Mr. Padilla's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 4

• Building Our Future With Robotics

  Funded Jun 21, 2021

  Thank you is not enough to express the gratitude we have for your extremely generous support. Many of the students in my school would not have the opportunity for this hands on learning experience without it. When I asked the students to help me describe the impact the SPIKE Prime kits would have on their learning, the responses came fast and furious. Students expressed how these robots would help to motivate them to come to school by making learning this school year more fun and engaging. Building these robots will give them a chance to use their imaginations to solve problems creatively while collaborating with their peers. All of this adds up to give them a sense of responsibility and pride in their learning, and for that we can not thank you enough!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Padilla

• Mindstorms Art

  Funded Jan 30, 2019

  Thank you again for all of your support. My students have been using our robots to explore and think creatively. Students created bulldozers to help clear the snow from our yard and also had the opportunity to build and code robots to create art.

  When the students first saw the robot they were very excited. When working on the robots they have continued to work through problems for long periods of time. They are working collaboratively to problem solve and explain their thinking. All of the students have been actively engaged and are even bringing their own ideas to what we can build next.

  Going forward, the students will become our robotics team. They will share what we are doing with other students and parents during one of our family engagement nights.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Padilla

• Bringing Learning to Life With Lego.

  Funded Jul 27, 2017

  Thank you all again for your generous support in donating to our classroom. I wish all of you could have been there the first day of school when the students walked into the room and their eyes lit up with joy and excitement. I believe that it is important to create a learning environment that is fun and that the students want to be in, and with your help I have come closer to accomplishing that goal. Many students went home and told their parents about the Lego wall and our class robot and at our first parent teacher night all the parents who came in were also very impressed.

  We have begun to use the Lego pieces to help us with multiplication and division, using the Lego blocks to represent equal groups. I am really excited for when we start learning about area, perimeter, and fractions at which time we will be using the Lego blocks and the Lego wall for every lesson. The robot will be used to bring Computer Science to life with coding and as an added bonus it can also be programmed to draw angles, another topic we will be covering in math this year.

  Thank you once again for supporting my ideas and for positively impacting the lives of my students!”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Padilla

• 3D Printing In My Room

  Funded Mar 11, 2016

  Thank you again for your support and assistance in acquiring the 3D printer for our class. Since the 3D printer has arrived there has been a constant buzz in our classroom, and not just from the low hum that the printer itself makes. While I originally planned to have students use the 3D printer mostly to create math manipulatives, the students have decided to also incorporate the 3D printer into our current reading unit by making models of famous landmarks in different European countries.

  One of the most exciting things about having the 3D printer is the student's being able to watch their creations come to life. Students have been able to create objects on Tinkercad.com as well as download objects already created from Thingiverse.com. Being able to hold a smaller version of a building, landmark, symbol, or flag from another country has really helped to bring the outside world into our classroom. My students have been very excited about conducting research and finding things to 3D print and present to the class.

  All of my students have really taken to our 3D printer, but I have noticed the biggest change in some of my low performing students that have special needs. These students are the ones that struggle with reading and writing as well as basic math concepts. However, they really do well with hands on activities. Since we first opened our 3D printer a handful of these students have been involved with every aspect of the 3D printing in our class. They have learned how to change the filament (the hard plastic that is used to create the objects) in the printer, they have learned how to access and search the websites mentioned above, and have even become coaches for some of the other, higher performing students in our class. They have also become more motivated, completing their work faster and even asking to do more work to share with the class.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Padilla

  This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 6 other donors.