My name is Liz M. and I was adopted for the second year in a row by Reach Out for Schools. I am writing to thank you so much for your generosity and to let you know how the money was used.

I teach 7th and 8th grade Language Arts (reading and writing) in Hudson, NH. I teach five classes a day of 25-30 students each, and one of my main goals is to get students to read as much as possible. I maintain a classroom library of books that students find engaging and interesting. I use scholastic points to buy current books, I haunt yard sales for good titles, and I beg parents and former students to donate books that they liked and have read. It is often difficult to find extra money in my budget for new classroom novels.

Your donation allowed me to purchase 25 new books for my classroom library – and the boys in my classes went wild when the box came in. They were so excited to see books about sports and monsters and science fiction. I could barely pry the box out of their hands to open it. They have been reading and trading the books back and forth ever since they arrived.

I am so grateful that I was chosen for this grant. It is crucial that kids (especially boys) learn that books can be interesting and engaging, and your gift was (for some of them) the first step in learning that lesson.

I have enclosed some “thank you” notes from a few of the kids who spontaneously wrote to you. I hope you understand that you made a huge impact on my students.

Hi! My name is Erin and I am in Ms. M’s 7th grade Language Arts class at Hudson Memorial School. I wanted to thank you for sending all those wonderful books to our class. My classmates and I are so grateful for the opportunity to read all these books. We love to read and are looking forward to sticking our heads into a great new book. I am very excited to read the book Perfect World by Brian James. Reading is my favorite thing to do, and I am very grateful that you care enough to donate the books to my class. I also think it is awesome that you give money and supplies to schools like mine so students like me can get a very good education. My classmates and I are so grateful, and I bet many other kids at the schools that you help are grateful too. Thank you so much Reach Out for Schools!!!

Dear Reach Out for Schools,

As 2010 comes to a close, I wanted to Thank You for all your help this past fall. Your donation has been a great use to myself, my students and my school! We really appreciate it and want to wish you the very best in 2011.

Many thanks and a Happy New Year! 

Wow! Thank you so much! I just saw an email today that we received a donation! I cannot express my gratitude enough. With budgets cut this year, and education hit so hard, this will make a huge impact on our classroom! I was thrilled to read of your donations. I have been purchasing materials with my personal funds and it has impacted my own budget. I have such a diverse classroom this year. I teach 6th grade students with so many varying disabilities. Their abilities range from pre-primer to 6th grade. I teach a literacy, math, 2 reading workshops, an instructional lab, and a reading intervention. Your donation means so much and will go to great use!

Thank you for your extremely generous donation! I plan on purchasing cuisenaire rods to enhance my mathematics instruction for my second graders. We are truly grateful for your donation!

Thank you!

I would like to thank you for adopting my classroom. I teach P.E. at Reeds Ferry Elementary School in Merrimack NH. We have a population of about 500 children grades k-4, including mainstreamed special education. I will use the monies to purchase pedometers to keep an existing program up and running. I will also purchase some adaptive equipment to assist the special ed population in fitting more readily into my class. Again thank you. BOB

Thank you for the donation. I once again was able to find literacy books that go along with the themes in our class curriculum. I am excited to have been able to purchase them and add them to the class library. I was also able to get center activity centers and this is very beneficial for small group work.

What a wonderful surprise. Thank you so much for your generosity. It will really make a difference for our students at Reingold. Supplies have been very scarce over the past few years. We are all working hard to provide the best education possible.

Thank you so much for the donation. I got the printer last Thursday and it is so great to run off papers. The school copy machine wasn’t working but mine was. I copied papers as the students were right in my classroom. It was so awesome!!! This was truly a great gift you gave me. Thank you so, so, so, so much!