Kindergarten Scientists Grow Seedlings, Expand Our Garden, and Cultivate Worms!
My students need hands-on experiences in growing seedlings in our classroom, cultivating larger plants in our school garden and using a new worm compost system to learn more about how these animals help us.
$555 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
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 are a lively group of scholars who are excited about STEM learning and who enjoy the benefit of a full day Kindergarten program in beautiful San Juan Capistrano. We cultivate a classroom of shared discovery and work on ways that we can help one another to grow in reading, math, and science.
We are motivated, excited, active scientists who love to explore the world around us, especially when it comes to plants and animals we can find in our school and garden area.
We are the caretakers to our school's main garden (which we affectionately call the Secret Garden since it is located near the teacher's lounge and we need to walk out the front door of the school with our teacher in order to get to it), and we have spent many hours there observing (and tasting) plants, looking for insects, and observing the changes in the garden as the seasons pass.
My Project
My students love to spend time outside looking at plants and learning about worms. I want to combine these interests and use our classroom as a laboratory for seedlings, allow the kids to transplant the seeds into the garden, and then watch the cycle continue as we learn about decomposition with the worms.
We will be able to use our STEM skills and knowledge to measure, classify, sort, and learn more as we grow our seedlings, harvest them, and understand how worms help us with our new composting bin.
We will use a Grow Light indoor lighting system and organic herb and vegetable seeds to start our seedlings out in our classroom, and we will make careful daily measurements of their growth. As our plants get bigger, we will transplant our seedlings to two sets of stacked strawberry planter pots and watch them continue to grow and measure them until we have our harvest and eat what we've grown. We will supplement this unit of study by learning about worms as we set up our worm composting bin and use our scraps to feed and grow our worm population. The best aspect of this project is that we can begin the process again with our seeds and continue to expand our school garden as well as our worm composting.
This project supports our science, math, and reading standards in a fun and exciting way that will engage every child in my classroom. My students will have hands-on experience with plants and worms and they will be able to increase our science (and nutrition) knowledge as we grow our own crops. We will also see the importance of decomposition in the life cycle as we watch our worms break down our food to create compost for our garden.
Worm Factory 360 Worm Composting Bin + Bonus "What Can Red Wigglers Eat?" Infographic Refrigerator Magnet (Green) - Vermicomposting Container System - Live Worm Farm Starter Kit for Kids & Adults
• Amazon Business
$129.95
1
$129.95
SunBlaster SBL1600200 Grow Light Garden
• Amazon Business
$128.98
1
$128.98
Mr. Stacky 5-Tier Strawberry Planter Pot, 5 Pots
• Amazon Business
$33.63
2
$67.26
Espoma SS8 8-Quart Organic Seed Starter
• Amazon Business
$12.70
2
$25.40
ASOON 4 Pack 7 Gallon Grow Bag,Garden Potato Plant Bag with Handles and Access Flap for Potato, Carrot & Onion (4 Pack)
• Amazon Business
$22.99
1
$22.99
10 Variety, 2,700+ Heirloom Seeds, Culinary Herb Seed Collection - 100% NON GMO Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Lavender, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme Herb Seeds by Sustainable Seed
• Amazon Business
$13.99
1
$13.99
9GreenBox - Seedling Starter Trays, 144 Cells: (24 Trays; 6-cells Per Tray), Plus 5 Plant Labels
• Amazon Business
$6.95
1
$6.95
Nelson 50381 Premium O-Ring Style Hose Washers
• Amazon Business
$2.97
1
$2.97
Materials cost
$398.49
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$36.46
3rd party payment processing fee
$5.98
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$470.93
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$83.11
Total project goal
$554.04
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$554.04
10 Donors
-$183.21
Donations toward project cost
-$159.48
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
-$23.73
match offer
-$366.41
Match offer toward project cost
-$311.45
Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
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 Mr. Ridgway and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
