Even the best textbook cannot replicate the oppressing humidity of the rainforest or the sensation of a cold sea star sitting on your palm. Experience is everything, and we want to give those experiences and more to our students by taking them to the California Academy of Sciences.
Our students are a part of a small learning community at our elementary school.
The small learning community consists of eight classes and spans kindergarten through third grade. Our classrooms work closely together so that the teachers, the students, and the families all get to know each other well. We also collaborate on projects in art, reading, and science. The focus of our small learning community is on developing our students' knowledge of and interest in ecology.
Our school is a Title I school and many of the families in our small learning community have been hit hard by the country's economic problems. The majority of our students (over 80%) are English language learners and many are first generation immigrants. Due to these financial problems and language barriers, our students usually stay home on weekends and during school vacations. Few have visited museums around their homes, and none have visited the California Academy of Sciences.
My Project
At the end of the year, the students in our small learning community learn about different habitats around the world and the effects humans have had on these habitats. Kindergartners and first graders focus on learning the basics of plant and animal biology and ecology. Second and third graders learn more about the damage done to these habitats and suggest possible solutions.
This field trip to the California Academy of Sciences would allow our students experience the habitats they have studied firsthand. They will also be able to learn more about how to undo some of the negative effects and repair some of the damage humans have done, knowledge that they will share with their parents at an exhibition night at the end of the unit.
This field trip will be an eye opening experience for our students.
They will develop an appreciation for the unique aspects of different habitats on earth and be motivated to be more ecological in their everyday lives. The experience of the field trip and the activities that stem from it will create memories and knowledge that our students will never forget.
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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 Ms. Aulwurm and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.