Hi, I am Wendy Courogen and I teach 3rd Grade at Cooper Mountain Elementary to 26 diverse and amazing students who love learning.  My students get so excited about what we study in each unit; whether it's watching the movie "Because of Winn Dixie" after we read the book in our Character Studies unit, going outside to identify storm clouds from our Science unit, or making their own T-shirts from our Math unit on building a factory.  They specifically love hands-on activities that make learning fun and relevant.  

That's why when I started planning for our new Math unit entitled, Building Benches and Measuring Tools by Contexts for Learning Mathematics, I wanted students to be able to really make the benches.  This unit is an introduction to fractions and specifically targets the 3rd Grade Common Core State Standard: Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.  

The $200.00 will be used to purchase wooden milk crates (9), one sheet of plywood, carpet padding, and fabric to cover the benches.  Students will make three benches that will be used in our classroom and throughout the school after their completion.  Can you imagine the pride they will have seeing these benches in the school for the next two years and knowing that they actually made those?!

With your generous donation, you would enable students to see their hard work and learning come to fruition.  I know that students will gain a deeper and more meaningful understanding of fractions using hands-on tools and making their fraction measurements come to life!  Please consider supporting these creative, young minds.