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This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Kiesel from Chicago, IL is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. Kiesel is requesting

Sustainability and Rotting Garbage: Fun for Kids!

My students need science tool kits for our unit on decomposition and sustainability including a compost bin with worms, rotting log kits, and ant farms.

  • $485 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

I teach seventh grade in an urban school where 99% of the students receive free or reduced price lunches. I'm in charge of teaching science to over 75 students, most of whom have received very poor science instruction in the past. Many struggle with basic principles of scientific thinking and the scientific method. Few of my students come from homes where science and scientific thinking is encouraged or fostered. These students are a very hands-on and visual bunch. Kinesthetic learners are the norm in this district and science activities and visual aids are essential, we need additional materials in the classroom to make the subject jump off the page. My students need to see and hear, touch and measure some real life science experiments. With visual aids and a bit of simple technology, my students would have all the tools they need to make significant gains in their scientific understanding. My students have never had a chance to experience science as a vibrant, living thing. They only know science as rulers and textbooks, not as an interesting way to interact with and understand the world. I’ve been developing a unit on soil, decomposition, the nitrogen, and sustainability. You would not imagine the misconceptions that city kids have about dirt! What better way for these kids to understand the wonder of the scientific world than to see the daily interaction worms, ants, other insects as they change our waste into soil. This is how you can help my classroom. Your donation will make the foundation of our study of decomposition and sustainability and take part in high interest, hands-on science. Your donation will enable us to spend the spring months working with, and reading about, life cycles, nitrogen and carbon, reproduction, nutrition, insects, compost, gardening and farming, and the delicate balance of life on Earth. I believe that this will be not only a strong scientific experience, but also a life memory. Your donation will make that happen.

Mr. Kiesel
Grades 6-8

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Humus 1 6 L Bag • Carolina Biological Supply Company $4.95 1 $4.95
REDWORMS 75 TO 100 COUPON • Carolina Biological Supply Company $13.50 1 $13.50
THERMOMETER COMPOST • Sargent-Welch $19.76 1 $19.76
Worm Composter Classroom Kit • Carolina Biological Supply Company $93.15 1 $93.15
Ant Farm Kit Giant • Carolina Biological Supply Company $28.58 2 $57.16
Life in a Rotting Log Kit • Carolina Biological Supply Company $31.95 5 $159.75

Materials cost

$348.27

Vendor shipping charges

 $34.83

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$5.22

Fulfillment labor & materials

$9.00

Total project cost

$397.34

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$87.22

Total project goal

$484.56

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $484.56

12 Donors

-$484.56

Donations toward project cost

-$397.34

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$87.22

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. Kiesel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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