My students need 4 waders and 20 goggles to safely continue monitoring a local creek, collect macroinvertebrates, and using chemistry to assess and report on water quality with help from Disney.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Eick's classroom raised $1,044
This project is fully funded
My Students
Most kids today spend hours inside. I want to inspire my kids to get outdoors. I want them to know they can make a difference. I tell my students this everyday. I want to inspire kids to study and protect local aquatic habitat. So I created the Cheyenne Creek Conservation Club for them.
Our outdoor science club, an extension of our school and my classroom, and a part of River Watch of Colorado, has been operating with teams of fifth and sixth grade volunteers for 17 years.
Our Title I neighborhood school population includes 30% of families who identify themselves as minorities, and 40% who qualify for federal free and reduced price lunch programs.
Cheyenne Creek Conservation Club is open each fall by application to 24 student volunteers. Students commit to twice a month meetings and year round monitoring of the local watershed. As part of River Watch, students have been scientifically monitoring Cheyenne Creek for 17 years. Although this creek is one of several small natural waterways located on the west side of Colorado Springs, it is the only one that flows year round, right past our local preschool.
This is real people, doing real science, for a real purpose. My students really connect with the outdoors, and with science, when they have the opportunity to do it for real.
My Project
The four new sets of waders and goggles will replace our aging stock, most of which are leaking or worn out. This will allow more students to safely access the creek water we are studying and reporting on. The goggles will allow students greater safety when working with our titration equipment and chemicals.
My students gain so much from the hands-on science experiences I can provide in Cheyenne Creek.
The replacement of leaky waders will be encouraging, and will be something they have asked for the past year or more. Based on students comments from previous years, many of these students will go on to pursue science classes in junior high, high school, and college. Several previous club members have contacted me to let me know they are studying science due to their early experiences in the club.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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