My students need shovels and hand protection (gloves) for planting hundreds of native desert plants.
$1,116 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
"Environmental Science" is a multidisciplinary science course that focuses on interconnections of the topics we learn throughout the year. Students learn concepts through a wide variety of activities and then construct a series of concepts maps which eventually become interconnected into one map.
My students live in an urban setting dominated by a low income Hispanic population; 65% qualify for the free or reduced price lunch program.
Our school is the oldest in the state; the current campus is 42 years old. Historical records reveal that upon graduation, less than 25% of the students qualify for admission into a four-year university degree program even though our school has earned a "B" rating.
My Project
Our campus has a fenced-in acre lot that hasn't been used for almost 20 years. The high school agricultural program once grew crops and grazed animals in the field; it now is filled with weeds, has lots of junk, and a half dozen dead citrus trees still stand. We plan to restore the lot back to a functioning Sonoran desert ecosystem. Following a grading of the lot by our district's heavy equipment, students will plant native species using the shovels and gloves donated through this grant program. This project will take several years to complete. Students will participate in the research of plant selection and spacing, propagation of native seeds in our planting beds and greenhouse, the planting of these and donated plants, and the maintenance of the garden.
I'm always amazed at how few students have any experience with planting and/or taking care of a plant.
When they are given this experience, their thinking is transformed. They give names to their plants, they care of them and talk to them. Students take ownership of another living thing. Since this pollinator garden will take permanent residence on campus, students can return years from now to observe the growth of the one they planted, and take pride in their contribution to school improvement
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Jung and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
