Past projects 13
Growing Minds, Growing Garden and a Growing Greenhouse!
Funded Feb 12, 2021Wow! What a wonderful way to end the week! Thank you so very much for your generosity. I am so grateful to have friends, family, and friends of friends and family who support science education. I look forward to expanding our garden this spring and getting everything ready for when students return to in-person learning. I think our garden will be a wonderful outdoor space to learn and engage students with their natural world and food system.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
Teaching Science With Technology
Funded Sep 2, 2020Teaching during the pandemic has allowed educators the opportunity to consider new and creative ways of engaging students in a distance learning format. When developing science instruction that students access within their home I wanted to provide laboratory experiences and demonstrations that are similar to in-class instruction.
Filming hands-on activities created an unique challenge and after much research I found that tools such as an overhead camera rig and optional cellphone tripod would allow me to film my demonstrations for students at multiple angles. These tools provide students with visual information and instruction that is bringing science to them in an accessible format.
I sincerely appreciate your support and have enjoyed filming hands-on laboratory experiences for my students!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and one other donor.Cause a Buzz to Learn About Bees!
Funded Jul 20, 2020I cannot express what a joy it was to have shared such an amazing hands-on experience with my students. Since my animal husbandry students had become familiar with bee biology and bee management through their independent assignments they approached our farm day with a wonderful foundation that allowed them to easily recognize what they were looking at as we inspected hives and frames. The learning that took place brought such joy to my teacher and science nerd heart.
We had 11 visitors who were able to safely participate due to your generosity. I look forward to hosting many more bee experiences and one of my senior students is now pursuing beekeeping for her senior capstone project. I look forward to supporting her learning and growth, I am ecstatic she caught the bee bug!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
Stayin' Alive With Life-Saving Skills
Funded Dec 31, 2019Thank you so very much for providing these life-saving resources for our classroom. We just finished up our first American Red Cross Adult and Child CPR/First Aid and AED training workshop and five students successfully passed the course! The mannequins were absolutely wonderful for showing the proper chest compression depth and rate due to the monitor that students can observe as they practice. Our class covered how to recognize and assist in an emergency, the cardiac chain of survival, CPR, choking, first aid, environmental emergencies and sudden illness. I am so proud of my students, as they all demonstrated a desire to learn these very important skills. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 13 other donors.The Ecology of Pizza: Food and Science in Biology
Funded May 7, 2019The school year is off to a wonderful start thanks to the fantastic supplies we received to conduct our 'Ecology of Pizza' unit in Biology. Within the first week of school students were able to begin practicing their science skills by completing research, calculating conversions and carrying our their tested pizza dough recipe. The various mixing bowl sizes came in very handy when their recipes required multiple bowls for their wet and dry ingredients. Our introductory lab was an incredible success due to the food-dedicated lab tools such as measuring spoons, mixing spoons, liquid measuring cups and kitchen scales that we will use throughout the semester as we continue our investigation into enzymes, food systems, photosynthesis, genetic inheritance and digestion. We will be making mozzarella cheese towards the end of the semester and our kitchen tools will be put to use again to summarize this engaging unit. Thank you so very much for supporting creativity and ingenuity in our science classroom! Stay curious!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 24 other donors.Fostering Future Paleontologists
Funded Dec 7, 2018Our new classroom skulls were utilized today and I cannot express how much happiness filled my heart as students made inferences about carnivorous animals and herbivorous animals. Their observations and questions were endless! Students were surprised in the differences between the cranial spaces among the wolf, puppy, jackal, coyote and fox. By observing the unique teeth of canines in comparison to herbivores such as cows, sheep and deer our class was able to thoroughly discuss the importance of structure and function in all living organisms. Today was one of those days where students did not want to leave the classroom! Thank you so very much for supporting inquiry and learning in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
Growing Gardens for Growing Minds
Funded Mar 17, 2018The weather has been amazing for outdoor learning and our horticulture class has been utilizing our beautiful teaching garden since school has started! The first week of school we added perennial plants such as coneflower, salvia, agastache and coreopsis to two of our raised beds. We are hoping to certify our school garden as a Monarch Waystation this school year and fill our beds with plenty of pollinator plants. We will be starting Milkweed species seeds in the spring specifically for monarchs during their migration.
The apple trees are doing wonderful with all of the weekly rain and students cleaned the tree wells to apply fresh mulch for water retention last week. We will be building the last raised bed this week and then applying mineral oil to protect the cedar from weathering. Once complete, we will fill the remaining bed with soil and compost to plant our lettuce and root crops for the school salad bar.
I cannot express how incredibly wonderful it has been to watch students enjoy working outdoors, learning how to care for plants and get excited about growing vegetables. This project has been a dream for almost 3 years and it is simply amazing to be able to provide students with student a valuable and beneficial learning garden.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by Orkin and 30 other donors.Replenish Our Creative Corner for Biology!
Funded Jan 19, 2018Thank you so much for supporting creativity, design and engineering in our Biology classroom! The items provided from our funded project are being put to use in multiple units. We constructed DNA models from pipe cleaners- students had to build an accurate model of DNA, discuss the parts and formation in their own words for a filmed oral quiz. It was so great to be able to provide students with their own individual supplies for the model versus sharing, disassembling and reusing for the following class which has previously made for a hectic cleanup. We will continue to use the supplies donated for our evolution and ecology unit during the remainder of the school year. Our classroom will be ready for model making in the next school year as well! Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
A Flexible-Seating Paradise
Funded Jul 20, 2017I cannot express how incredibly excited my students are to be able to be in a classroom where there are so many different seating options and spaces. They all express how comfortable they feel in our classroom and I feel that this had definitely increased productivity during our in-class work assignments. By allowing students the flexibility to seat themselves in an area they feel most comfortable I have seen more student engagement and dedication.
My previous students have also expressed how much they would loved having such a neat space while they took Biology! Creating a comfortable space for students has always been incredibly important to my education vision and with the addition of these new spiffy seating options I feel like we have accomplished my dream!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by The Raymond & Bessie Kravis Foundation and one other donor.Biology 101: An Organized and Safe Lab
Funded Jul 21, 2017What a successful beginning to our school year! It was absolutely amazing to be able to organize our lab materials and supplies with the help of our classroom lab aides during the first week of school. We have been able to organize all of our inventory and have formatted an online digital inventory spreadsheet so we can keep track of materials!
Laboratory preparation for the AP Biology and Biology classes have been incredibly efficient due to our streamlined set-up. Our lab space has materials accessible, organized and inventoried! I cannot thank you enough for you help in making this year a dream for our science class!!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Jackie Brewer
This classroom project was brought to life by The Raymond & Bessie Kravis Foundation and 7 other donors.