My students need a class set of bug-viewer jars along with various observation tools including a zoom scope microscope, a magnification station, and plastic bugs.
"You never know what you will find crawling around in my class!” The 22 kindergarten students in my classroom, all from various ethnic backgrounds and ability levels, will tell you that I love to teach science. There is something so fun about diving in and getting your hands dirty with learning! My class is always learning something new about the world around us and there is nothing more exciting to their eager little minds than to see creepy, crawly bugs growing in our room!
Most people think that teaching Science to Kindergarten students is a tough task because they can't just read a book to find out information. But what I believe is that these children learn best through hands-on meaningful experiences. Last year, I started teaching my students about the life cycles of various insects, including mealworms. After getting a huge amount of these bugs donated to my class, I have since started using them for other content areas like math and literacy. You would not believe the excitement that the kids have when I tell them we are going to be counting bugs in a jar. Also, I teach them the various words associated with the lifecycles, which I have found is expanding their vocabulary!
A child's natural instinct is to pick up objects and explore them in order to learn. Obviously, I can’t just let the bugs roam around the room, so I would love to have a class-set of bug viewer jars. Each student could then observe his or her own set of critters. To extend that curiosity, my students also need creative and exciting tools to use. Most of the children in my classroom don't have many opportunities to use a magnifying glass, especially in the form of technology. I would love to have a zoom-scope that could allow the students to display the magnified bugs up on our television and a magnification station for our science center. With the visual aide of plastic bugs and other materials, the students could also develop their vocabulary, sort and classify, and do other learning activities.
It is my responsibility to give the students in my classroom the best possible opportunities to learn about and explore the world around them. With your help, the students will have many hands-on opportunities to do just that. Your generosity could make the difference and give these 5 year-olds a love and excitement for science!
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