Do you remember what it was like when you did hands-on science at school? The excitement, the questions, the interest? My students also want the same experiences, but since it's not tested, its not funded by the schools. Help change this and share the excitement of science!
My school is a high-poverty, Title 1 school that is overcrowded and underfunded.
Our 40% mobility rate is typical of high-poverty schools. Many of my students struggle with interest in learning, mostly due to struggles just to find food, housing, and stability at home. Over 50% of my students leave the classroom throughout the day to receive support to learn English, speech and communication support, and receive our Learning Center Resource Room support. They get double doses of reading, but very little in the area of science. The national and state directives to raise math and reading testing scores, causes science to be rarely taught and severely underfunded, if funded at all.
My students are hungry for scientific experiences. I am highly trained in science and have brought in my own science materials, but this time the expense is beyond what I can personally pay.
My Project
Did you know owls eat their prey whole? They can’t digest bones and therefore regurgitate them in pellets. Did you know that students eat up science and are inspired to learn??
Students dissect the pellets and build skeletons to investigate the food chain and web in which owls live. By discovering each skeletal bone, students carefully investigate, compare, and analyze their findings. My 4th grade students need to experience hands-on scientific laboratory learning activities. They need opportunities to understand our complex ecosystem and food webs by investigating the owl pellets and connecting their findings to what what is known about food webs and food chains.
They will have tangible evidence right before their eyes. This is something they will have investigated and analyzed. They will see that owls need a wide variety of prey in order to survive. From this experience students will build a firm foundation on the inter-connective elements of a complex food chain and food web.
In today's testing culture, science funding has been cut out of the elementary classroom.
Help bring it back by supporting our owl pellet investigation. Inspire students by bringing science to their fingertips. We need students to be interested in science and that interest needs to start when they are young!
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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. LaMar and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.