The cost of the Planet Frog Live Frog Habitat Kit, Giant Ant Farm, and Bug Jug from Delta Education, and the Butterfly Garden kit from Sargent Welch is $165, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a second year teacher at the Manhattan Occupational Training Center (MOTC) in New York City. MOTC is a special education high school that services students afflicted with low to moderate mental retardation, cognitive and learning disabilities, emotional disturbances and Down Syndrome to name a few. I teach Science to five separate classes made up of 50 bilingual students ranging in age from 15 to 21.
My main responsibility is to provide my students with functional knowledge about scientific concepts about the world around them. It is our hope that such knowledge can then be applied to their daily lives, thereby facilitating their integration into society upon graduation. Many of my students would be unable to live on their own, so any information I can provide becomes critical for their well being and survival.
At present we are immersed in a unit about the plant and animal kingdoms that focuses on similarities and differences between species, as well as behavior, adaptations and interaction with humans.
This proposal is for several live kits that would allow me to bring part of the animal world into my classroom. Because of their various disabilities, my students learn best when they can actually see, touch and feel the concepts they are studying. I recently found out that I can acquire live kits for butterflies, ants, frogs and worms, which would allow my students to observe these animals in their natural habitat. In addition, the students would be required to care for the animals, chart their daily growth, and eventually release them into the outside world. These kits would be an invaluable teaching tool which would add an element of reality to my lessons. As an added bonus, my students would learn a valuable lesson about caring for other living things.
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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 Mr. F. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.