Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten is a very memorable year for families. It can be difficult for families to let go of their little ones and trust them to their first teacher for a full day of learning and playing with classmates. Consequently, families here are quite involved in their children's education and want to make sure they are in good hands. Many are willing to dedicate their time to volunteer in the classroom and in our school. Those who cannot volunteer often help in other ways.
My school is located in a close-knit community with many families who work at the docks and others who serve our country in the Air Force, Army, and Coast Guard.
I have had numerous children over the years with a parent deployed abroad for many months at a time. It has been difficult for them to continue to study and live without a loved one.
Most of my students come from middle-income families with some who have a stay-at-home mom. Yet, since my school is not a Title I school due to the income level of the families, we get very little funding which barely covers the cost of basic school supplies.
My Project
Since the adoption of the new Next Generation Science Standards, our school has not received any science materials to help meet these new rigorous standards. Students are expected to engage in project-based learning and engineering practices such as outlined in the standards. Without the materials necessary to construct models and conduct experiments with these new added areas, it is virtually impossible to meet these new standards. One disciplinary core idea we as kindergarten teachers are expected to teach is in the area of motion and stability: forces and interactions. This is a new area that was not included in our now obsolete science standards. Materials to teach about pushing and pulling to meet this area can be quite costly. I am anticipating that we will one day receive new science kits to meet these new standards. But this has not been mentioned as likely to happen anywhere in the near future for this school year. Therefore, in an effort to meet as many of these new standards as I possibly can with the limited science resources I already have, I am requesting a Ball Tilt and Sidewinder Set. This set will help with the core area of motion and stability. Even though I will not have a teacher's guide or a complete program, I can and will take the time to create a curriculum using the ball tilt and sidewinder set to get my kids engaged in engineering projects to build structures to experiment with force and gravity.
I can already see the excitement in my students' eyes when they will have the chance to "play" with this set.
For them, it will be a tremendous amount of fun building ramps and an obstacle course for their marble run. For me, it will be a tremendous amount of joy to know that while they are "playing," 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 Mrs. Duvnjak and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
