Wow, I Never Knew it Looked Like That!

Picture this, you have twenty-five, impatient, fourth graders crowding around your classroom door, anxiously awaiting the previous class to exit, so they may have their opportunity to learn Science in a hands on, up close, lab style classroom. This is my world four times a day, five days a week.

One hundred fourth graders, daily, in a class size of twenty-five, for seventy - five minute classes, four times a day, coming through my classroom door; sharing my ONE * DAUGHTER'S * BORROWED electric microscope.

The curriculum is a hands on, Foss and STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) based curriculum, with an emphasis on language art skills, necessary to conduct observations, predictions, note - taking, and arriving at scientific conclusions, based on their observations through visual and magnified methods.

Microscopes are a tool, that children at this level, have not been exposed to, so that they may explore the microscopic world around them, and the details that are beyond the human range of sight.

With a class of twenty - five, anxious, excited, fourth graders, waiting their turn is difficult, frustrating, and a loss of valuable instructional time. Through the use of two stations, equipped with electric, student microscopes; the students will be able to observe, investigate, collaborate, record, and advance their scientific skills at a more productive pace, with a successful outcome of learning.

This will also allow me to return my daughter's microscope to her, so that she may continue her investigations into her future career choice, in the Science field. Every child deserves the opportunity to see the ENTIRE word around them, even the microscopic.