We are a large elementary school on the coast of Maine. Our students do not have a lot of the basic comforts that many of us take for granted; a stable home environment, warm clothes, and three meals a day. Many are raised in single parent households, depend on seasonal incomes relating to tourism and fishing, and they move around a lot. But like students everywhere, they are eager to learn and are grateful for the opportunities and stability that school provides for them.
Each day our students come to school, looking for something to feel good about, a way to be successful and engaged.
Some are passionate about reading, for others it might be math or science. Most all of them love to be creative. In the learning commons, I teach them about stories and authors, poetry and folklore, about how information is organized and how we access it. We learn about how we can take what we've found and put it all together in a mixture of words and text, images and artwork, to help our audience understand it and to make it our own.
My Project
We have been building a student resource of materials for stop motion and multimedia production. Past Donors Choose projects supplied us with buttons and small plastic characters that provide opportunities for stop motion exploration and storytelling. We would like to add another dimension to our "Creation Station" with clay.
When asked what they want to do in IT/Library classes this year, students overwhelmingly and enthusiastically requested time to make stop motion videos.
We have many science standards that require students to make models. Using clay creations and stop motion apps to show the life cycle of a butterfly or the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment is a powerful, engaging way for students to show what they know.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Tibbetts and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
