I am biased, but I teach the best students at the best school in the world. Our students face numerous challenges, but they still work their hardest to achieve their goals daily.
Our school is a K-8 school, considered high poverty by the state, with roughly 800 students who are largely special needs or have a parent serving in the military.
We have the second-highest population of special needs children, ESE children, and children who have one or both parents in the military in our district. We are a Title I school with minimal resources. Every teacher at our school works to provide our students with a first-class education while helping them to overcome the many obstacles in their lives.
Our students are in before and after school care due to one or both parents serving in the military and often deploying. Our students experience a transient life of homelessness, displacement, and adjusting to new environments, expectations, and education standards due to life in the military or poverty. I strive to help my students transition fluidly through these challenges and work hard to catch them up on the curriculum they've missed.
My Project
Rube Goldberg Machines are incredibly fun, challenging ways to improve creative thinking skills and forces in science. Students love watching and building them. I want to give my students the opportunity to build incredible Rube Goldberg Machines on a budget.
My students will be given the task to work in groups to create a wall roller coaster (Rube Goldberg Machine) using pieces from the wall roller coaster kits while staying within a budget.
To get the parts and pieces to make the roller coaster, students will be given a budget and a price sheet for the cost of each roller coaster part. Loops, steps, and tubes will cost more than straight pieces of track, so the more creative they get, the more expensive the track.
My students will get to flex their financial literacy muscles while learning to balance wants and needs in designing a machine. There will be additional opportunities to earn money beyond the standard budget by completing math tasks. This will allow my students to show off their math, science, and creative thinking skills.
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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. Yates and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
