My students need educational supplies (ant farms, learning center, magnifying glasses) to aide in learning about insects and their purpose in our world.
I am a current second grade teacher in a city school district with students that have goals in academics, however have limited resources in grasping them. Families in our community typically struggle to make ends meet. Seventy-nine percent of our students receive free and reduced breakfast and lunch plans daily, which is configured based on income.
In the past years, I have worked with many students coming from environments of lower socio-economic status which is often due to limited prior knowledge and accessibility to resources.
These students struggle with learning the way other students in the classroom may learn. Visual and hands on materials can assist in academic improvement and in forming connections. The use of videos can also encourage the building of vocabulary and about topics they have limited knowledge about due to not having opportunities to experience them.
Along with students of a lower socio-economic environments, I also work regularly with students of increased academic needs. These students can be on specialized plans that are set to meet their academic needs (IEP's) These students usually require special needs and with that, many times the information taught in the classroom needs to be introduced differently.
My Project
The excitement my students have for science cannot be expressed enough! I try to teach science four days a week, which enables me time to meet all of our standards that are required in second grade. With these activities, I try to make learning as fun and interesting as possible.
Days of instruction using a textbook only are gone and new age learning through the use of hands on materials and creative thinking are taking over.
With the use of Ant Farms and students placed in learning groups, these children can join in the entire process of setting up their own habitats, to placing the ants in themselves, and even monitoring their farms on a daily basis to observe behaviors. This allows for the exploration of the standard for science engaging students in the thinking process of how insects and/or animals change our environment.
We discuss the use of incorporation of the STEM process with projects as well in my school, therefore while students complete activities with these farms, they can incorporate and record accurate measurements of things such as the sand to place in the farms as well as measuring the length of tunnels created by the insect. This process allows independent investigations while allowing them multiple examples of the process created by various groups. This will also allow them to compare and contrast habitats of this insect.
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