Past projects 12
Engraving Away in Our Maker Space!
Funded Mar 20, 2020Thank you so much for your donation to our classroom laser engraver. We moved from full remote to hybrid in February and I was so happy to bring something different to the classroom.
As the students cannot share their supplies in hybrid due to Covid, I was able to surprise them with personalized pencils on our first day of hybrid. The students loved them! We even engraved some cell phone cases and students are excited to come back to class with different things they can personalize. A student even asked for information about the engraver because they wanted one for their home.
I appreciate having something that is outside of our normal curriculum, but makes class more personal and creative and helps bring our workspace to the 21st century!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
Making Our Maker Space More Tangible
Funded Jan 25, 2018Thank you so very much for donating to our Maker Space for bringing new technology into our classroom. The students were able to use the engraver to jazz up and personalize their student IDs and even a retainer container!
The materials that you helped bring into the classroom lets the students have more hands-on science time. They are now able to tinker with their learning instead of just reading about it. The students have designed chess pieces, Dungeons and Dragons characters, and even little robots using the filament for our 3D printer that we received through another DC project.
Thank you for making my science class hands-on, fun, student-centered, and interactive. The materials that you helped bring into the classroom is allowing me to integrate more STEM activities, which will better prepare the students for college and future careers in the sciences.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 3 other donors.Computer Programming with Pet Ozobots!
Funded May 10, 2016Thank you so very much for donating to our Ozobot project. The students were able to program their own robots right from their desk!
The students have been busy using Ozoblockly to learn about coding and computer programming. The students have also learned how to program using color codes with markers. They were able to program their own path and connect the path to a classmates' path to have one gigantic maze for the Ozobot to follow as all of the students put their paths together. It was an amazing site to see how unique the students made their Ozobot move and how the Ozobots were able to follow all of their codes in one gigantic maze. It was truly a class teamwork activity and all of the students enjoyed it.
Thank you for making computer programming available to my students. Without your generous donations, the students would not have had the opportunity to work together to make their robots move!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
This classroom project was brought to life by Infosys Foundation USA and 2 other donors.Turning Students into Makers
Funded Mar 14, 2016Thank you so very much for donating to our Maker Space. The students were able to program their own robots, create unique animals with the play foam, and tinker with Little Bits. The students were also able to use their 3D Doodlers to bring their imagination to life.
The materials that you helped bring into the classroom lets the students have more hands-on science time. They are now able to tinker with their learning instead of just reading about it. While studying habitats and animals, the students were able to create their own unique species of animals and use the 3D Doodlers and play foam to bring their 2D drawings to life. They were also able to use the play foam to create volcanoes that actually erupted!
Thank you for making my science class hands-on, fun, student-centered, and interactive. The materials that you helped bring into the classroom is allowing me to integrate more STEM activities, which will better prepare the students for college and future careers in the sciences.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 5 other donors.Gamifying our Math Through Learnstorm and Chromebooks!
Funded Feb 26, 2016Dear Donors,
Thank you so much for donating to this project. With the Chromebooks, the students were able to dive into math using great programs such as Khan Academy. We were able to place in top 10 weekly through Khan's LearnStorm challenge and this would not have been possible without your generosity. I am able to provide my students with fun game-based math instruction and can also now differentiate more to better meet individual needs. The students were even able to create their own Weeblys and blog about what they are learning.
The Chromebooks did not just impact my classroom. Other classrooms are able to check out the Chromebooks for their students as well. The addition of these 22 Chromebooks is just the start in making my school ready to help our students be prepared for our technological-driven world.
As a teacher, I try to make sure that I am using resources that are new and innovative to help my students. People like you help make it possible with your generosity and interest. Thank you for supporting my classroom.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
"Truly Wonderful, the Mind of a Child Is"
Funded Nov 10, 2015Thank you so very much for supporting this unique project. My students never thought of EEG headsets as something to be used in the classroom for learning before this project. We normally think of EEG has a hospital technological tool. The students have used the two EEG headsets with various Apps I purchased to test their brain waves.
