Past projects 1
Building a Hands-On Classroom
Funded Jun 7, 2024With all of my heart thank you for the incredible generosity that you have shown in contributing to our classroom's project. To say that I was stunned when I observed that not only was our project funded but that donors such as yourself had shown such an open hand left me, in fact, absolutely shocked and certain that a mistake had been made!
As a kindergarten teacher I was first attracted to the concept of 3d printing as a means of producing tools for my classroom. My goal was to secure a means by which contextually appropriate manipulatives, learning aids and incentive rewards could be produced in our classroom to help fill drawers with tools and provide inventive pieces for our learners who are putting in so much effort to meet their learning goals.
That was, at the least, my Phase I plan as I become comfortable with the technology myself!This is a tool that I plan to incorporate into my classroom year after year, growing upon the understanding of the best way to have it face my learners both as a classroom tool and as a project builder with future big buddies, our upper grade learning partners who join us for projects and activities from the fifth and sixth grades.
What I have found most engaging is that my students, who do live in a very special world of discovery, are amazed at the process of something being made. Our classroom year has been one of discovering where food comes from, learning about how one thing can be transformed into another and the process of continuity in our environment and world. This tool has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to showcase how a thing may be created and is, in fact, not simply something that appears on a shelf in a store.
They were especially amazed when I demonstrated the software that powers the device. Showcasing how a simple dinosaur that we printed as a class was illustrated as a 3d shape and was broken down piece by piece to tell the machine how to "draw with glue" as one friend put it.
As I've become more familiar with the technology and have begun to grow my library of successful models to print, we have begun to introduce the first math tools, incentive devices (a lot of demand for additional incentive devices!) and introductory math tools. My next goal is to begin producing tools to help us improve the quality of our available outdoor spaces with watering and mounting structures on our chain link fences. It is a process but our classroom is becoming richer one print at a time!
Again, with all of my heart. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Luft
This classroom project was brought to life by Newman's Own Foundation and one other donor.