Martinez Elementary School first graders have starting working on their STEM project for the year.
Valery Dinkins, STEM instructional specialist for the school, said the students are partnering with Columbia County Animal Services for the yearlong project that kicked off on Tuesday, Sept. 19. The project is centered around how the kids can help the needs of the animals in the shelter.
“We asked them to bring in blanket donations for the dogs and the cats, we talked about how it’s important that they stay comfortable, that each animal is able to leave with a blanket and a toy,” said Brittany Gaylor, the 1st grade teacher. “They brought in any gently used blankets that they had so we could gift them with donations, and then they also brought in a stuffed animal of a dog or cat today. We talked about the needs and how we can protect their needs and help them [with] what they need to survive and what’s important to live a healthy and cozy lifestyle.”
During the kick-off event Tuesday, Jeremiah Ford with Animal Services, spoke to the students about what the animal shelter does, the different types of animals taken in, the needs of the animals and more. After he spoke, students got to ask some questions including how the animals got their food, where the animals slept, how do they get their toys, what if an animal gets sick, are some of the animals dangerous and more.
After the meeting, the students will work throughout the year on the project.
“We’re going to continue to partner with the animal shelter and hopefully bring awareness to the animals that need to be adopted,” Gaylor said. “[They’ll] learn math strategies and do some addition and subtraction with how many they take in and adopt out and just get hands on and help support our local animal shelter.”
The students will use STEM skills to help find solutions to help meet the needs of the shelter, including using the engineering and design process to build something that could help keep the animals entertained, Dinkins said.
As for how they came to work with the animal shelter, Dinkins said in the past first grade has done other projects involving animals.
“In the past, first grade has done [projects with] birds before, and they’ve also done [a project with] farm animals, so they wanted to do something else that was a little bit different, [that] maybe [had] a little bit more of an impact on the community,” Dinkins said. “That’s how they decided to [work with] the Columbia County Animal Services.”
At the end of the meeting, Animal Services brought out a special guest – Agatha, an approximately five-week-old puppy that they currently have. The kids all got say hi to her before presenting all the blankets and toys they donated.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
