My students need laser pointers, a predator and food chain game, petri dishes, two types of rock study kits, prisms, earth cross-section model, modeling clay, and test tubes.
Light is all around us every day. But, the properties of light and what's inside the Earth, can be a hard concepts for students to understand. Students need to be able to manipulate light and actually touch and handle samples of the earth in order to gain a complete understanding.
I have approximately 40 fifth grade students who are eager and excited about conducting meaningful lab experiments and learning about the properties of light and the earth.
Hands-on lab activities enhance the learning for all students, resources as well as gifted students. My students have a variety of background experiences. Many of them come from rural low income households. This is the first year that my students have had a dedicated class period for science each day. Our school is a small rural public school with approximately 550 students K-12.
My Project
My students will use the prisms to see how light can be separated into the different colors of the light spectrum. The laser pointers will be used to study reflection, refraction, and the fact that light travels in straight lines. The predator/food chain bingo game will allow them to have fun way exploring interactions in ecosystems. The students will use the petri dishes and test tubes for collecting and analyzing soil samples using test kits that I already have in my room. The cross section of the earth will serve as an example for students to handle as they use the modeling clay to make 3D models showing the different layers of the earth along with geologic features found on the Earth's surface. The rock study kits will be used by the students to analyze different types of rocks, comparing and contrasting their physical properties. The glow rock kit will give the students the ability to study the unusual property of fluorescence that some types of minerals found in rocks posses.
By funding this project, you will be able to give my students the opportunity to get out of the textbook and into the world of hands-on exploration.
The materials will give my students the opportunity to design and conduct meaningful explorations analyzing properties of light, and the different properties of rocks, minerals, and Earth's layers. The supplies you help purchase will enable all of my students to gain the most from their hands-on experiences while they have fun as they are learning.
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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 Mr. Rose and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
