Past projects 36
Chicks and Butterflies: The Cycles of Life
Funded Mar 1, 2012We want to thank you for your generous donation of fertilized chick eggs and butterfly larvae. While waiting for the hatchings the students learned about the cycles of life of both creatures. With great anticipation they watched the eggs, drew pictures, commented on the chrysalis and each morning looked to see if anything had emerged. Alas and alack, not one of the chick eggs produced a living creature. After 25 days we finally accepted that nothing was going to hatch.
The children thought that we should give them a proper burial. We decorated a box and put tissue paper inside. The chick eggs were placed inside and each student wrote a message on a heart. We put the hearts inside the box as well. The box was given to Mr. Williams, our custodian and he buried them. It was an interesting lesson on life and death and on the whims of nature.
The butterflies did a little better. Two of the caterpillars crawled out of the cup they came in. I found them on the table on Monday morning. But the other three did eventually form their own chrysalis. In fact one butterfly had already hatched while the other two were still spinning themselves into hibernation. The early emergence may have damaged its wing because it never really flew but we were able to take care of it and tend to its needs, even though it was incapacitated. A very good lesson indeed.
Children can learn from all events, and while these were not the lessons I had planned, we were still able to participate in good discussion and sharing our feelings. Thank you for helping our students learn”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
This classroom project was brought to life by * and one other donor.Recharge and Keep Learning
Funded Nov 30, 2011To all of you, thank you for getting us back to full speed! We have installed the batteries in the idle computers and as you can see by the pictures the students are still hard at work. We appreciate your thinking of us and helping us out in our time of need. It is quite a big difference to have 3 more computers available for the students to work on.
We have been using the computers for several student projects. The 8th grade is using them to create a media project on ancestry, and the 6th grade uses them for writing practice and creating story books. The 5th grade uses them to work on interactive lessons on simple machines. All in all we are all working hard, thanks to you.
Again, we appreciate your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
Rendezvous with a Comet
Funded Oct 12, 2011Our trip to the Challenger Center was a rousing success! The students were hesitant at first -- not being used to having such wonderful equipment and responsibility. But once things got rolling they really got into the experiments. There was a tense moment when we were "hit" by a meteoroid but luckily our life support people were able to save us. And when the probe got "fried" and the room filled with "smoke" they were concerned the mission might have to be canceled. That often happens when there isn't money for repairs or buying the best but again, the "astronauts" came through and the mission continued. I love this whole scene that Challenger has created. My students have never done anything like it and they were thrilled.
And if the accidents weren't enough, then the navigation team found the new comet. Such serious deliberation about changing the mission. I was so proud of these 7th graders to fully immerse themselves in the scenario and apply their classroom learning to a real life situation. Their curiosity and sense of adventure won out and we went after the new comet, named for our school.
I can only say thank you again and again and again for providing this experience for our children. Sometimes it is hard to impress a teenager but the Challenger adventure did just that and we owe it all to you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
This classroom project was brought to life by Hilton HHonors and 2 other donors.Illinois History Field Trip
Funded Apr 14, 2011Take a look at the pictures on the web page that show only a fraction of our amazing trip! We had such a good time, and really beautiful weather. We hiked up to the top of Starved Rock, heard the story of how it got its name, and looked over the Illinois River. From that high vantage point the vista was awe-inspiring, especially for our students from the crowded city. All this wide open space was as strange and unique to their eyes as an alien planet might be. It was hard to believe that that deep of a valley was carved in one immense flood of glacier melted ice. In fact, one student asked, "Are we still in Illinois?"
After the trip to the heights of the sandstone cliff, we took another meander through the woods to a canyon formed by ground streams that become waterfalls in their trek down to the river. The picture shows the high walls and you can almost feel how cool and refreshing it was to stand at the bottom, listening to the trickling water and consider how it all was formed so long ago.
The next stop on our trip was the historical museum where the students watched and interacted with an actual blacksmith. He formed an iron hook right before our eyes, using tongs, bellows and an anvil (which we learned the real reason for and not the one we see in the roadrunner cartoons.) We had a lesson in an old one room school house, where the students put on a play about the fur traders that first crossed Illinois, and Marquette and Joliet. All this was possible because of your generosity. Thank you so very very much.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
Ears To You!
Funded Nov 16, 2010Thank you for your generous gift of the sound level meters. The students are learning to use digital data collectors and this was a treat, and a challenge, as learning to use these devices took a little doing. But we did it! The students found the decibel level of the earphones they use on their iPods, on different hair dryers and even their own voices. We looked at the graphs we made and the students learned to identify when the pitch raised or lowered by reading the ups and downs of the graph. What a fantastic learning experience!
Introducing these elementary grade students to digital science technology is helping prepare them for high school, no matter where they go in the city. Their neighborhood may be low income but because of generous donors such as yourself they have learned important strategies for their further education. Thank you again for helping my students.
We hope to continue to use the sound level meters for next year's science fair as well. We are really fortunate to have what we need, because of your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
This classroom project was brought to life by KnowHow2GO and one other donor.Becoming Mother Nature
Funded Oct 27, 2010Thank you so much for the aquariums you sent us. We placed them in the science lab, and in a primary special education classroom. There is something so calming and soothing about fish gliding through water that children really seem to relate to. We bought colorful gravel and even more colorful fish. They are beautiful tanks and we cannot thank you enough.
