Past projects 26
STEAM Away!
Funded Aug 23, 2021My Gifted and Talented students are so happy to have their project funded. I kept them informed of the grant every step of the way. From the idea to when it was fully funded. Thank you to all those that helped me reach the goal of funding the project.
With the materials requested, my students are able to build and challenge their creativity. STEm challenges help foster curiosity and develops problem solving in these students. I usually give them a task card with instructions like make the tallest tower that can hold a book and the students use the materials like legos or building blocks to create their tower. through the building process they see what works and what doesn't. Then they reevaluate and try again.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Kleenex® Brand and 10 other donors.Building a PC
Funded May 28, 2021I want to thank the donors for their generosity in making my project a reality. I originally requested materials for the students to build a computer that we could use for the video announcements. However due to the chip shortage I couldn't get some of the components. I decided to change the project to serve my gifted and talented students. I was able to purchase Lego blocks, magnetic tiles used to build and other toys to spark creativity. The students have loved using these toys. We have challenges related to STEM such as build a bridge or the tallest tower to compete with each other.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron.4K is OK
Funded May 28, 2021I want to thank the donors for making this project possible. One of the most important things we learn as teachers is about creating a safe environment. Students need to feel safe in order to learn, grow and be successful in school.
One way I am doing this is to create an area in my class that students can go to cool off if they are frustrated, they can use a variety of strategies to center themselves and come back to the group once they feel better. The 4K tv will help me show pictures of the strategies they can use to focus and center themselves.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron.See Me in 3D
Funded May 28, 2021My classroom wants to thank the donors that made this project a possibility. Having a 3D printer to use with my students has been an amazing experience and allowed me to reach a high level of student engagement.
With the 3DD printer I have been able to make learning active, boost understanding, and fire up the imagination of my Gifted and Talented students.
So far they have created a bridge project where they each research, design and create a bridge. The competition is which bridge can hold the most weight before collapsing. The 3D printer made this project so much more engaging than usual.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron and 2 other donors.Have a Seat
Funded May 17, 2021My students and I are so happy to have this project funded. We received cushions for the kids to have flexible seating. Now that we have laptops and tablets in class it is so much nicer for them to sit where they feel more comfortable. Some like to use the cushions on their chairs and others take their cushion to the floor.
I want to thank the generous donors for making this project come to fruition. It is very important to me to create a positive atmosphere in my class and these cushions help me create that by allowing flexible seating.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Allstate Foundation.Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty
Funded Mar 22, 2021I want to thank you for the generous donation to my project funding materials to put our computer together. My students and I were so excited to receive the Amazon packages. We have already used the thermal paste to hopefully speed up our computer that we use to livestream our morning announcements. The chair I received went over very well, the students on Zoom classes think I am a Youtuber or one of those people that plays video games for a living. But no, I tell them I am a teacher. Again, thank you for helping us receive these items.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by T-Mobile and 2 other donors.Cut the Cords
Funded Feb 3, 2021Thank you to the Elon Musk Foundation for the donation to my project, Cut the Cords. In this project I requested a wireless mouse for each of my students. I also included new mouse pads to go along with them.
The Wireless Mouse
We have new laptops for each of our students in my school in case we go back to virtual learning. The track pad is quite hard for them to use as their hands are too small for proper typing ergonomics. The wireless mouse helped my students work faster and more precisely. There was also an added benefit of safety. Each computer had a wired mouse before this project got funded. The cord on the mouse we had was almost 6 feet long. So many times students would stand up and start walking and trip on the cord for the mouse. This happened quite a few times and even resulted in a couple of falls. I decided to do something about it and wrote the project. It got funded so fast I could not believe it. The kids were so excited when I let them each unbox their own mouse.
My students went nuts when they saw the new wireless mouse sitting at each of their laptops. I requested for different colors so they all chose their favorite. Since the mouse has this gamer look to it they all think they are using the mouse their favorite gamers use to play games like Fortnite.
The Mousepads
I had a set of blue mouse pads that I found in an old cabinet that must date back to when cotton was first discovered. These things were torn up and disintegrating. Every swooping motion the mouse would make over them would pull another string apart. The new mouse pads we received are different designs, some look like marble others have clouds and some just have a pattern on them. They are so pretty and my kids were so excited to see them.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
Can You Hear Me Now?
Funded Oct 23, 2020Students across the nation are having to rely on technology to stay connected to their classroom. Our district has given parents the option to keep their kids home and practice remote learning or send them to school for face to face instruction. About half our students have returned to campus.
The bluetooth headphones we received have made switching between devices a breeze. Our district is using Zoom as the remote learning platform and the headphones also have a microphone meaning they can use the tablet for their activity and switch to their laptop to get on a class Zoom seamlessly. They have really enjoyed using them”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and 4 other donors.Closing the STEM Gap
Funded Sep 23, 2020Students across the nation are having to rely on technology to stay connected to their classroom. Our district has given parents the option to keep their kids home and practice remote learning or send them to school for face to face instruction. About half our students have returned to campus.
The materials I received will serve as projects for my students to use throughout the year. We have used two so far. The water bottle rocket and the robotic arm. We had a competition where students built a rocket out of a 2L bottle. We used the bottle launcher to test who's rocket would fly the highest.
The robotic arm was also used in a competition. We had teams of students go head to head controlling the remote controlled robotic arm to see who could stack blocks the fastest without having them fall.
It was a blast for me and my students. Thank you all for the materials.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by IF/THEN, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and 13 other donors.Tablets for Online Leaning
Funded Sep 12, 2020Students across the nation are having to rely on technology to stay connected to their classroom. Our district has given parents the option to keep their kids home and practice remote learning or send them to school for face to face instruction. About half our students have returned to campus.
Receiving the tablets has made our school life so much easier. Students are very knowledgeable on how to navigate through apps which takes the troubleshooting or technical malfunctions on a computer out of learning.
My students have loved learning with the tablets. We play this learning competition called Kahoot. It is like a game show where they try to answer the fastest. One of my fourth grade girls got so excited she won for the first time she begged me to take a picture of the screen and send it to her mom.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pena
This classroom project was brought to life by IF/THEN, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and 14 other donors.