Past projects 3
Long Term Computer Science & Robotics After School Programs
Funded Oct 21, 2021I would like to start by sharing of the kindness from donors that through donations have provided enrichment activities i.e. STEAM, and robotics after school that have allowed students to start using the new LEGO Education SPIKE robotics (3rd-5th grade students). A total of 73 students have experienced and enjoyed building the new robot projects we created with the Rhino project. I continually challenge them to use their creativity with the coding options as they complete building part of their projects.
Additionally, our students use the Wonder Workshop Cue Quartz robots to reinforce their mathematical skills for creating specific geometry shapes i.e. square and circles. Additionally, they can personalize it by adding sound and color lights to their projects.
Our PK - 2nd grade students love to read and learn the basics of coding with Minecraft and the Scratch project books. Having the LEGO Education Duplos allows our students to create and use their imaginations and creativity to create their own projects, without me worrying that the students will try to put the LEGOS in their mouth.
The happiness I experience in their faces when they notice the new "toys" in our computer lab available for them makes them excited to start using it. I have created different stations that allow rotations so that all of the students have the opportunity for hands-on work on the new robots, books and LEGOS.
With the summer coming up in a couple of months, I am planning to have summer clubs to continue to provide a more robust and fun experience for our students. This will allow them to experience our new STEAM and Robotics materials that our donors have made possible for our students at our school.
I encourage ALL our students to participate in the robotics enrichment so we can continue learning and practicing for our robotics competitions this coming year because due to COVID and our building being under construction due to the damage of STORM URI last year, we could not continue our robotics program. However, our former robotics team is enthusiastic to assist me with new faces in the group to take the torch for our robotics teams. Additionally, these former robotic students assist me with short presentations with LEGO & Dash - Dot robots for our younger students (K-2nd graders) to spark their interest in robotics, computer science and STEAM.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Aguilar
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 5 other donors.LEGO Education for Our PK & Kinder Students @EFWMA
Funded Apr 4, 2019Our PreK and Kinder students are so excited when I bring the box to their classrooms and unpack all the possibilities of the LEGO's especially when the blocks are big and colorful for them to work with. It brings joy to see their faces and how excited they are to begin building, coding and working together to be creative. This donation has been a wonderful addition and supplement to our current curriculum for our elementary classrooms.
This donation is not a one year project or lesson, it will build on the curriculum that we have to expose our primary students to the critical computer science and technology to make them ready for our digital world. For our upper grades, it sets a great foundation and gives them confidence and equity to succeed.
From the bottom of my heart and our staff and students, thank you so much for extending the opportunity to expose our students to this early robotics learning experience with LEGO Education Kits. As a technology instructor, I have committed myself to assure to continue that your donation will be used to extend our school year programs during and after school.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Aguilar
EV3-Robots For Our Students
Funded Feb 10, 2016Technology is a great learning tool for students in this era of education. It plays such an important part of our everyday lives and to advance our academic knowledge with opportunities to use technology is a cherished endeavor. Students gravitate towards anything that portrays itself like a game. Providing a variety of technology applications for the classroom engages our students and they want to be using the technology. This means more time learning even though they don't always know they are learning. With these ideas in mind, we want to thank you for donating technology driven learning resources for our students.
We began our robotics program this year and the enthusiasm for the program has overwhelmed us. The variety of creative opportunities the kit provides has stimulated the imaginations of our students. The students continuously ask to create and program using the robotics kits. Currently, we have different levels of robotics program to help the younger students develop critical thinking and engineering skills. As an educator, watching our students ask questions, wonder, and create a product and then write the programming to make the creation work reaffirms why I became an educator in the first place.
Many of our second and third graders are very excited to work with robots. The fact that programming and coding is a part of the building has just increased their interest. Thank you so much for your generosity towards our students. Three years ago, our dream was to enhance our technology and Lego Robotics. From the bottom of my heart and those of the staff and students, thank you so much for extending the opportunity to expose our students to robotics. 89% of our students are on free and reduce meals yet as a charter school we've managed to expose our students to a whole child education due to donors like you. As a technology instructor, I want to assure you that your donation will be used to extend our S.T.E.A.M program during and after school.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Aguilar