'
Free supplies Available for ESI Teachers!
Teachers who belong to a school that is part of the Every Student Initiative are invited to apply for a FREE kit of science education supplies. The Rucker Family is passionate about science education, and knows that teaching science can benefit from supplies that might be outside of teachers’ budgets. Through the Rucker Family Science Teacher Program, an ESI school science teacher can apply to receive a kit of non-consumable science teaching supplies. This kit will include materials and lesson plans to assist with teaching science concepts, tied to Next Generation Science Standards, and related to exhibitions on view at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. The goal will be for the materials in each kit to be useful for many years.
This year’s kit will be themed around minerals, and targeted at grades 4-8. Teachers can apply to receive a classroom kit on mineral identification, including a lesson plan, mineral test kit, and Mazon Creek fossils, found here in Illinois. This kit is related to the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Amethyst Gallery of Minerals, which ESI students visit on their tours.
Teachers who are part of an Every Student Initiative school are encouraged to apply by filling out this form: https://forms.gle/fEbsBbBerfdwkaTe7
Teachers who fill out the form by December 1, 2025 will be given full consideration.
Kits will be awarded in the week of December 8, 2025.
This program is generously sponsored by the Rucker Family Science Grant Endowment Fund.
