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
I am a teacher in a low income high poverty area at a Title I School. The students that I teach are from mainly single parent homes and many of them do not have a permanent address. Due to the low socioeconomic area all of the students at my school receive free lunch and breakfast.
My students live in an area of the city known for its high crime rate.
The students in my classroom face many challenges outside of school and I aim to give them an environment in which they can feel safe, learn, and just be kids. Unfortunately, many of my students have younger siblings that they have to help take care of and get little time to enjoy just being a kid. I cannot change their circumstances or control what happens outside of school but in school I can provide them with a fun and safe environment in which to learn and thrive.
My Project
My school has a unique program that focuses on STEM projects. My students are challenged with a problem to solve at the beginning of each new unit. They have to use problem solving skills such as, asking questions, making observations, planning a design, and building that design. They are encouraged to test their designs and to revise them when needed. These STEM Kits will give my students the opportunity to design and build using a different set of materials. It is a challenge for them to try and build something with only a picture to guide them but this is what they do with our loose parts and current classroom materials.
These new kits will help them to increase their skills in the area of building and design.
The classroom bins will help us to organize our current classroom materials so that the students will be able to access them easily. Right now materials are not as accessible to the students and require the teacher to put out selected materials for the students to use. I want to foster a sense of greater independence in my students by allowing them to select the materials that they want to use and manipulate. These bins will allow this to happen.
The clipboards will be used to make observations around the school grounds and within the classroom by giving my students the freedoms to get up and move around. Many of our problems require us to go outside and observe the things that we see, hear and touch. This is a challenge to do without the help of a class set of clipboards.
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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. O. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.