My students come from a wide variety of learning situations, from struggling to striving. The school is set within a suburban community near military housing. Even though my school is within a large metropolitan city, it feels like a small community and sheltered, an "island in the hills." Within these hills, we have a variety of ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as several families that have moved here from other countries. Many of our students are also grappling with parents being deployed or on active duty.
Project-based, STEAM exploration is engaging and motivating to all my students, and a tool to building a growth-mindset, regardless of their academic level.
My students are exuberant and creative, and I am constantly challenged to investigate new opportunities for them to test the waters in STEM/STEAM learning for all grade levels in TK-5th grade. We also make a concerted effort to incorporate NGSS standards and make it relevant to the students' world and interests. The curriculum is student-driven and ever-morphing to meet their needs in a problem-based learning environment.
My Project
Our Zoom sessions are in need of more interactive components as well as some advancements in technology in order to ease online learning - not only for myself, but, more importantly, more engaging for the students. It is a bonus that this will also be a useful tool for when we return to the classroom.
Students learn better through visual stimulus, and a drawing tablet would bring our work to life and, more importantly, easier to access!
My presentations can be greatly improved and more engaging with the addition of a drawing tablet in order to show examples on screen for science note booking, nature journaling, and showing examples of data recording. Students will gain better understanding if they have a better visual reference. This tablet will also be useful for students once we return to in-person learning.
More than a third 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. Allard's STEAM Lab and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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