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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Cushing from Los Angeles, CA is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Cushing is requesting

Families Design Mini Landfills in a Chemistry Classroom

My students need various materials such as garbage cans, faucets, soil, plexiglass and gloves to create 6 mini-class landfills to study and report the effects of their families' garbage on groundwater contamination.

FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Cushing's classroom raised $988

This project is fully funded

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

I teach Chemistry to a diverse group of artistic students at a Title I visual and performing arts school in downtown Los Angeles. Students come to our school from all over the city to our public high school to receive a top notch education in both academics and their chosen art form (music, dance, visual or theater) and go on to study at some of the top academic colleges and art schools across the country. When my students start reading about all of the chemicals they come into contact with everyday, they are surprised, curious, and eager to learn more! In my Chemistry class, I am always looking for ways to engage and excite the students.

The mystery of safe drinking water has my low-income families thinking they have to spend serious money to buy bottled water, so they have water that is safe to drink but that is not always the case.

My goal through this landfill project and our unit on Water Quality is for students and their families to be able to read a water report and determine if their water is safe to drink.

My Project

In this student-parent project, families will research where our community garbage goes and how our contaminated water is treated with the ultimate goal of being able to read the city’s water report that is mailed to my students’ homes every July. First, students will research where our city and school garbage is disposed of and the set-up of a landfill to minimize contaminated water runoff.

Students will work with their families to locate and call or visit the city waste management program and the local water treatment facility to interview employees on class-generated questions.

From this research, each class will design a mini-landfill and bring in their families’ garbage to add to the landfill. We will cut a segment of the trash can out and replace with the plexiglass so students' have a window to watch the garbage breakdown over the month-long project. The faucet will be installed in the bottom of the can to remove the water leachate (runoff) and we will use the testing kits to determine what contaminants are present and in what amount. This real-life connection will allow students to see the purpose of our Chemistry lessons related to parts per million, molarity, and ways to separate solutions.

Students will use this Chemistry knowledge to show their families how to read their water report and will create art-related community outreach, such as a PSA commercial, newspaper article, web page or original piece of artwork to engage families and communities at our spring art show. Not only is water quality an issue to my families, but the community as a whole.

We live in a state that is experiencing significant drought, and water quality and treatment is a cause that will affect students and their families for generations to come.

Ms. Cushing Cortines School - Vpa Grades 9-12

Equity Focus

This project directly supports students at a historically underfunded school. Learn more about our Equity Focus.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Los Angeles, CA View local requests

More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

160 students impacted 13donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Toter 025532-R1GRS Residential Heavy Duty 2-Wheeled Trash Can with Attached Lid, 32-Gallon, Greenstone • Amazon Business $61.83 6 $370.98
Watersafe WS425W Well Water Test Kit • Amazon Business $21.51 6 $129.06
Online Plastic Supply Acrylic Plexiglass Sheet .100" x 24" x 48" - Clear • Amazon Business $33.92 3 $101.76
FoxFarm FX14053 12-Quart Ocean Forest Organic Potting Soil • Amazon Business $17.95 4 $71.80
Tomlinson 1018851 Plastic Faucet, Blue • Amazon Business $5.00 6 $30.00
Wire Gauze Steel 16 Mesh-4X4In� • Sargent-Welch $2.12 6 $12.72
Clean Ones Disposable HDPE Poly Gloves, One Size Fits All - 500ct • Amazon Business $8.09 1 $8.09
SCIGRIP 16 10315 Acrylic Cement, Low-VOC, Medium bodied, 5 Ounce Tube, Clear • Amazon Business $6.77 1 $6.77

Materials cost

$731.18

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $66.90

3rd party payment processing fee

$10.97

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$839.05

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$148.07

Total project goal

$987.12

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $987.12

11 Donors

-$485.76

Donations toward project cost

-$434.65

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$51.11

match offer

-$475.76

Match offer toward project cost

-$404.40

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$71.36

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$25.59

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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. Cushing and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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