Mr. Pena's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 26

• Coding with Tablets

  Funded Jun 16, 2023

  I want to thank Chevron for donating to fund my project. You guys are very generous and my students are so excited to receive these items and start our coding. This year I want to start coding with robotics. I received my VEX robotics certification last year and attended trainings to prepare for this year. The tablets allow students to see the code they are writing and change any part of it real time. It is so exciting for my students to use the app store and control the robots they build with the tablets.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron and 2 other donors.

• STEM Projects

  Funded Jan 6, 2023

  My students were so excited to hear that our project was funded. I had talked to them about the projects we could do with the materials.

  We have already used some of the materials to do some STEM challenges. We built a ramp and measured how far the chair will roll based on the angle of the ramp. They thought it was so much fun.

  Other items have proven very useful to us like the USB charger, we can now have all of out robots charging at once so the students can use them with less down time.

  I want to thank again the people that donated to my project to help our my kids and my school.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by LOFT.

• The Ultimate Makerspace

  Funded May 4, 2022

  I heard of the Makerspace trend in recent months and I was so curious to start one in my class. I got some Legos, K'Nex and building blocks to start. My students learned problem solving and designing and putting to practice their creations. It was so well received I wanted to expand it. On my next project I requested a Cricut machine and vinyl press to make stickers and shirts. The first shirts we designed and made ourselves were for a Rainbow Run event we hosted. My students love creating things so much.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 3 other donors.

• Coding Robotics Challenge

  Funded May 4, 2022

  My district is pushing robotics and coding in the elementary classroom. I attended a training for Vex robotics and want to start using them in my class and participate in the competitions. I however took the initiative and wrote a project on Donorschoose to get a headstart on coding and robotics. My students have taken to it so much. They practiced on Code.org and did the Hour of Code challenge in preparedness for the robots. Once we got the robots I had them group together and build the basketball robot. After that we created a playing field with a basketball goal and the robots faced off. It was so much fun and such a good learning opportunity.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and one other donor.

• Have a Seat!

  Funded May 4, 2022

  Flexible seating in the classroom has become a recent trend in education. Flexible seating gives students the power to choose where they want to sit as well as on what they sit on. The cushions I received through the project have been so versatile and I have noticed that students are more engaged in their learning when they are allowed to choose where they want to sit. They have been so excited to be able to choose a color, shape and the place they want to put their cushion. This allows them to sit with friends and feel more comfortable has been such a benefit.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and one other donor.

• High Definition Morning Announcements

  Funded May 4, 2022

  Our announcements have changed drastically for the better since I received the camera and other items from my project. In the past my camera was a webcam with bad quality and little clarity. I had to get to school early to turn on the computer to be ready for the morning announcements and even then it would only work half the time.

  This new computer is lightning fast and starts up in no time. Teachers can send me pictures or flyers to show on the announcements last minute and it will work. The camera we received is a 4k resolution. The quality is so clear and easy to use. I want to thank all the donors that made my project possible.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and one other donor.

• VR Field Trip

  Funded Jan 9, 2022

  My students and I have been so eagerly awaiting to receive the VR headsets. We were beyond excited when they arrived.

  Towards the end of the school year we usually conduct a research project where we put all the skill to use together in a presentation. This includes creating a presentation adding media and conducting the research while citing sources of information.

  With the VR headsets we have been able to travel to these remote locations using Google Maps and be immersed in the music, food and culture of the places my students researched.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Cares and one other donor.

• Tech Books

  Funded Jan 3, 2022

  This week in our district we are celebrating Digital Citizenship. Each day this week I emphasizes one of the five CASEL competencies for social and emotional learning and its connection to digital life. Topics include limiting your screen time, cyberbullying, leaving a good digital footprint and using technology for good.

  Literacy is a key focus in our school and across the district. These books offer me a way to incorporate literacy in my Computer Lab class and introduce the topics we will discuss for Digital Citizenship Week.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by The Montgomery Family Fund and 4 other donors.

• Robotics Competition

  Funded Dec 20, 2021

  I have tried to get funding for many years to have a robotics club at my school. Thanks to Donorschoose and the generous donors I can finally start it. I am so excited and the students that have come to my class and seen them so far share my excitement.

  The UBTECH JIMU Competitive Series Robots are perfect for my elementary age students. Few tools are required to assemble them meaning we can get right to the fun part and start competing. I would love to get more in the future but the two we have is perfect to get us started.

  I plan to have groups of students competing against each other to use the robots to complete tasks such as scoring a basket, stacking items and driving around obstacles that were all a part of this project.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 2 other donors.

• Coding 101

  Funded Nov 17, 2021

  Coding is what makes this new technology filled world go round. For me it is very important to expose my students to various coding activities. This has been a typically difficult lesson to teach as using programming language is a bit too difficult for most students to understand. Lately some "games" have been developed to teach kids coding and big companies have invested in apps like Scratch to help with this. For my very young students there was typically nothing that could reach them at their level of understanding.

  Until I found these Learning Resource kits to teach young students coding in a way they could understand. These kits are sort of like a board game. It uses language they understand and they can physically see and move the pieces instead of just watching it on a computer screen. It has made teaching coding so much more fun now that all my students can participate.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Pena

  This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 2 other donors.