Geobloggers for Earth Science Education

Edit title

Thank you so much for your generous donation. I have been able to prepare materials for my students, create worksheets that I would not be able to create otherwise. We have been able to type and print essays and letters. The students were so excited to be able to create and publish their work.

It is unbelievable how much easier a teachers job becomes when they have access to simple things like printers. I am able to modify readings from the Internet to make them accessible to my students. Students who read at lower levels are able access materials for class.

As I continue to use the printer I am able to create parent communications and give parents feed back about their child's success. Thank you again for your generous donations”

With gratitude,

Ms. Brelsford

Your donations to our project through Donors Choose have helped us continue our mission of getting students engaged with monitoring our local stream habitat.

Having new waders and new goggles helped us safely continue the visits in the creek to gather water samples, and allowed us to safely continue to use chemistry to analyze the water we collected. We are able to keep up the 17 year tradition of having two dozen "Keepers of the Creek" report their results to the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife, using the River Watch program.

Thank you for your support. Through efforts like yours, students will continue to have safe, meaningful hands-on experiences with outdoor science.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Eick

Thank you so much for your donation. Through your donation we are able to do hands-on experiments. The students worked on the Cells, looking at their own cells under the microscope. they were even able to look at real human blood cells. They worked with the human body tubs learning about their bodies and functions. They are currently using the properties of Earth tub. They will be learning about the layers of the Earth and plate tectonics. they are excited to start on those experiments.

Thank you again for keeping the interest of science alive in my students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Canas

I would like to express my gratitude for this important donation to my classroom. The students learn quickly when they see the processes illustrated with pictures. The illustrations in the book are colorful and the concepts are clearly explained. My students use the book to do laboratories with real data. The books are a really good resource to help my students learn.

I will continue to use these books in future years. Thanks for giving to my students the opportunity of learning and experiencing the concepts and a better approach to learn science.

I realized they show a bigger motivation when they use an interesting resource likes this book and as a consequence they have a better chance to succeed. Without donors like you, my student would miss this great tool. Thanks for helping me to make my students to love science.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Jara

Thank you for your donation of the seismograph. My students are very excited about science, especially when the learning is hands-on. This year we have gotten an extra learning bonus by having a real seismograph in the school when learning about the movement of the earth and local seismographic activity. Your donation is not only impacting my students, but the other students in our grade. Word is out throughout the school about the seismograph, so we are now looking for a more central location within the building for the device. One of the locations is in a former office that was encased in glass. It happens to be on the ground floor, which is perfect for accurate measurement of data. We happen to be in an area that does feel seismic activity every now and again. This is REAL science.

When I wrote the grant request, I knew that the seismograph would impact their science learning, their problem solving skills (where is the epicenter?) and their ability to work as a team. After the seismograph arrived and the software was installed, I soon realized that this software produces results and graphs that teach and reinforce data and graph analysis. I have to say the software has been an added bonus in itself. While this method of hands-on learning has been beneficial to my students with regular learning needs, it has been an excellent method of learning for my students with special learning needs.

I extend my sincerest thanks for enhancing the science (and math) learning of so many students. For a few, it has made them rethink about possible career choices and the need for taking their studies seriously. For many of the students, it has helped them understand the importance of science, the reinforcement of critical thinking skills and the abolute necessity for having problem solvers in the world.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Moore

Thank you so much for your generous donation. Students had so much fun using the moon calendars. Each student had a calendar and had to go outside each night and draw the moon. They absolutely loved doing this and did not realize they were learning and having fun all at the same time.

The sedimentators were a great resource to show students how sedimentation takes place. The mini landforms were a great resource to show students the different types of landforms. Landforms can be confusing and the landform kits gave students a better understanding of them.

There were many supplies purchased for my classroom that will help in completing labs throughout the year. I feel that each and everything that was purchased will benefit my students and help them with learning the objectives that are required by the state. Thank you again for your generosity.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Bryant

Thank you for your generous donation of a weather station. Wednesdays are now my students' favorite day of the week because that is the day they collect weather data. The individual components of the weather station allow students to collect a variety of data ranging from precipitation amounts and temperature, to pH and turbidity of pond water.

Students feel especially important when trusted with the key to the shelter for the thermometer. Additionally, the likelihood of getting wet while filling the turbidity tube makes the turbidity tube a favorite instrument. Each student has shown interest in using one or two specific instruments.

Wednesdays are also my favorite day because my students actively collect, record, and share their data. Through the use of the weather instruments, my students have learned to cooperate with each other, and have increased confidence in their scientific skills.

Thank you again for your generous donation that provided the weather station for my students.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Kraft

Thank you for your generous donations for the benefit of all our second graders this year. The Natural Science Classroom experience on Geology presented by Heather Farms was a wonderful hands-on learning experience for our students. This type of interactive learning really got the students excited about Geology and helped them understand the concepts far better than textbook reading alone.

Our school continues to face budget shortfalls, so without your help, our students would never have had this experience. My hope is that experiences like this at a young age will spark a lifelong interest in science.

Without donors like you, thousands of classrooms in the United States would go without.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Healey

My students were delighted with the mineral sets and other items that all of you so graciously donated.

Today, I have finished grading my tests. Compared to last year the overall scores for the written test on rocks and minerals have improved by 19%. But perhaps most reassuring of all is the lab practicum test. When comparing last year's scores to this year's scores for the lab practicum test, there was a 23% improvement, especially with the at risk students. The higher level students breezed through the lab practicum test and comments like, "Is this the test?", and similar comments were mentioned to me.

The lab practicum test consisted of various mineral samples that each individual student had to identify. The student used the Moh's hardness scale, crystal systems, streak, luster, and special properties tests to identify the minerals. Seventy-six percent of my students were able to pass the lab practicum test.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Bradley

Thank you all so much for your extremely generous donations to the "Everybody Poops: The Science of Scat and Animal Identification" lesson that I created for my students. Although we are in the process of starting the lesson now, the kids are already really excited to get started with the owl pellet dissections and to practice their tracking skills in the classroom. I have told them so much about the research that I did with tracking animals during a trip that I took to Africa last year that they are excited to try out some of tracking research activities that I did while working with the researchers there. Because most of these students will never have the opportunity to travel and practice these skills out in the field, it is really important to be able to bring those great learning experiences to them in the classroom.

Working with junior high students in a high needs area definitely has its challenges. One of the biggest ones is getting students excited about what they are learning about and enthusiastic about that learning. You all have helped to instill this excitement about learning within my students and words cannot express how thankful that I am to all of you for that.

Thanks again for your donations and your continued support of my students, my classroom, and my lesson ideas!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Hagen