Lab Set Up Galore

Funded Sep 24, 2023

After being fully funded some of the items were not available online so we pivoted and picked up some other equipment for our labs. These included calculators, more pencils, and graduated cylinders for the students to use. Once we received all of the donations we were able to complete three different classroom labs. We have used the plastic graduated cylinders on two occasions already, one for looking at volume and displacement and the other for checking how different-density liquids interact with each other. The calculators have come in handy for multiple lessons including calculating forces, finding density and volume, and learning proper weight conversions all of which show up on the student's final exam at the end of the year. Being fully stocked with pencils has been amazing as well. Usually, I would buy small packs of 24 pencils, out of pocket, and be completely depleted by the end of 2-3 weeks. With the help of getting bulk pencils, I was able to also supply more colored pencils, glue sticks, and scissors for the class on my own which allowed us a wider range of in-class learning activities and crafts to supplement their learning.

The students will be completing their cells lab come March when we enter the topic of Biology. We will be using the small handheld microscopes to study the leaves, and skins of fruits and vegetables, as well as small bugs that have been preserved. Having their lab aprons arrive really excited them for their ecology lab. At the end of the year, students will be learning about our beautiful Florida ocean ecosystem and what we can do to help keep it safe and clean. Part of this lesson includes dissecting a medium-sized squid. Last year I was able to get mats for the dissection and some tools but was still missing their aprons. Now they have their entire dissection "kit" and they couldn't be more thrilled to get such a hands-on experience.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Gomez