Past projects 107
New SPIKE Gear for a New Year
Funded Feb 8, 2023Thank you for gifting our robotics team with new SPIKE Prime robots. We spoke to several high-scoring teams after our tournament this year, and every one of them was using SPIKE Prime. It took us years to aquire our previous robots and we had lost hope of changing to SPIKE Prime when LEGO announced they were discontinuing production of the eV3 robots. Your generous donation gave our team a huge boost. It is often hard for us, being the only elementary robotics team in our large district, and our team definately felt the love from this donation.
We have been studying the SPIKE software, practicing coding in Scratch, and building lots of different styles of robots with the new SPIKE Prime kits. We have five eighth grade students moving on to highschool, so we are working hard to recruit and train our next team and having new robots now is making all the difference. We just signed up for a virtual course through Carnegie Mellon University so that we can practice different scenarios, and train virtually all summer.
Thank you so much for believing in and supporting our team. We hope you will follow our progress as we work hard to move up to next-level skills.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 3 other donors.Creating Shirts to Support SEL and Mental Health
Funded Dec 31, 2022I thought I was in touch with the trauma experienced by our students, but I honestly had little idea of what they were actually going through until they started making t-shirts with your generous donations. The first choice of almost every student was to make a shirt in honor of a loved-one lost this year. They have lost so many to the pandemic and to the gun violence in our neighborhoods. The shirts they've made have given them comfort.
I've shared a few of their designs with you. They've also made shirts for the joy of self-expression, and those have been just as comforting as the shirts made from grief.
Thank you for creating a project with matching funds for social emotional learning. I have learned so much from this project and I am humbled by the emotions my students have shared.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 4 other donors.Wood and Vinyl for the STEAM Lab
Funded Nov 28, 2022Thank you for keeping our Maker Space well-supplied with wood and vinyl. With over 400 students passing through, your support helps us offer a wide-range of options for our students. Students in grades 1-8 have learned how to use the design software, Sillhouette Studio, which goes with our vinyl cutting machines. The bonus is that this software can also be used to design items to be cut on our Glowforge laser cutting machine. The kids have really taken off with their new skills, and I love that they are coming to class with specific ideas and designs about what they would like to make.
I'm sharing pictures of some of the many things our kids have made over the past few months. They've made gifts for their families, shirts for the Cleveland Reads campaign, and pocket hugs to keep them company when they are having a tough day. The littles learned to sew with wooden buttons we cut on the laser. They also made the cutest I Love You signs for Valentine's Day. Grades 1-6 learned how to make vinyl stickers and wooden pendants and keychains with Spotify codes which link to a favorite song. My personal favorite, is when we cut earring shapes with the Glowforge and grades 4-8 learned how to make and sell earrings. They earned enough in sales to cover the costs of our jewelry supplies which we are using to make more earrings.
Thank you for helping our students learn so many skills that they can apply to meaningful projects. We love making things in our Maker Space and couldn't do it without you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
Snacks and Treats for Hard-Working Computer Scientists
Funded Sep 20, 2022Thank you for sending us snacks. I'm sure you will recognize the robotics team in many of these photos. They are in the lab more than anyone, but they also eat like locusts. The Cheez-Its were pretty evenly distributed throughout the 4th-8th grade classes, and lower elementary students most often asked for fruit snacks. I tried to keep the snack distribution to once a week for each class so that everyone would get some (This of course exempts the robotics team). I'm glad we asked for power bars, because we ended up taking them to the tournament. I am frequently amazed by how much food they can eat.
