Past projects 38
Learning About Energy With Hot Wheels
Funded Aug 3, 2021Thank you for supporting our Hot Wheels homemade "Speedometry" kits. My students love learning about force and motion, but the addition of Hot Wheels has really elevated their interest and excitement!
So far our school K-5 morning Makerspace club has experimented with the new equipment. They were able to construct loops and make predictions about which cars would shoot the loop and roll the farthest.
I also took our 3rd-5th grade autistic support classroom to the Makerspace to work with the Hot Wheels. These special needs students were able to work on their social skills of sharing, communication, and collaboration as they built their courses. Working with familiar and exciting toys allowed them to be comfortable using social skills that some of them otherwise struggle with. They learned about potential energy as they set their launchers up and kinetic energy as they watched their cars roll. We then added some curved pieces to our courses to expend the energy and watch the cars roll to a safe stop.
The fourth grade classes will begin their energy unit soon and the Hot Wheels kits will be there for their experimentation and education. The students have been eyeing the kits since we received them and now that they have seen some clubs and classes work with them they are all the more excited to learn. Thank you for providing them with this great opportunity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
Innovation Lab Library!
Funded Oct 21, 2021Thank you for supporting our Innovation Lab Library! Our school library has undergone a much needed renovation. We were able to replace the old musty carpet, add new book shelves, and update our books. Through donorschoose and PWC we won an Innovation Lab Grant. Students can now work on independent Makerspace and STEM projects in our library. The only thing missing from our library was a STEM section of books for guidance.
Your generous donations helped us build up that section. These STEM books are helping our students learn about careers in STEM, science, engineering, art, math, and more. Students love the section and teachers can now direct students to there as they work on their inventions in the innovation lab.
One example that I particularly love to see are students researching on STEM careers as part of their preparation to host their STEM careers podcast. Also our younger students have access to great stories to help them learn about internet safety and netiquette as well.
Thank you so much for your kindness in adding an entire section to our school library and enriching the education of our students!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and 3 other donors.Bringing the "A"rt to STEAM
Funded Nov 30, 2021Thank you for supporting my students! Your generosity has given them an amazing tool for our makerspace. I look forward to seeing their excitement when working with the Cameo Silhouette. I will be sure that we make the most of this opportunity as we add some artistic flair to the makerspace. Thank you once again for your support. I truly appreciate what you’ve done for my students and classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.Innovations for Our Innovation Station!
Funded Dec 1, 2020Thank you for supporting our Innovation Lab! It is going to open in the 2021-22 school year. The students are aware that they will have access to Virtual Reality with Oculus Quest, video game creation with Nintendo Mario Maker and Mario Kart Home Circuit, as well as coding bots to play xylophones and catapult with our Dash robots.
I am looking forward to sharing photos of our students back in person and working with hands on materials. These resources are coming at the perfect time to really stimulate the 21st century skills and socialization of my students.
Thank you once again!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by FamilyAlbum and 10 other donors.Girls On The Run!
Funded Oct 12, 2020Thank you once again for supporting our Girls Running Club. At the start we were concerned about how we would give our girls a great experience as we ran the club remotely through Google Meets. The supplies that you generously provided were invaluable! Our club was a huge success.
A few examples of how the supplies were used:
The BiggerFive vigor was used:
Setting goals is a strong focus of GOTR, the BiggerFive made goal setting easier and more real to the girls. The girls collected, charted and assessed the data which then assisted the club members in setting and tracking progress towards goals as they trained for the 5K.
The students became more aware of the effects of their workouts on their bodies.
Also, they noticed the relationships between steps to calories, and heart rate to duration of work out.
Due to the virtual learning setup the setup was a heavier lift for the girls. They had to read and follow the directions.
They learned responsibility in the care and maintenance of the BiggerFive, as well as, making sure it stayed charged.
Two unintended outcomes: reading comprehension of directions, math skills in charting data, as well as, drawing conclusions: if I do this my body will react_____as evidenced in the data.
