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'm teaching in a storage room. While the students find this hilarious and the staff giggle, making a storage room into a science lab has created a unique set of challenges. But in teaching, "challenges" are par for the course; teachers are expert problem-solvers. We know how to #MakeItWork!
My public school students are a diversely beautiful and eclectic slice of the pie.
According to this year's data, our student body of 900 plus, pre-k to fourth grade students, are comprised of 1/3 African and African-American, 1/3 Hispanic, and 1/3 Pacific and Southeast Asian students. We learn so much about cultures and languages from each other: food, traditions, holidays. In our district alone, over 70 languages are spoken. Roughly 88% of our students receive free lunch, and just as turning a storage room into a science lab presents unique challenges, our students often face more challenges on a daily basis than we teachers can even imagine. But if there's one thing I've learned in my ten years of working on my campus, it's that children are resilient little sponges, eager to soak up new lessons and learning, no matter their background or socioeconomic status.
My Project
The magic of science is that it can be done anywhere, with relatively simple tools. As we expand our focus on STEM learning, we are pushing students to use their notebooks as tools for learning, just as scientists like Edison have done for centuries.
Keeping time in a lab is a tricky thing. The giant clock will help us start and stop our investigations on time, and pace our lessons so we have time to make the lab ready for the next group. The small refrigerator will help with showing students how matter can change states; no longer will the Jell-O or ice I bring from home be a melted mess by noon. Finally, our current microwave is from 1990 and it takes 8 minutes to half-scorch a bag of popcorn to show changes in matter, or to test water temperatures with thermometers. These tools are standard issues in most Science Labs, and these new items would greatly help us take our former closet into a 21st Century work space.
I will do everything in my power to make sure my students get the excellent, scientific education they deserve.
I can #MakeItWork but the "it" would be infinitely easier with your support of our project. You have the power to feed my students' hunger for knowledge by supporting my classroom with a fabulous lesson in philanthropy. I would be forever grateful for the help!
Thank you for reading our proposal and supporting classrooms just like mine through the fabulous DonorsChoose.org.
Nearly all 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
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 Mrs. Milianta-Laffin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
