CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – A science teacher in Charleston County is using a program inspired to teach students how to stay safe in flood-prone areas, especially during hurricane season.
McKinley teaches science to sixth graders at Charleston Charter School for Math & Science and has been teaching for 21 years. McKinley says her first love is science. As a biology and psychology major from Birmingham Southern College, early on she found a love for teaching.
Currently, in their unit, McKinley’s students are studying the rock cycle and layers of the earth. McKinley says she’s been working throughout the year with the program, Kids Teaching Flood Resilience, which is why she created her Donors Choose project.
McKinley has been working with a professor at The Citadel since August to bring that program into her classroom. Not only does it align with her sixth-grade science curriculum, but she says the program teaches her students lifelong skills. She says the goal of the program is to teach students how to stay safe and smart in flood-prone areas, especially during hurricane season.
She says the last step in this program is having her students practice safety while being in the water. McKinley plans to take her students to the Martin Luther King Jr. pool and she’s asking for various swim caps, goggles, towels and bags to place the items.
The number one cause of deaths in hurricanes is drowning,” McKinley says. “Having our kids know how to be safe in water if they are in a situation will teach them how to protect themselves so they can teach others.”
McKinley says after the kids have finished the program, she wants them to have an understanding and appreciation that science affects us all and they have a voice that can cause change.
“The Kids Teaching Flood Resistance program says kids can teach and make a change,” McKinley says. “And if we can teach them that in 6th grade the world is theirs.”
Click here to help McKinley’s students and become a Classroom Champion.
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