Help for a Brand New Science Teacher

Funded Nov 1, 2010

Thank you so much for funding this project! As you can see from the posted pictures, the children are genuinely engaged by these materials, and just love exploring them. Their smiles tell the story better than my words ever could! These hands-on learning activities which your generosity has provided are an invaluable way for me to make learning come to life in the classroom. My students are so happy with these beautiful kits, I wish you could see the exceptional care they take when using the materials.

I am using the rock samples as a launching pad to build prior knowledge before starting both our Unit of Study on Weather, and our Unit of Study on Biomes of the Earth. I will relate how the different types of minerals and rocks they examine in our kits combine in different proportions around the world to form the soils and landscapes which impact the water cycle, amount of runoff, uplift and wind patterns that determine long term climate. Thanks to you, I have the means to enable my students to make concrete connections to what would otherwise be rather abstract concepts.

On behalf of myself and all my sixth grade junior scientists, once again accept our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for providing these beautiful rock sample kits for our program. We can never forget your help and generosity.

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With gratitude,

Mrs. Calapai