacts their ability to respond in writing to what they read….

This proposal still needs $1,151 $1,024 $1,053 to buy knitting needles and yarn for 5th and 6th graders.

Knitting a Community Together (Fully funded!)

I am a 4th grade teacher and my club, the 4th and 5th grade knitting/crochet club, is one of a small number of clubs that meets once a week….

I see the ripples of this club when I see kids sitting, heads bent together knitting or crocheting while waiting for their teacher on the playground or on the bus. These students devour the books I have written for kids about knitting and other needlecraft and “sneak” them into their everyday reading….

While I am pleased that this club and enrichment cluster are so popular, I find myself having to turn away kids or limit projects when I do not have needles or yarn to provide. Only a few of the students can provide their own materials.

This proposal still needs $357 $261 $165 $0 to buy a knitting/crochet book and knitting needles for 4th and 5th graders.

The beauty of Donors Choose is that if you don’t like these proposals, you can search their database for proposals that fit your own educational priorities. It’s a wonderful charity; please go take a look.

CogKnition posted this on March 29th, 2006 @ 12:32am in Life as a Knitter | Permalink to "Donors Choose: Knitting Edition"

1 Comment

  1. M-E-L says:

    Hey, thanks for the DonorsChoose linkage! If you want to set up a challenge (just like Sars!) just go into your account, hit “gift options,” and scroll down to “create a challenge.” You can then add these projects to your challenge.