Mr. Jonathan M's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 2

• Gardening Lab & Earthworm Farm Project

  Funded Jul 17, 2024

  McCutcheon has committed to start an environmental conscious journey. This means, we are trying to educate the students about how our actions as individuals (and as a school community), impact the environment. As a STEAM school, we believe in the importance of providing students with the hands on and experiential learning they deserve, so they are prepared to apply their critical thinking, collaborating skills and creativity to solve problems in their school and daily life. Including of course, protecting the climate by reducing methane emissions from landfills by composting in our school.

  We are very grateful to our amazing donors. Thanks to you we were able to get two vermiculture stations with earth worms and one mini hydroponics system for our Lab.

  Initially students reacted both scared and grossed out by the earth worms. For many students, it was the first time seeing worm in their life. This was almost unbelievable! Kids don't have much contact with nature and we need to change that. Anyway, Upon explaining them the important role that these little creatures had and after getting the students used to checking on them almost every day; students basically started to see them as pets. Not only that, but they also very excited to see that they are reproducing!!

  Students have been working hard!! They have been continuously saving the fruit and vegetable scraps from the lunchroom, to feed the worms from the lab. I even had to turn away some extra material that they were trying to bring from home because we only have two small composting boxes. They know now that all the waste produced from the worms will be going to be used for our indoor plants and also for the community garden in our school building. I am proud to say, that our students are helping to reduce waste, improve soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reusing organic material. Yes, we are a small school in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, but we are doing the best we can to ensure we have a better future and to contribute in preserving Mother Earth.

  Thank you for contributing in building our little Garden Lab and Earth Worm Farm Project. Your help will be changing lives. I hope many of our students are inspired to pursue a science career to continue the basic environmental knowledge they acquired in our humble school. Thank you again donors! You are amazing!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Jonathan M

  This classroom project was brought to life by Newman's Own Foundation and 7 other donors.

• A Library Without Books Is Like a Body Without Soul!

  Funded Jun 24, 2024

  Many students can't relate to the characters of the traditional/ canonical books and stories that they read in our classes. Not only the characters don't look like them but also they are all written by people that are not like our students. That disconnection, without a doubt, can impact negatively in the way they see the exercise of reading and also the development of their confidence and self esteem.

  In my classroom, reading is more than building decoding, fluency and vocabulary skills. As an educator, my priority is to make reading an opportunity to teach social and self awareness skills to my students.

  Reading is fundamental for developing social awareness because it allows my students to be exposed to different characters and perspectives. It helps them to understand other person's thoughts, feelings and empathize with them despite their differences. In addition, my students need to understand who they are and how they relate to the world, the beliefs, the cultures, the practices and the stories illustrated in their books.

  Thanks to the books donated, my students will be able to understand the importance of diversity in our communities. Hopefully they will see reflected in the characters and this will help them to find, develop or strengthen their respective identities. Along with implementing our explicit Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum at our school, this collection of books are being used to complement the weekly lessons and also used when there is an incident. We believe is important to address the harm done in the classroom community with books that are relatable. Students love the books because in their words: "they are new, "they have fun illustrations" and because they are relevant to the current moment/ era".

  Thank you for making this possible. Your contribution will have a huge impact in this small and humble school community.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Jonathan M

  This classroom project was brought to life by Newman's Own Foundation and one other donor.