Past projects 13
Let's MAKE a Difference: Inspiring Creativity & Innovation With STEAM
Funded Sep 14, 2016Dear Donor:
Once the Maker materials began pouring in from Amazon, the students immediately took notice. "Wow, so cool, I want to do it!" they would exclaim. I asked them to give me a few days to set up the MakerSpace for them and it would be ready. As a school, we decided to use the MakerSpace as a "Colt Cash reward" -- our PBIS incentive. Students earn Colt Cash by doing the right things, such as holding the door open for someone, cleaning up trash, and other positive behaviors.
Our first MakerSpace "customers" were two fifth-grade boys. They mostly enjoyed the Legos and mazes, and they did some origami as well. Following them going back to their classroom and talking about the MakerSpace with their classmates, it began an avalanche of kids wanting to use their Colt Cash to sign up! One child even paid the Colt Cash, played in the MakerSpace, and did not want to leave after 45 minutes -- so he got permission from his teacher to stay longer and pulled out more Colt Cash on the spot.
Students are very excited about this, and the best part is that the MakerSpace is an organic, ever-changing section of our library. We have also obtained Ozobots and Makey-Makey from the district. A 3-D printer has also been ordered for our MakerSpace. The goal of our MakerSpace is a safe, comfortable place for students to learn, create, and innovate. Our school will be holding "problem-solving" challenges in the near future, i.e.: use this box of 50 Legos to create a building that could survive on the Martian surface.
Thank you so much for your support of our school!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chacon
Learning & Maintaining Visual Literacy with Graphic Novels
Funded Oct 13, 2015Thank you so much for the donations that enabled us to buy many graphic novel books. Here at our school, we have a pretty dedicated group of anime/manga/graphic novel readers, and they were ecstatic to see and read the new choices. Graphic novels help students by enhancing their visual literacy--it is great because so many students see these books as "easy," when in reality they are working just as hard as when reading prose.Visual literacy is a skill our students need in abundance in today's visual-heavy society (TV, ads, phones, tablets, et cetera). I look forward to further enhancing our graphic novel section. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chacon
Sound Readers: Incorporating Audio Books
Funded Oct 24, 2014We are very excited to receive a slew of audio books to join our traditional print books, thanks to the generosity of Chevron. Upon receipt of the items, I sent out an email to all the English teachers so that they can let their classes know. Also, the materials went out on the shelves with a special "Audio" spine label. Once the students realized we have more audio books, they began coming more frequently to the library to request them.
Students use the audio books to follow along with the traditional print book. Such a technique is especially helpful for children with dyslexia or other reading problems. Students are allowed to check out the audio materials and take them home, if necessary.
Teachers are beginning to utilize the audio books in conjunction with printed material. One teacher in particular, a dyslexia teacher, uses the audio books almost every day. They are all very thankful to have these materials available as resources for the classroom and at home.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chacon
Avid Readers Want the Truth, and Nothing But
Funded Oct 8, 2013Students are excited to see new non-fiction texts available at our library; comments have ranged from, "This book looks cool," to "I've been looking for a book like this!" The 32 non-fiction texts were cataloged in our Destiny system and then displayed in our library's "New Book" section. After a period of time, usually around two months, the books will then be housed on the shelves in their appropriate Dewey categories. Destiny also allows me to "tag" the books with curricular subject labels so that users searching for particular topics can also access these books.
Even though 32 may not seem like a large number when compared with our total number of 10,942 holdings, updating the Dewey categories to more relevant and recently published texts does make a noticeable impact in the collection's age sensitivity. Political science aged from 88.89% to 87.69%; social problems and services aged from 92.67% to 90.20%; commerce, communications, and transportation aged from 93.33% to 92.86%; astronomy and allied sciences aged from 82.35% to 82.09%; life sciences/biology aged from 96.08% to 95.56%; medical sciences/medicine aged from 83.02% to 81.77%; and geography, maps, and atlases aged from 96.04% to 96.03%.
Although these numbers may seem negligible, they aren't â updating a school's non-fiction collection is a step-by-step process, and Chevron's generous grant has allowed us to take this much-needed first step.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Chacon