My class is full of diverse students from all walks of life. I have mostly BOYS this year (21 out of 28). Most of my students live in either apartments or mobile homes in the nearby area. Being a Title One school, many of my friends came to school without supplies or even a backpack, but we made sure they had what they needed, including a good breakfast and lunch every day.
The future is in my classroom and we are ready to jump, head-first, into high-quality learning opportunities.
Each student is capable of learning so much more if they can put their heads together and use their hands!
My Project
At the beginning of the year, my students were introduced to household materials to create projects just using their critical thinking skills.
It is time to replenish some of those STEM materials!
The imagination of my students has inspired me and several of my colleagues to expand the STEM projects into next school year! My students are ASKING to "make something" to solve everyday problems like pencil holders and book organizers. We use the construction paper to create wind socks to measure the wind and create a "new" bed for Goldilocks! Pom-poms and timers are used for Minute-to-Win-It team building games. Book bags have been used to carry supplies to share with our families and create a Home STEM project each month. White board markers are used to write out our STEM project plans so we can easily erase and make needed changes to our plans as we build them. We have an upcoming Fairy Tale Unit in which we plan to use our STEM projects to solve the problems in our stories: A way to get Rapunzel out of her tower, a boat that floats for the Billy Goats Gruff, a new shoe design for Cinderella, and the ideas continue!
Such hands-on projects have decreased behaviors, increased friendships, and test scores have sky-rocketed! My students are learning to attack their learning like they do with STEM projects, thinking outside the box with more than one way to solve a problem.
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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. Cunningham and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
