Kelly Elementary School Inquiry-Based Science Program
The Need
Kelly Elementary houses the Lewisburg Area School District’s Pre-Kindergarten through third grade students. Each of the 580 + students participate in science instruction 50% of the school year.
Two years ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Education revised the state standards for science and technology. The Kelly teachers worked in a cooperative effort with Linntown teachers to rewrite the curriculum to meet and exceed the learning requirements of these new standards.
The new curriculum incorporates a great deal of inquiry-based hands-on science activities. The costs associated with inquiry-based programs are high, but worth the learning experience for our students.
Innovative Program
Kelly Elementary teachers would like to purchase two premade science kits for two different units per grade level. This would allow two teachers at a time to teach each unit and then pass the materials on to the next classroom. The third grade team has been the beneficiary of the Science is Elementary grant for the past several years. The funding for that grant has been pulled from the state budget and we now need to purchase our own materials to continue to provide our students with quality science instruction. The purchase of these Kits would allow the Kelly Elementary teachers to provide learning opportunities for our students that explore, hypothesize, question, predict and interpret information in a way that deepens the students understanding of the concepts presented.
Estimated Equipment Cost – $12,000