This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students are creative, resilient, humorous, charming and intelligent ninth graders at an urban public school. We are officially a Level 4, under-performing school which means a huge focus is on academics and raising test scores. We work hard to build students' basic skills while also incorporating fun, active and engaging ways to learn.
In my physics class, we do a lot of hands-on labs, investigations and projects, and then students record what they learned in interactive notebooks.
For example, we examined how sound waves travel through different materials, then designed and tested PVC "airplane cabins" to see how well layers of clay, rubber, cork, cloth or cotton balls can dampen sound waves from entering the cabin. Then we made foldable notebook pages showing the molecules in solids, liquids and gases and how sound waves move through vibrations in longitudinal waves.
We need supplies to make our physics notebooks stand out.
My Project
These supplies will allow us to begin the new year in September with freshly stocked supply baskets at each table, and to have spare notebooks on hand for students who aren't able to bring in their own.
With colored pencils, we can color code the parts of an atom, trace the paths in a parallel circuit and highlight key information like the direction arrows in vector addition.
We'll use tape to attach data tables, diagrams and vocabulary lists to the notebook pages and the large rubber bands to help hold the notebooks closed. Sharp scissors will let us easily cut apart example pictures showing kinetic and potential energy and cut the foldable paper doors so we can use our glossary pages like flashcards. The plastic baskets will help keep all these supplies organized at each table, and colored copy paper makes a huge difference to make important pages brighter and more interesting.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Ms. Eckels and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
