My students need a set of tangible geometric figures for our upcoming unit on surface area and volume, as well as a pull-down grid for making large, clear graphs.
Can you imagine learning geometry without ever touching a cube, sphere, or prism? At our school, where poverty is high and resources low, that is precisely what our students face. Help us get the hands-on materials and visual aids we need to make our instruction have a lasting impact!
My middle school students are 65 Navajo children who come from an area of very high poverty.
The median family income for our community is $12,569, and the district we are a part of faces similar financial challenges. Despite my students' many social and economic adversities, they eagerly want to learn and crave the resources that other students around the country have the opportunity to enjoy. Already this year I have seen such amazing progress in the classroom, marked by a tenacious hunger for knowledge, opportunity, and success. There is no doubt that my students are strong individuals who have the will to work hard towards any goal that they believe in.
My Project
The resources I am requesting are sure to have a lasting impact upon the learning experience of our students. As of right now, we do not have any tangible 3D shapes for our upcoming unit on geometry. At this age in development, it is imperative that students have hands-on experience with geometric concepts, and both the Folding GeoShapes and Power Solids are ideal tools for addressing this issue. While using them, students will have the opportunity to actively explore properties relating to 3D figures -- How many edges does a cube have?, What would a cylinder look like if it was laid out flat?, Could more water fit in a sphere or a right circular cone of equal diameter? -- something that is difficult to do from simply looking at a drawing on a board.
In addition, constructing accurate graphs in front of the class has been a difficult task due to a lack of projectors. With the Write-and-Wipe Graph Chart, time can easily be saved and instructional quality greatly improved.
The benefits that these supplies offer cannot be measured.
Geometry simply can't be taught with pen and paper alone, and we are a class that is hungry for tools that can make it compelling, interactive, and more than anything, exciting. These resources will help us to be brighter scholars today, and better leaders tomorrow. In light of our struggles our goals remain ambitious, please help us to achieve them!
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