I like having food in the classroom because there seem to be a lot of food-insecure kids this year. Our Say Yes coordinator has been distributing weekend food bundles from the Cleveland Food Bank this year. Thank you for helping us feed so many.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 6 other donors.Basics and Blanks for Our Maker Space Projects
Funded Oct 26, 2022Wow did these items fly! I have eight upper-level classes and they are so excited to make their own items. The t-shirts and LED lights have been equally popular, and we are already out of both. The kids have been learning to use the Silhouette Studio software to create designs and modify them depending on what machine they need for the project. I love watching them grow in confidence as each item is created. We have been having Fab Week in all the upper-level classes each week during the rotation. The funniest thing they have created is the band shirts. They wanted to show that they were the best in their band section, so I explained chair rankings to them. The "First Chair" shirts were born. Even the trumpet player (we only have one trumpet player) made them, and they didn't show the music teacher until our fall concert. I think they have plans to make some uniform band shirts in the future, but I even saw a First Chair Flute water bottle LOL.
I think individual creativity is so important and having blank items in the maker space really promotes this. We will be putting up a new blanks project soon, because all our shirts and water bottles have been used. We hope to share more amazing photos with you in the future and sincerely thank you for such a wonderful experience.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and 2 other donors.Steam 4 STEM
Funded Oct 21, 2022Thank you for funding our hot cocoa bar. The robotics team absolutely loves it! It has definitely helped with attendance and punctuality. The kids have to get up so early to make it to the satellite stop, and knowing their cocoa was waiting really helped. They especially like the team to-go cups. Each is personalized with their name and our team logo. They feel pretty cool taking them to class.
Thank you for making yet another experience for our team that will provide life-long memories. It seems like such a small thing, but it is huge to us. I love that the team has made cocoa rules for Haitham, where he has to code a working mission before he can have cocoa. It is so funny.
Our cocoa bar has added so much humor and happiness to our day. Thank you for making it possible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and 4 other donors.LEGO Robotics Team Competition Shirts
Funded Oct 2, 2022Thank you for helping us look great at our regional tournament. The kids were really into the dinosaurs that were on the game mat this year and making our own t-shirts allowed us to include them on this year's shirt. I think the whole experience of making our own shirts is a ritual that the students really enjoy. They come up with the design, and actually weed the vinyl for their own shirt. It allows them to learn new skills and usually becomes a team-building exercise.
We sincerely thank you in making this experience happen.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and 2 other donors.Button Making in the STEAM Lab
Funded Aug 9, 2022We have been having a blast making FunkoPop buttons. Staff members and school visitors have been stopping by to make them, too. The machine is a bit temperamental, but Donors Choose allowed us to exchange the button-making materials for a different style, and now it works so much better.
The robotics team hopes to pass some out at their competition and we are considering ways to create Tremont buttons as a fundraiser. We are thankful for having this versatile tool in our Makerspace for students to use.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 11 other donors.We Can Make Our Own Stickers
Funded Aug 9, 2022We have been having so much fun with our new sticker printer! We started just designing stickers in Canva, but that quickly changed to designing stickers for International Peace Day. Students were able to choose from several background colors, and we were inspired to make temporary tattoos from our designs, too. Several of our students went to The City Club to hear our CEO give the State of the Schools address, and our stickers made it to the lapels of both the CEO and the mayor! The CEO also gave us a shout-out during his speech.
The sticker machine has proved that it can be very versatile. We quickly printed 200 stickers for Open House and for the Father's Walk. We also printed QR code stickers on our Peace Day rocks which link to an interactive map and Google form. Our district's Fab Lab has already contacted me about our sticker printer and many schools intend to replicate our project. Thank you for giving our kids so many options to display their creativity.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 3 other donors.Sponsor Our 2022-2023 LEGO Robotics Team
Funded Aug 9, 2022Our robotics team is so happy to be back together again and focused on a season. The pandemic and missed opportunities of the past two years were really hard on them. The veterans are a close group and really missed the face-to-face interactions of robotics practice. Having four of our members move on to high school without being able to compete was tough, too. Now every morning is filled with laughter as the team meets before school. They have been getting rides in pretty regularly, but the early morning buses will start running this week and we can begin to focus on the rookies who have been waiting for transportation.
Our kids feel very fortunate to be a part of the LEGO Robotic experience. We have begun to talk about high school robotics opportunities and it is exciting to see how many are dedicated to continuing on a STEM path. Thank you for being such a huge part of our robotics adventure.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kovach
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and 3 other donors.