My students need origami paper to make cranes with their pen pals from Hiroshima, Japan and a digital camera and memory card to record the project and take pictures.
I would like my students to become well-rounded global citizens and be able to understand and respect another culture, in addition to learning the language.
It's difficult to describe my students in a few sentences because they are all so different and bring a variety of personalities into the classroom.
They are multicultural and come from diverse backgrounds but what they have in common is an interest in Japan and the Japanese language and culture. They are curious about what life is like in Japan and are eager to learn more. I am happy when they ask questions in class and I wish I could take them all to Japan so they can have a first-hand experience. Our school is not very big, but we have close relationships with the community and with our sister school in Japan.
My Project
My students are currently studying about the history of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima and reading the story of Sadako Sasaki in Japanese. I would like them to learn how to fold origami cranes and teach their classmates how to fold it so that when our sister school comes to visit, they can all work together and fold 1000 cranes to offer to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The digital camera will be to record all these events and when we take our trip to Japan in the summer, I would like to use it to take pictures and videos of the Memorial, the trip, and our visit to the sister school to show the students that are not able to go to Japan.
I hope this project will open the students' mind to see things from other people's perspectives and become compassionate, caring, contributing global citizens.
It will improve my classroom because these students will grow closer and also be appreciative of all they have. World peace is still a long ways away but my students will learn about the meaning of hope through the folding of the cranes and this will inspire them to promote peace within their everyday lives.
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. Uchida and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.