Weathering and Erosion: Building our Powers of Observation
My students need hands-on materials to understand erosion and weathering.
$342 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
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My students are eager, enthusiastic, hard working and creative. All of them speak a language other than English at home, and are learning English at school. All of them receive free lunch because of their low socio economic status. In two years they will be at middle school with students who are native speakers of English with higher family income and education levels. My goal is to provide my students with rich educational experiences that support them in building higher level thinking and use of academic language.
My Project
These materials will make the study of weathering and erosion come to life for my students. We will use the materials to create stream tables with sand, silt, gravel and water. Students will observe and measure the effects of different amounts of water, over different lengths of time as they model erosion and deposition in the stream tables.
The study of weathering and erosion in science links to our study of the California Gold Rush, a historical period that generated a lot of erosion causing the deposition of mud in the San Francisco Bay.
The heavy rains we are experiencing this winter (January/February 2016) have caused numerous mudslides in our area, and flooding near students' homes. The students had the chance to watch the effects of a mudslide here on our own school campus that sent muddy sand and silt in a dramatic swirl around the storm drain near our classroom. Needless to say they are pumped up to learn more about how erosion works.
We will use the tubs ordered, fortified with plywood underneath, tilted up on two by four boards. The tubs will be filled part way with sand, gravel and silt. We will fill plastic cups with water and try out different sized holes in the cups drizzling water down onto the sand in the stream tables as the first phase of our study. Students will measure, observe and identify variables they want to pursue for further study in small groups. Student skills of observation, and critical thinking will be enhanced through this project.
Markers and poster board will be used for groups to document what they observed. The books will be in our class library for students to study more.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Zykanov and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
