"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Without teachers to provide students with other glimpses of what life is like outside their homes, some will never know the opportunities that can await them. I teach life to my kids.
I love the joy and wonder they experience when we do science.
They range from challenged learners, students with language barriers, high achieving students and the most often, underrepresented, average learners. I realize test scores are important but if students do not enjoy what they are doing, they will not learn. It is my responsibility to maintain the natural curiosity students have about science and the world around them and turn that into a desire to learn and create change. We are a Title 1 school with 86% poverty rate. We are culturally diverse with 39% Hispanic, 23% African American, 29% Caucasian, and the remaining 9% students are Asian. Many of these students are minorities and come from backgrounds where education has not been a priority. I have two goals: to instill in them a passion to learn and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to help them realize that these careers are not out of reach.
My Project
My students and I have been working on a few months long project about healthy lifestyles. This started from curiosity about which snacks were healthy and has taken on a whole new life in itself. We would like a Fitbit to share and track the students steps in a school day and then compare it to when they home. The students are going to take turns wearing the Fitbit each day and we will track their progress each day per student. We will have a competition who registers the most steps, chart them and analyze the results.
Many students from low income families tend to have poor nutritional habits.
It is important to teach them good health habits from nutrition to exercise. The students have already learned about poor nutrition from the foods they should eat. We are now focusing on movement and energy and how this affects their bodies. I have been working with our PE department to promote healthy lifestyles and they have incorporated that into their curriculum and snack sales.
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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. Zelden and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
