Past projects 5
We Are All Makers!
Funded Oct 21, 2022My students were so excited for new building materials in the STEM lab. When I told them about the project being funded there were cheers and big smiles!
The materials from this project has been especially helpful for my PreK, kindergarten, and first grade students. Some of my classes participate in what we call STEM stations, where students are working on different activities and rotate around. Having lots of options has provided me with the ability to be more creative with the activities at each station. In one class, I have a student helper who loves to pick out the activities for the day for their class and chooses them based on what he knows his classmates will like. It's so sweet!
My hopes for these materials is that they will continue to inspire the young engineers in my building to be creative and have fun while building. I am so appreciative of all your donations.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciocca
Supporting Mathematical Practices in the Classroom
Funded Jan 20, 2018Thank you so much for your donation to our classroom. My students were thrilled to receive some new materials to help support their learning in mathematics and engineering.
The Magnet tiles are definitely a class favorite. Students use them daily during choice time to build and create different structures. It is so fun to see them using their imagination and thinking about shapes as mathematicians to create things such as buildings, and planes.
We also are loving the math folder games. As one of our daily routines in math, students have the chance to play math games. They are loving using the folders to help them practice their math skills. The games are so fun and interactive.
By contributing to my project, you have really enhanced my students' everyday work in school. I cannot thank you enough for your support.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciocca
STEM Students Need Literacy Too!
Funded Oct 5, 2016Your donation has helped students become stronger readers and writers every single day! We use the literacy materials in our literacy rotations every day. Students love the hands on games that are helping them learn about letters, sounds, rhyming, words and more.
When I first told the class about the materials they were so excited! Having interactive games really helps make learning more fun and my hopes are to get more games to support other academic areas in our classroom. Thanks so much again for your donation and support in helping my students become stronger readers and writers!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciocca
Help Us Develop Our Engineering Minds!
Funded Oct 30, 2015Thank you so much for your amazing donation to my classroom. My students were so excited to open the packages and explore the materials that were donated for their learning and educational growth! Some of the materials immediately made it on to our engineering shelf as the students want to use them every day during our STEM block (students choose from various materials to work with-- kind of like free choice). Others we have been using for STEM specific engineering challenges.
The Zoobs are a favorite on the engineering shelf. Students love making creatures and people and having them interact with what their friends have made. They are learning so much about joints and connections and how they can make things move! The Lego's and Lego plates have been fantastic for some of the community building and engineering skills that I have been working on with my students. We have built mazes, and played listening games (kind of like battleship with the Lego's), and will hopefully be using them in many more ways before the school year ends.
While we have not gotten to using the hot wheels tracks and cars, I am very excited to introduce them soon. We will be working on a force and motion science and project based learning unit this spring, which the materials will be perfect for! My hope is that students will take what they have learned about force and motion to create different tracks for the cars and explore how they can use turns, hills, etc., to make the cars move in different ways.
I am so excited to be able to start the next school year using these materials right away. The benefit of the students being able to explore socially and academically with these materials have been so beneficial this year. As a STEM school, it is so important for students to get the opportunity to build and try to solve different problems using various materials, and your donation has truly helped my students be able to practice those skills that they need to be 21st century life long learners. Your devotion to education and helping students is invaluable to our nation's future. Thank you again for your generosity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciocca
Exploring The World Through Technology
Funded Nov 7, 2014My class has been absolutely overjoyed to have iPod touches to use in our classroom. They had been previously working with iPod touches in with our technology teacher during their specialist time and were loving it. When I told them that we would be getting our own class set to use there were cheers, hoots, and hollers! To be able to have daily access to such a great technological tool is such a treat!
So far, we have been practicing how to use the iPod touches safely in the classroom. Students have been learning and teaching one another how to use the various math and literacy games that I have placed on their as well as how to navigate turning it on and off, letting me know when the battery is low, and trouble shooting other aspects of using an iPod touch. Students love being able to practice their reading, writing and math skills when they finish their work.
For me (and for them, but they don't know it yet) part of our work is to have them realize that the iPod touch is a tool, not a toy. While students are allowed to access the iPod touches when they are finished with their work, I have clear boundaries that their work must be their best and not rushed. This is a practice that I want to instill in all my students, so that they are not rushing to get things done. I believe that taking your time with your work so it is something you can be proud of it very important, even when there is something else you would rather be doing. As a classroom teacher, I am also a teacher of life skills outside of academics, and I hope to be able to help guide my students to always do their best starting from a young age. There are so many distractions in our current world, by having a "carrot" such as an iPod touch, this allows me to have conversations about such practices and your donations are allowing me to do that.
Outside of the fun of the skill practice with games through "apps" on the iPod touches, students are also getting a chance to find ways to use them as tools to help with their researching and information gathering skills. For example, when we were studying 2D and 3D shapes in math, our class used the iPod touches to go on a 3D shape hunt around the classroom for objects that represent the shapes we were talking about. 3D shapes are hard to draw (even for me!) and this gave my students a chance to show what they knew about 3D shapes without having to draw them. Students went around the room and they were SO excited about taking pictures of 3D shapes. They were then able to take their pictures to technology class with them and make a collage to show off their pictures. Some students had blurry pictures or pictures that were too zoomed in so they didn't fit in the collage well, but this only created opportunities for further conversation of how to use the camera on the iPod touch in both our classroom and in our technology classroom.
Our work will not stop there, and I fully believe that I have a lot more exploring to do myself about how we can use the iPod touches in the classroom. My teaching partner and I are planning a project for the spring and the use of QR codes, videolicious and many other ideas have come up. I cannot wait to see all the different worlds of opportunity that will open up for my students because of the generosity you have shown through your donation. My students (current and future) thank you a million times over.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciocca