This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Remember reading the science text, memorizing facts and taking a test. Yuk! Professor Isaac Asimov believes that if science is introduced to children poorly, they can develop a lifelong antipathy and that would be worse than never teaching science at all. I want my students excited about science!
I teach in a high poverty urban school setting.
I am the inclusion classroom and my students have a vast range of academic abilities. My students gain more from being able to provide them with engaging, hands on learning activities and experiments, where they can make observations, develop hypothesizes, summarize findings and draw conclusions, rather than strictly reading and writing tasks.
My Project
The areas of Life and Physical Sciences are a large part of the first grade science curriculum. I am requesting resources such as the Science Discovery Chest, Real Bugs Discovery Kit and GeoSafari Talking Telescope with Viewfinder, which will expose my students to science concepts in a motivating, positive manner that will spark their curiosity and desire to want to learn more. They will learn how to read and follow steps to do science experiments, generate and test hypothesis, summarize findings and report out based on facts obtained.. My students will utilize higher order thinking skills and improve communication and socialization skills through cooperative learning activities and group discussions. They will be able to compose opinion, fact, and sequential pieces on the experiments and activities that they perform. Another great fact about these resources is that they can be used repeatedly and for many other science investigations other than those that are provided with them.
My students need exposure to new, engaging learning experiences that will encourage them to become lifelong learners and develop future goals.
Some are not given many opportunities outside of school to do so. It is my job to provide them with as much hands on, positive learning experiences in science and in all other content areas. This is the way that my students, and myself, learn best-by being able to actually "do", rather than read and memorize facts.
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 Mrs. Gaskins and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
