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Mr. Betesh from Danbury CT is requesting classroom basics through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

Travel the Silk Road

Help me give my students paper, calculators, paper lanterns, and other decorative items, and supplies.

  • $410 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate 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.

My Students

I teach in an urban public school with over 1,000 students. The students in our school come from very diverse backgrounds and cultures. There are over 15 different languages spoken in the homes of our students, including Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer, and Vietnamese. Over 60% of our students’ homes do not speak English as their primary language and 25% of our student population receives ESL services.

Our middle school is classified as a Title I school and over 80% of our students receive free or reduced-price lunch.

Our school is part of the District Reference Group "H," which is the second-lowest socioeconomic level a school can be placed in. Despite these economic barriers, our students strive for academic achievement. Our school community promotes our unique diversity and encourages students to reach their maximum learning potential.

My Project

To enhance our students’ social studies experience, we turned our ancient China/India unit into an interactive Silk Road simulation. Students were placed in caravans with a goal of acquiring as much value as possible. Students could acquire resources in 4 ways: rolling daily dice, trading with classmates, purchasing from the Teacher Market, and working hard in class. We created about 100 different positive and negative items/cards including: common cards (silk, spices), special cards (3x the value), golden cards (extremely rare), and negative cards (bandit attacks, dehydration).

Students were introduced to and interacted with several economic and financial terms.

Value: Students understood why some resources had a higher value than others. For example, silk has a higher value while on the Silk Road, but only half the value when they return to China.

Supply and demand: There was a high supply (surplus) of silk in China because the ancient Chinese understood the secret methods of creating it. There was a high demand for silk in Rome because they loved this foreign material.

Need vs. want: Students want to acquire as many of their ‘special cards’ as possible. Students need to acquire essential items in order to continue their travels.

Risk vs. reward: Students understood that there were several extremely valuable cards in the two bags, but there were also negative cards. A higher roll of the dice could result in obtaining more value or in losing items.

Trade and negotiation: Students traded for items they needed, yet also tried to negotiate with other groups that had their special items.

It is very difficult to summarize this project in 300 words, but this unit had students THOROUGHLY ENGAGED! We want to create this experience again and the requested materials will help us to enhance our game/simulation.

Mr. Betesh
Grades 6-8

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TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Casio Inc. HS8VA Standard Function Calculator • Amazon Business $3.99 15 $59.85
Just Artifacts Decorative Round Chinese Paper Lanterns 24pcs Assorted Sizes (Color: Red) • Amazon Business $24.98 2 $49.96
KJONG Sahara Desert Morocco with Three Sunrise Sky Camel Morocco Adventure Africa Animal Desert Driver Egypt Exotic Decorative Tapestry,60X80 Inches Wall Hanging Tapestry for Bedroom Living Room • Amazon Business $10.99 3 $32.97
Hefty Slider Storage Bags, Gallon Size, 4 Boxes of 30 Bags (120 Total) • Amazon Business $14.32 2 $28.64
Camel Hump Day Planner Stickers, 120 Clear Happy Hump Day Planner Labels Scrapbooking Crafting Stickers • Amazon Business $6.99 3 $20.97
Mr. Pen- Binder Clips, Small Binder Clips, Pack of 100 Clips, Binder Clips Small, Paper Clips, Office Supplies, Colored Binder Clips, Paper Clamps, Office Clips, Mini Clips, Clips for Paper • Amazon Business $7.99 2 $15.98
Staples Brights Multipurpose Paper, 24 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Assorted, 500/Ream (20201) • Staples Advantage $12.58 1 $12.58
Staples Brights Multipurpose Paper, 24 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Orange, 500/Ream (20108) • Staples Advantage $9.73 1 $9.73
Staples Brights Multipurpose Paper, 24 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Lime, 500/Ream (20105) • Staples Advantage $9.73 1 $9.73
Staples Brights Multipurpose Paper, 24 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Red, 500/Ream (20104) • Staples Advantage $9.72 1 $9.72
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Assorted, 400/Pack (14804) • Staples Advantage $6.40 1 $6.40
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Salmon, 500/Ream (14783) • Staples Advantage $6.36 1 $6.36
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Lilac, 500/Ream (14782) • Staples Advantage $6.36 1 $6.36
The Analects (Translated by James Legge with an Introduction by Lionel Giles) • Amazon Business $5.99 1 $5.99
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Turquoise, 500/Ream (14784) • Staples Advantage $5.91 1 $5.91
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Green, 500/Ream (14781) • Staples Advantage $5.51 1 $5.51
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Goldenrod, 500/Ream (14788) • Staples Advantage $5.51 1 $5.51
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Pink, 500/Ream (14779) • Staples Advantage $5.51 1 $5.51
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Blue, 500/Ream (14786) • Staples Advantage $5.51 1 $5.51
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Canary, 500/Ream (14787) • Staples Advantage $5.50 1 $5.50
Staples Pastel Multipurpose Paper, 20 lbs, 8.5" x 11", Gray, 500/Ream (14785) • Staples Advantage $5.02 1 $5.02

Materials cost

$313.71

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$4.71

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$348.42

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$61.49

Total project goal

$409.91

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $409.91

2 Donors

-$196.13

Donations toward project cost

-$181.71

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$14.42

match offer

-$196.13

Match offer toward project cost

-$166.71

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$29.42

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$17.65

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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 Mr. Betesh and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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