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
School should be a place where our students feel encouraged and motivated to improve their lives.. and school should should be fun!
I teach thirty 5th graders of ages varying from 10-13, in a rural Mississippi town.
My students are brilliant and wonderful, but come from a place where school is sometimes looked at like a nuisance to the freedom of students and young parents alike.
At home and in the neighborhood my students sometimes encounter violence, drug addiction, and sexual assault. At school, they struggle to be seen and heard in a building plagued by discipline issues and occasional violence. Our teachers work incredibly hard to provide a safe, loving atmosphere where our students can learn and grow, but battle consistently low-performance on standardized test results, and must endure the consequences: more testing!
My Project
Our class motto "5th grade is blasting off!" will compliment grade trackers and a unit on space and exploration. After completing the unit on space, I want to give my students an exciting and memorable science experience: launching real model rockets 1,000ft into the air!
My request involves essential materials needed to have an exciting rocket launch day:
In "Mission Crews" of three students, students will learn the history and basic science of rocketry, construct the model rockets, and learn the launch procedure. My students will also learn newtons laws of motion, as well as air pressure and weather conditions.
On a spring Saturday, students and their families will come to one of our many fields to participate in launch day where students follow launch procedure to load their rocket engines, ignite, and track down their rockets.
More than just science, I hope they learn that school can and should be fun and exciting, and that they look forward to each day!
My students will move on to middle school next year, a crucial battleground that will often determine whether or not a student will drop out of high school in coming years.
With Mississippi barely topping a 60% HS grad rate, it is important my kids feel early on that school can be a fun place to be.
I've already spent about $1,000 of my own income on classroom supplies. I KNOW that your help on this project will have a huge impact on my students this year, and possibly the rest of their lives.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Watral and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.