My students need supplies for their Trunk of Junk kits. These kits include plastic tubing, cardboard, pliers, handsaws, glue guns, paper clips, rubber bands, and more.
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
Robotics is a brand new course at this middle school. I teach three classes of robotics, and for many students this is the most fun part of their day, as they are able to put down the pencils and pick up tools to create with.
My school is in an extremely rural, low-income county of North Carolina.
The students primarily live in government-funded housing, and the main employers of the county are the schools and the correctional institution. In eighth grade students get to decide which of three high schools to go to: an early college where they can graduate with an associate's degree, a technical program that consists of completely project-based learning, or the typical high school. The robotics program is a step toward project-based, career-oriented, STEM classes in this area.
My Project
We are using a Trunk of Junk Robotics curriculum developed by the 4H society. Students will use these materials to create different mechanisms of robotics, such as an arm to grab a ball, a catapult, pulleys, and balances. A typical lesson involves me reviewing a specific topic, such as how a lever helps lift a load with less energy. The students then work in groups to build different types of levers to test how much energy each type requires to lift the same load, then record and analyze results.
I am requesting supplies to build the trunks of junk for this class. We need boxes, cardboard, paper clips, plastic tubing, pliers, a handsaw and drill, straws, cups, washers, paint sticks, and more!
For many of my students this class is the first time they have experienced hands-on learning styles and a topic that they can get excited about.
This class will foster a passion for education that will follow them into other subjects throughout their schooling.
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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. Foster and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
