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Completed: Planetariums and Planispheres in the Class!

"I teach beginning ESL to students who are new to this country. My students range from 6th to 8th grade. They all have one thing in common; they are all hungry for an education.

The students that I work with are students from different backgrounds. They come to this country and face a variety of cha... " MORE

"I teach beginning ESL to students who are new to this country. My students range from 6th to 8th grade. They all have one thing in common; they are all hungry for an education.

The students that I work with are students from different backgrounds. They come to this country and face a variety of challenges and struggles, such as language and cultural changes. Back in their country formal education is not as accessible as it is here; therefore most of these students have gaps in their education. Here in our classroom we offer them the opportunity to narrow that gap and create a better future for students who a few months ago had an uncertain future.

This year I want to teach my new students astronomy, for this reason a Star Theater and planisphere would be wonderful and extremely helpful. The Star Theater will be absolutely fantastic! It will transform our classroom into a planetarium. The planetarium will depict the universe right in our classroom. Then, they will be able to use the planispheres, which are stars maps, to learn how to locate each star. The students will be able to take the planispheres home and conduct their own stellar explorations. With my students, because English is not their first language, visuals are constantly a part of their learning process.

With your help my students will be able to learn about the universe and the stars. They will not only get to read about but actually view and explore space for themselves.

My students need two star theaters to create an interactive planetarium in my classroom and two planispheres to explore the stars during class and at home.

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See Ms. M.'s class participating in this project! (Enlarge photos)

May 5, 2009

Dear Joseph, Dr. Porter, Murasaki and Delia,

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind donation to my class. I teach the most recent new comers to this country and your donation was exactly what they needed in order to excite them and help them develop their language and science skills.

Before we got your donation, my students were pouring over the one good astronomy book we have in our class. They would ask questions about what they saw, and I could tell that they were dreaming of being able to explore and go there on their own. When they saw the box for the Star Theater 2 their eyes grew round and wide and they became very excited about upcoming activity.

I put black butcher paper over the windows to block out the sunlight and we turned off all the lights in the classroom. The kids had a blast just seeing how dark it was. When we turned on the Star Theater 2, our classroom became a mini planetarium. The kids were entranced as I put in the CD and we took a tour through the stars and constellations. Although the vocabulary was a little difficult for them and the speech was a bit fast, they still enjoyed sitting back and looking as I pointed to the different constellations that were being talked about.

We then looked at the planispheres. It was difficult to use the Star Theater and the planetarium at the same time since complete darkness is required for the Star Theater 2 to project, but we managed. Next year I am definitely bringing a small flashlight! It was great seeing them learn how to set and use the planispheres. Then, they had an opportunity to make their own planisphere that they get to keep. Their homework was to look at the sky every night over the weekend. They returned on Monday very excited to tell me what they had been able to locate using their new astronomical tool and what they had learned during our planetarium tour.

Once again, I would like to thank you for the opportunity you have provided us to learn about stars, and planets both in the classroom and at home. I would also like to assure you that your donation is being put to good use.

With gratitude,
Ms. M.

Ms. M. sent this note after the project was fully funded:

Feb 15, 2009

Dear Joseph, Dr. Porter, Murasaki and Delia,

Thank you so very much for your kind donation! Living in Southern California, my students don't have many opportunities to observe stellar phenomenon and with all the lights, stars are not easily visible in our area.

Between the star theaters and the star maps, my students are going to have a chance to learn, identify and grow an interest in stars. They will also have a chance to take the star maps home to see what they can find on their own. We are going to have a fantastic time exploring space right in our own classroom and from the students' own homes!

With gratitude,
Ms. M.

Ms. M.'s Classroom: High Poverty School

Region:

California (South)

Where is the classroom located?

Submitted:

Dec 19, 2008 |

Expires:

May 25, 2009

Great news -- this project is now a reality! We ordered the materials and they were sent directly to the classroom.

Materials	Vendor	Price	#	Total
STAR THEATER	Sargent-Welch	$32.85	2	$65.70
PLANISPHERE,30-40 DEG N	Carolina Biological Supply Company	$20.43	2	$40.86

Vendor Shipping Charges				$10.66
State Sales Tax				$7.73
3rd Party Payment Processing Fee				$1.60
Postage / Processing for Donor Thank-You Package				$9.00
Project Cost Excluding Donation to Support DonorsChoose.org				$135.55
Optional Donation to Support DonorsChoose.org				$29.75
Project Cost Including Donation to Support DonorsChoose.org				$165.30
4 Donors				-$165.30
To Go				$0.00