The most exciting part of this project was seeing how the students try to calm or focus themselves to test out their different brain waves. They thought it was great that they could lift and throw objects in some of the games just by thinking hard or by calming themselves. The most exciting part was seeing my students diagnosed with ADHD working hard to focus and calm themselves so that they could see the attention bar rise as they worked on math problems.
This project has helped the students and myself think of technology in a new light. We are thinking outside of tablets and computers and I am hoping to continue this new light on education and technology with future projects.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
Back to Basics!
Funded Oct 4, 2014Thank you so very much for supporting my classroom. We were very excited to receive the classroom supplies that we needed. The students were especially excited to see the huge box of crayons and glue sticks. It is a struggle to integrate art into daily activities when there are not enough supplies to go around. Now we have the crayons, glue sticks, staplers, tape, and scissors that we need to make every activity have an art component.
I am able to integrate art into my lessons more often, which I feel is very important to complement my students' other learning skills. My students are creating dragons from a novel that they are reading. They are also making vocabulary words come to life with colored pictures to accompany each word. Recently, they have even made schematics of the Mayflower ship.
With the abundance of crayons, glue, and scissors, each student can take part of classroom activities without having to wait their turn. The supplies have greatly improved my teaching and classroom management as there is no more fighting for supplies and each student feels involved. I am so grateful and happy to be able to add creative elements into the classroom and consequently the kids are more engaged and happier. Thanks again for making this possible.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
This classroom project was brought to life by an anonymous donor and 5 other donors.2D is So 2000, We Learn in 3D Now!
Funded Aug 7, 2014Thank you so very much for bringing new technology into our classroom. My students were ecstatic at receiving a 3D printer. The students were surprised by the versatility of the printer and amazed at the variety of items that could be made. It really excited them to talk about making unique items or about creating everyday items at their whim. The 3D printer is the talk of the school and my classroom is the center of the topic.
The students are now able to make their creations come to life! The class has each made an ornament to go on their Christmas tree with their very own name on it. We are planning on creating symbols and dragons from a novel that we will be reading in February. They are excited about that!
With the 3D printer, I have better been able to integrate STEM learning in the classroom. We are learning how astronauts are able to 3D print tools in space that they need right away instead of waiting months for a shuttle to send it to them. We are learning how doctors are able to print prosthetics and how 3D printing helps inventors manipulate their creations. The students are seeing a new world of technology and how 3D printing is not only the future, it is their present.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
What?! The Moon Isn't Made of Cheese?! Part 2
Funded Oct 4, 2013Thank you very much for your generous donations. The students have been taking turns taking the telescopes home and even though they have not seen the moon yet, they are greatly enjoying the experience of being able to see things out of reach so up close. The students think that it is interesting to see that the images are so clear and up close. They are even more surprised that the images are upside down which led to a great discussion on how telescopes work!
All of the 5th grade students will have a chance to take the telescopes home for the night to observe their neighborhood and the night sky. They will be able to share this amazing experience with their families as well. As you can see from some of the students' photos, siblings and parents have already jumped in on the action.
Your generous gift has impacted all of our school's 5th grade classrooms and brought parents into the learning as well. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez
What?! The Moon Isn't Made Of Cheese?! Part 1
Funded Sep 24, 2013Thank you again for your generous donations that helped make this project come to life in the classroom. The students were very excited when the huge boxes of telescopes started to arrive in the classroom. It is rare for the students to receive gifts in the classroom and they couldn't contain their enthusiasm. Many have never seen a telescope in person before and they were just fascinated by the sight of one.
Because of the weather, we are currently using the telescopes solely in the classroom. The students are able to look out of our classroom window to see the details of the trees, street lamps, cars, and even the minute details of the bricks across from our window. The students have made note of the cracks and lines of the bricks that they would have never bothered to notice without the telescopes. They are learning how to change the zoom and to focus on objects. The students were amazed to learn how to alter their perception since everything in the telescope is presented to them upside down. They were able to zoom in on an advertisement sign near their local grocery store and read it upside down.
When the weather warms up, the students will be able to take the telescopes home so that they can view the night sky with their families. I hope that this will help bring education home and the students' learning does not stop at their school's doors at 2:45 each day. The students already know that they will be able to take them home and you can see the excitement as each day gets warmer and the date gets nearer.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Rodriguez