My students need material to create biology models to meet new state science standards. They need clay, tools, paint and reference sheets to make the models.
$905 goal
This project expired on August 6, 2016.
This project expired on August 6, 2016.
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
A typical day in the classroom begins with a check in group. Here everyone can share how there night was and what the expect the day to be. The students are challenged by passing high stakes exit exams that they need to pass to earn a high school diploma. They take two classes in each subject.
All of my students have been diagnosed with an emotional disability.
Additionally, eight students also have a cognitive impairment. To attend our school a child must have been hospitalized at least once. We have regular visits by probation officers because many of the students are court involved. Even though they are in high school the average reading level is 4th grade with some of the cognitively impaired students not being able to read at all.
Even though most students speak English as a Second Language, they often have to translate for their caretakers. The students are quite familiar with extreme poverty. The students' disabilities affect their ability to learn and cope with their feelings. The students require both academic and emotional support each day so that they can achieve their goal of earning enough credits to graduate from high school. Despite all of this, I find many of my students have an excellent sense of humor and a great work ethic.
My Project
The students are all to familiar with textbooks and looking at two dimensional diagrams and pictures. It is time to move on. This project allows the students to intertwine scientific knowledge with creativity. It will "Empower Students Through Art" as they create models of science concepts while lessening their daily tensions as they work the clay. Clay can be therapeutic and most of our students are tactile learners. They will be better able to learn body systems by creating a model of the circulatory system or the respiratory systems.
They can paint their models to show the exchanges of gases. They will be able to show a fossil by using the clay to represent both an organism like a stromatolite and the surrounding sedimentary rock. With the modeling tools they will be able to tone their fine motor skills as they add details. These models will be able to provide the students a permanent art model of what they have learned.
Students with emotional disabilities learn differently.
With materials in this project, students will have another way to learn science. The models can be student driven and allow the students to show their creativity. Students will have an opportunity to knead, pull, punch and roll the clay as a way to relieve stress. The project benefits the students threefold: it helps them learn science, gives them an opportunity to engage in art and reduces their stress and agitation.
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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 Ms. Parino and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
