Past projects 4
New Headphones for Better Learning
Funded Feb 7, 2023Thank you so much for providing our class with headphones. Thanks to your generosity, we use these headphones on a daily basis. This allows students to access our online platforms such as I Ready Reading, Math and Zearn.
All these online platforms have an interactive and teaching portion where students rely on being able to listen to the information. Without headphones, students cannot follow what is being taught and need to guess. In that case, they have to turn the volume on their Chromebooks up which interferes with other students' learning. Thanks to you, this does not happen anymore.
Now all students can use comfortable headphones and work without distracting their peers. A wonderful accomplishment!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kamoss
Lights, Camera, Action - Science Experiments
Funded Jul 29, 2022From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for helping fund this science project. We use the science materials you helped fund every week. I am happy to report that I now teach science at least three days per week. One of the three days is always a hands-on experiment. During this time, students have the opportunity to explore a science question with a partner. They set up the investigation, conduct it, observe it, and draw conclusions. It is so fun to watch! During our first unit, chemical reactions, students mixed different substances to find out how they could determine if a solution was an acid. Hands-on science sparks curiosity and a sense of wonder. It is beautiful to observe this.
When the students first saw the materials, they were blown away. I had organized them all in the cupboard by unit. They named different materials and immediately wanted to know when we were going to use them and what we were going to do with them. Especially the safety goggles were a big hit.
Since we are currently studying the solar system, we will invite the local astronomy club to our campus. They set up telescopes and invite students to take a closer look at the starry sky.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kamoss
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 2 other donors.The Magical World of Science
Funded Dec 20, 2021I cannot thank you enough for helping my classroom with this grant. My students and I are engaged in science lessons four days per week. The other day, we created our own mini oceans with the help of a ziplock bag, water, and salt. This was part of an investigation on water and the fresh and saltwater supplies on Earth. We asked ourselves what happened to salt when it dissolved in water and whether or not it simply disappeared. We then decided to weigh (and taste :) the salt and water prior to and after mixing to prove that the water had not simply vanished.
When I first unveiled the science materials, a collective "Oooohhh" was heard in the classroom. The students immediately started guessing and debating what we would use the materials for. They then helped me check-in and organize the materials by unit so they are handy and ready for use.
My students are about to take the standardized science test for 5th grade. I am confident that they will do great. Since we managed to connect each science standard to a science experiment, they have hands-on experiments to tie their knowledge to.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kamoss
This classroom project was brought to life by Clorox and 6 other donors.Science in Action
Funded Jul 24, 2021I am happy to report that I am teaching science 4 times per week. During two of the days, students are actively engaged in hands-on science experiments. During the other two days, we debrief, discuss, and make journal entries to make sense of our observations and new learning. One of my favorite projects was constructing a lens that mirrored how the eye takes in an image and projects it to the brain. What I have enjoyed about teaching science this year is that the experiments instill a moment of awe in the students as they are making new discoveries.
I had organized the materials in bins prior to starting the school year. I then opened the cabinets on the first day of school and presented them to my students. They wanted to look at all the materials one by one. This prompted a discussion about what we would be learning in science this year. The excitement in the room was palpable.
Now that we have come to the end of our 4th-grade science unit, I am getting ready to create another Donors Choose project to, hopefully, be able to purchase all the 5th-grade materials I need. This will allow me to continue teaching science almost every day.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Kamoss