Learning, Collaboration, and Problem Solving with Osmo Genius Kits.
My students need Osmo Genius kits to provide more opportunities to be creative in learning while completing STEM projects during their math and ela workstation times.
I work at a Title I elementary school where all students receive free breakfast and lunch because poverty rates are so high. My students come from backgrounds that I will never understand as much as I would like to. They come to school everyday with the want, need, and desire to succeed, but their desire to learn is often halted from the baggage and barriers they bring from home each day. However their creativity and problem solving skills amaze me on a regular basis.
Each of my students come from diverse backgrounds, and some ave very difficult lives at home, but we are a family in the classroom and work together every single day.
My students are warriors- they're intelligent, they're kind, they're funny, they care a lot, they brighten my day and make me a better teacher, person and friend, and they are college bound!
My Project
Osmo is fun and engaging way for students to learn all kinds of skills. These Osmo Genius Kits will create new opportunities for my first graders to work collaboratively with their peers on their learning and social skills during workstations. We spend a good chunk of our day in small groups and stations and the students get very excited when they are able to use technology during these times. This technology will align with our new Computer Science and Digital Literacy Standards and will help prepare my students to be college and career ready, one of the ultimate goals in education. Having access to this STEM tool will also give them the opportunity to be on the same playing field as students who do not face the challenges they have coming from a high poverty background.
While the kits will be new to me, I have many ideas for them in our daily routines.
For students who may arrive to school and finish breakfast on time, they will be able to access these kits for extra spelling and math practice. During our literacy workstations, students may work together to practice letter sounds, spelling, reading, and vocabulary skills. In math stations, students will have access to the kits to practice tangrams which give them practice with shapes and positions. They will also be able to practice number sense giving them extra confidence in computational skills. With the Pizza Co. Game the students will be able to practice counting money and giving change to customers, making learning money more fun and concrete than just memorizing coin values.
This is also going to give them additional opportunities to be collaborative with their peers and to show off their problem solving skills. I cannot wait to see them in action with these kits!
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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 Mrs. Hatfield and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
