Ecosystem Education Through Building a Better Habitat
We need aquarium supplies such as a filter, substrate, and plants to create a better habitat for our red-eared slider turtle.
$303 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.
Dewayne, Jenna, and Darlene have stepped up to ensure that Clyde, our red-eared slider turtle, has a suitable habitat. Our school is very small (only 185 students at the entire high school), so students are encouraged to take ownership of the school and to improve it in whatever way possible.
We are studying ecosystems and habitats in biology. We have noticed that turtle tank produces more biological smells than the lizard tank or the mouse cage. We are hoping that through designing a more natural habitat, the plants will help to eliminate some of the smell from the turtle waste, while providing a more realistic environment for Clyde to live in.
We researched turtle habitats, both natural and aquariums, and decided that Clyde's tank needs substrate, both rocks and gravel (for the plants), a better filter, and some live plants. His tank is 55-gallons and he is currently 4 years old, so we are hoping to create an ecosystem that will allow him to grow and thrive.
In addition to working together for a common goal, students are learning ecology skills, including pet care and responsibility. The most important skills learned, however, involve learning how to write with an audience and purpose in mind; in this case, how to write to effectively to get crowd-sourced funding for a project. Our school is focused on architecture, construction, and engineering, and we have an active and award-winning robotics team. Our creative students have many great ideas; learning how to use a website such as DonorsChoose to fund projects that benefit both the students' learning and school culture can be an incredibly valuable life skill in their future careers or entrepreneurial dreams. In addition, students learn how to plan and see a project through from start to finish, helping them develop skills of perseverance and tenacity.
In Their Own Words
We would like to improve the overall water quality and create a habitat that is more interesting for both Clyde and people in the class. Clyde's tank is really plain and the water looks dirty. We need some filters that don't need as much maintenance and some plants so that the smell of the tank is better.
We met as a group and decided what we thought would work best to make Clyde's tank better. Miss Selle encouraged us to research both the designs and costs necessary to fix up the tank. We are also learning how to write with purpose and audience in mind to help us raise the money to improve the aquarium. Finally, once the supplies get here, we will be writing thank you notes to our donors and taking charge of getting the new tank set up, then present to our principal to show what we accomplished.
We are trying to solve two challenges in our classroom: learning about ecosystems in a hands-on way, and reducing the smell of waste produced by a turtle indoors. This will allow us to study turtles in the classroom without having the "smell of biology" in the classroom. We are also learning how to use crowd-sourced funding to improve our school and increase awareness for our school within our community.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Ms. Selle and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