By having the aquariums in various parts of the school students have the opportunity to stop and gaze at the graceful animals. Their faces look so serene during those times it really is quite beautiful. The special education class is learning to care for animals, providing them with what they need to survive and especially not to endanger them in any way. Classroom jobs now include closing the shades in the afternoon so the bright sun will not cause the algae to grow on the glass. (We learned this the hard way!) Another job is to feed the fish, just a pinch, every morning, not too much and not too little.
We did have a tragedy. One of the fish was found one morning floating on the surface. But that too is part of the circle of life and we talked about how best to use the fish's body to help the Earth. We planted it under a bush outside the school and now that bush is almost sacred to the students. They are becoming very good stewards of nature and much of it is due to your generous gift that got the whole lesson started. Thank you for caring for these wonderful children and helping them learn life's lessons. You are the best.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
Rendezvous With A Comet
Funded Oct 4, 2010We took our trip to the Challenger Learning Center yesterday and what a great time we had! The leaders at the CLC told me several times how well my students worked together and how they could apply their classroom learning to the scenario.
I could tell the children were a bit hesitant at first. They never had been exposed to such a great and glorious experience. After tentatively putting on the headset and booting up their computer they got to work. The Probe team, especially, put their shoulders to the wheel, once they got instructions, and were intent on getting the probe built in time for the launch. I think they forgot that this was a simulation and were really invested in doing the job right. Of course there were complications (built in by CLC). At one point the clean room went dark and filled with smoke as if they had fried the electronics.The children had to continue their work with flashlights, which they readily did. When we were hit by a meteorite and were losing oxygen the worried looks were almost a little too real. But the Life Support team saved the day and everyone got back to work.
Even those students on the Remote team, working with the glove box, and the Isolation team, working with the joysticks, did not want to stop to watch the probe launch, or even to decide on chasing the new comet. Many of them thanked me on the way home for "the best field trip ever!" And that of course was all due to you. I thank you again and again for providing this outstanding educational experience.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
This classroom project was brought to life by KnowHow2GO and one other donor.Here a Chick, There a Chick
Funded Sep 15, 2010What excitement there was when we came into the room and three of the chicks had hatched overnight! They were limp and tired on the floor of the incubator but the children could see that they had come from inside the eggs. And then we saw that two more were pecking their way out. We spent the whole day watching and waiting, both for the new chicks working on the shells and the born chicks to find their legs. All told over the two days 9 of the 12 eggs hatched in one room, and 6 of the 12 hatched in the other Kindergarten.
After a few days, when the chicks were fluffy and strong, we let the children gently hold the chicks. Some did not want to hold them but you can see they did put out a tentative finger to stroke the soft feathers. We have a pet manager in each room who ensures that the water dish is full and the food container is where all the chicks can reach it. The children are having a wonderful time talking about, drawing, singing to and completely enjoying this experience. I cannot thank you enough for providing the incubators so the students get first hand knowledge of the animal world.
You did a great thing here and we are very grateful. Thank you for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
Chromatography of Autumn Leaves
Funded Nov 14, 2010I have posted pictures from our chromatography lesson. We certainly did learn a lot!
Since it was already November when we started the leaves had already begun to turn. I picked some that still had tinges of green and in between that time and the lesson they turned quite brown. But being scientists we went ahead to "see what we see." It was great having enough mortars and pestles for each student in the group. Some were more adept at grinding than others so there was a sample for the slower ones to check against and get their leaves as powdery. We put on our safety glasses, poured the alcohol into the mortars and ground some more. Then into the beaker, add the paper and watch.
As you can see in the pictures, what a surprise! The brown did rise on the paper first but at the bottom you can see the green was still there in the leaf, under the brown. We can hardly wait for spring and try the experiment again with with new leaves to see if the fall colors are hiding inside.
I cannot thank you enough for supplying the materials for this lesson. We had great discussions on what we thought would happen, what did happen and what we think will happen in May when we repeat the experiment. This is real science, and we owe it to you for giving us the materials. Thank you for supporting and encouraging the education of our children. Have a great holiday season.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves
Digital Storytelling in the Science Classroom
Funded Aug 31, 2010We have had such a great time using the microphones and cameras to create digital stories! On the picture page you can see the cover of two of our creations. The 1st grade made "The Story of Bees." After their unit on plants they applied what they had learned about the importance of bees and made a very cute story. Now they are clamoring to do more!
The 4th grade made a digital story about the book "The Hope for Flowers." Each student received the words from one page of the book and drew a picture to represent that page. Then all the pictures were photographed and each student narrated their page. When the teacher published the entire book and played it for the class they loved it.
The 2nd grade is currently creating their book on fire safety. After their trip to the fire house they re-enacted how to behave in a fire and are making a digital story as a "how to." So the students could be in the story, the teacher took the pictures.
Our special education class finds digital storytelling very helpful and they achieve great success in narrating the pictures and then hearing the story. The teacher helped them make a story about the Special Olympics so she took pictures of them practicing and then they narrated.
All in all you have made education a delight and a challenge for our students. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Reeves