Stellar Students' Solar Studies Surpass State Standards!
My students need a Solarscope, Solar Motion Lab Activity, poster of the sun, and a sun tracking hemispheres kit in order to study the sun, and master the skills needed to pass.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Fourth grade students in Louisiana must pass rigorous high stakes tests in order to be promoted to the fifth grade. My students are technologically savvy, but often lack the patience to make observations, collect data, and report their findings; Skills they can use to pass these tests
My students are a diverse collection of young minds hungry for the opportunity to explore new concepts and master new skills.
They attend a public school that has shown academic growth each year under the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP).
The socioeconomic backgrounds of my students are as varied as they are. Many live in a rough neighborhood where they are often not allowed to play outside due to fear for their safety. Some live in neighborhoods almost untouched by crime. A few of my students are homeless.
Their individual academic achievements range from the student who scored "Advanced" on the latest performance test and reads on a sixth-grade level, to the students who scored "Unsatisfactory" on the latest performance test and read significantly below grade level.
Only a handful of my students have had experiences working in cooperative groups to perform experiments, make observations, and report their findings.
My Project
I am requesting a Solarscope, Sun poster, a Solar Motion Lab Activity, a Sun model, and a Sun Tracking Hemispheres Kit.
The requested resources will allow students to safely track the sun's daily trek across the sky, determine the length of each day of the year, calculate sunrise and sunset times, project a solar image for safe, indirect observations of features such as sunspots, determine the diameter of the sun, calculate the height of objects from the length of shadows they cast, and make ongoing predictions from their observations.
All too often students flock to the Internet to research the information they need to complete assignments instead of taking a hands-on, personal, approach of conducting experiments themselves to gather the data they need.
The resources requested will help my students master the skills needed to pass the end of the year high stakes test, earn promotion to the fifth grade, and give them the personal experience of hand-on experimentation that will last
My students are the leaders of tomorrow.
These resources are an investment in the future which will help provide my students with the foundation they need to become future leaders. These resources will help my students become proficient at valuable skills such as making accurate measurements, recording detailed observations, making predictions based on these measurements and observations, analyzing their work based on additional observations, and working cooperatively with others.
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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. LeBlanc and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.