We never know what to expect of home lives and past experiences when our students join us each year in kindergarten. However we HAVE found that many students lack the basic skills we expect from a 5 or 6 year old.
When provided with a challenging task, many of our students tend to just complain, ask for help, or give up because this is what they're used to doing before formal schooling experience.
As early childhood educators, we want them to persevere through the hard times... and be excited to fail!
We focus so much on our students stamina each day in reading, math, writing, science, etc. Our students typically respond to us that all a mistake does is help us grow our brains!
Despite coming in from varying degrees of independence at home, we would love for all of our students leave kindergarten with a growth mindset and more perseverance for hard tasks.
My Project
All students love the opportunity to watch something they've created come to life! (Meanwhile teaching them problem solving skills, perseverance, speaking and listening skills, and so much more!
Students will have the opportunity to fail, learn from their mistakes, and try again- all while having fun!
Students will first set up a maze, and then program a robotic mouse to go through the maze to reach the cheese! This activity can be used as an independent extension activity, or a team-building partner activity.
Each time a student "fails" to program the robotic mouse correctly, immediate feedback is provided which allows them to fix their errors and try again! Perseverance during difficult times is something we try to teach in kindergarten all the time- this is the perfect activity to practice not giving up!
These robotic mice sets will get so much love from students and teachers alike as they travel around our 10 kindergarten classrooms!
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Cappello and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
