Previously I have taught language arts, and my position is now that of a science teacher. As such, I have little accumulated in the way of supplies to work with when it comes to helping students to interact with these content areas. Our school has a very small budget , which makes providing supplies for science class difficult. Much of the equipment we have is either old and out-dated, or it simply does not exist.
Students in our school come from a wide array backgrounds.
Most do not have the luxury of time to stay up-to-date on what's going on in the world, which can make instruction difficult when they don't have adequate background knowledge. Many struggle with the basic skills of reading a full-length text, so motivating them can be a challenge. My classroom sees a large number of ELL and SPED students, in addition to general education students and those with gifted and talented needs. My students are willing to work when engagement is high, and the best way to engage them is through hands-on learning experience.
My Project
My students bring with them a wide range of skills. Daily in science class, some students finish very quickly with tasks and others can take a full class period to work. Those that can finish quickly have often already been exposed to the topics in class, but are required by the curriculum to review the content again. The difficulty is that often the early-finishers become bored.
Boredom can be a killer in a science room.
Some are bored enough to refuse to do the work because it's just review, causing their grades to drop. Other early finishers display behavior issues in the room, making it difficult for their classmates to focus and complete work.
The STEAM kit by littleBits that I am requesting would be used to help those early finishers have an engaging task to complete, something that they can be proud of in addition to their completed work and grades. This gives those students a chance to display their intelligence to our school community as well.
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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. Robinson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.