My students need new gardening tools and art materials for beautifying our growing school garden. Food and garden-themed books will broaden and deepen their learning.
$741 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
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.
In my enrichment class for gifted elementary students, I have the joy of following my students wherever their interests lead us. Last year, we began a small vegetable garden in our courtyard. This year, many more teachers and students are helping us to build on that success.
I teach bright, creative, curious children from 1st through 5th grades at a Title I school in New Mexico.
Our school has a high mobility rate and serves 100% free breakfast and lunch. We are a bilingual English and Spanish school, with a large number of students speaking other languages in their homes. Our diverse population is united by many programs and services offered at our vibrant Community School.
Our teachers are also committed to providing inquiry-based learning opportunities for our kids. Our neighborhood is urban, with very little parkland, and many of our families live in apartments without yard space. We know that a school garden is a natural way to bridge our community and inquiry goals.
Students in my class are all identified as gifted, but they do not all achieve above grade level in academics. We use our hours together to go beyond minimum standards and discover the pleasure of wondering about something, asking questions, and searching for answers.
My Project
My students return to me for enrichment classes throughout their elementary years. Last year, thanks to a DonorsChoose grant, our class cared for worms, built garden beds, and raised vegetables and plants from seeds. The next phase of our project is to expand the space (with help from schoolmates) and design a garden that will be attractive to humans and pollinators alike -- because a beautiful garden is much more than a bed of flowers.
As we work in our garden, my students become freshly aware of the natural world. The supplies we're requesting will help them to "get in close" -- bug catchers and magnifiers so we can inspect our smallest visitors, and materials for creating mosaic butterfly feeders, stepping stones, houses for solitary bees, and a weather station. The books we're including address nutrition, the cultural importance of food, and our connections to each other and the planet.
Finally, we need a few new tools and gloves. We have work to do!
Thank you for your kindness.
Your donation will allow me to offer experiences my students do not get anywhere else, and they will share their finished project with our entire community! They are learning that small actions -- growing a tomato, feeding a bird, supporting the work of others (as our donors do for us) -- can make a very big difference.
Thanks to Teach for the Planet, a generous grant for environmental science projects, our project is eligible for matching funds! Thank you!
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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. Dimkoff and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
