September 2022 Grant Recipients

First graders like to learn about plants. They like it even more when they are given the opportunity to plant something. It's a hands-on way to teach them that plants need L.A.W.N.S.: light, air, water, nutrients, and space to grow. I would like to provide my students with Terrarium Kits, so they can plant the seeds themselves and watch the process. My students will learn the basic parts of plants. They will learn about the life cycle of plants too. The children will have a kit for fall and another one for spring. I'm really excited for the Bean Plant kit, because the leaves have positive sayings on them like happy, lucky, etc. The children can also paint the container, so they are combining science and art together.

One of our reading modules is also about plants, so I will be sharing lots of plant stories and writing activities with them as well. While we are learning about life cycles, I would also like to have them learn about the butterfly life cycle and watch the caterpillars as they turn into a chrysalis and later a beautiful butterfly. The ink cartridges will be used to print pictures, student writing samples, and insect and plant booklets for the children to read.

Children learn so much from growing things. Gardening is educational and develops new skills including: Responsibility – from caring for plants. Understanding – as they learn about cause and effect (for example, plants die without water.) Thank you for helping us learn more about plants and butterflies this year, and for helping my students practice responsibility as they care for their own plants.

The driving force behind becoming financially literate resides in the ability to understand numbers which is the foundation of kindergarten mathematics. Math Stackers promote the very essence of what it means to be a financially literate being in our world today and in the world of tomorrow: Critical thinking over memorization, positive risk-taking when solving problems, development of a resilient math mindset, calm, confident and efficient problem solvers, and deep math reasoning that lasts a lifetime.

Math Stackers are the perfect tool to use in small groups to help my developing mathematicians to become financially literate as they visualize and build connections in their thinking by physically moving, comparing, and interacting with these blocks.

The individual kits will provide each of my young mathematicians with a set of Math Stacker magnets, allowing them to "do" math in a fun, hands-on way in my classroom as they visualize and build connections in their thinking by physically moving, comparing, and interacting with the magnets. Each discovery deepens their understanding and provides another steppingstone as they journey to become financially literate adults.