Help me give my students the resources to create a portable classroom at every farm in Ko`olauloa. Placing value on `āina based action research, addressing sustainability in marginalized communities. We need outdoor picnic tables and work gloves.
I am writing to request funding to enhance curriculum programming, addressing place-based student driven action research.
The rationale for this request is derived from the restorative curriculum I crafted for the students in Social Studies courses.
In 2020, I crafted an agroforestry curriculum entitled, My Beloved Kaia`ulu. This unit encourages food safety and food security through intergenerational conversations with elders through interviews that capture familial stories. These learning threads gave students a forum to discuss, pono leadership and sustainability.
This curriculum was successful, slowly transforming my students into “student researchers,” a skill building continuum practiced by creating History Day projects, and reinforced in social studies and science (STEMS) courses. Undoubtedly, meeting sustainable practices that align with student success goals at our school.
However, the project needs economic support for other aspects of it. My students live in poor marginalized, multi generational homesteads. Donations and grants relieve expenses.
The garden gloves and plastic picnic tables in this project will support the`Aina Aloha place-based pedagogy. The gloves are needed to plant, harvest and contribute to dirty work. The portable picnic tables are needed when reflecting, teaching propagation, staging supplies and cultural activities.
These donations potentially turn my classroom into a training ground for young farmers. The supplies offer me the flexibility to develop a konohiki (land management) pathway to fast track critically authentic aina aloha curriculum to empower possible excitement and interest in certifications that can lead to high school certifications in organic farming. Or, prepare students to become licensed farmers before leaving high school. These are unrealized learning and growth areas that offer students a sense of Hawai`i.
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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 Mrs. Akim Hanohano and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