Clothing:
Enabled the club members to transition to the colder weather
Many of our students did not have the proper workout clothing: gloves, ear warmer
Again, responsibility and care
Jump Ropes and resistance bands:
Resistance bands were used to build strength, prevent injuries--used primarily during the warm up portion of each session
We never had this type of equipment to use, again, an unintended benefit, girls researched and learned how to work the bands into our routines -- also, they taught each other how to use them
The bands worked well for indoor training since many of the club members had limited space to complete their training
Jump ropes were notable: the members could see an immediate response on their BiggerFive....jumping rope connected the girls as they talked about when they jumped rope in the school yard
They jumped to music that was played which made them all happy!
Thank you once again for your kind support. The girls and our coaches truly appreciate all that you did to make the club a huge success!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods and Brooks Running and 6 other donors.Innovation Station!
Funded Aug 27, 2020Thank you for funding our Innovation Station! Due to the generosity of PWC our entire student body has access to cutting edge technology.
Although we are currently meeting remotely, students are learning about Augmented and Virtual Reality, Drones, 3D printing, Coding, and more.
Students are able to create 3D designs from home and are excited to print once we return to school. Our learners can also can go on Google expeditions from their Chromebooks and are looking forward to using the Expedition Kits that you provided once we return to school. We code online through various websites, which hones skills that translate to coding our new Dash robots and Tello drones.
Our students are very excited to return to school and are doubly excited to learn in our new Innovation Lab!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by PwC Charitable Foundation.Makers are Readers!
Funded Mar 2, 2020Thank you for supporting the "Makers are Readers" project for my students. I had planned this project to have a reading area in our makerspace. The reading area would allow students to have books that guide them during independent making, tynkering, and STEM projects.
My students have been learning from home since March. The books that you generously donated have been extremely valuable. I have been posting makerspace projects online and we have used our books all the while. Thanks to you, my students heard stories that have aligned with our STEM projects, stories that have taught my students internet safety and netiquette, and we have been able to create maker projects using the STEM books.
These books will continue to be a valuable resource while remote learning, but they will also fulfill their original intended purpose when my students return to in person learning. Thank you once again for supporting my students. We love the books and they came at such an opportune time!”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by A group of anonymous donors and 4 other donors.Get STEAMed Learning From Home!
Funded Aug 11, 2020Thank you so much for supporting distance learning for my classes. Because of your generosity, what would have been a tremendous challenge became an inventive way to teach and exciting lessons for all of my students.
I was able to create interactive websites with makerspace challenges geared toward all my learners ages, abilities, and resources they already had at home. These challenges are being posted monthly and the students love them. Some students do every single challenge! I am constantly sent pictures of their projects which I then post on the website for other students to view and draw inspiration from.
I was able to use the green screen and iPad tripod to create lesson trailers and stop motion videos to introduce the lessons. I had kindergartners ask about greenscreen today and they are super excited to work on stop motion and digital photography with the backdrop once we return to in person learning.
We have begun coding in all my K-5 classes and the coding card challenges are up next to motivate and push my learners beyond the coding basics.
Thank you again for your kindness and thoughtful donations to my students. This project has made our distance learning a better experience for every one of my students.”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by A Generous Donor and 4 other donors.Let's Make Some Mixed Media!
Funded Jan 23, 2020Thank you for supporting my students and classroom! At the time of this letter my students are learning from home. This does not mean that there was not a great impact from the materials you kindly donated.
We did get to use the Spec Drums quite a bit. The students absolutely loved using them. All classes were able to use them from K-5. I was able to reach students with the resources and get them comfortable learning in my class. One student, a first grader, has very limited English and was thrilled when he was able to use the Spec Drums first. As he made his music he danced and yelled to me, "Mr. DeMeno, this is cool". His confidence grew so much that he was comfortable speaking. This was a major break through. Another student who just moved to the school used the kits and told me how she hated technology class at her old school but now she likes it!
We were also able to work with our school music instructor who taught students to play songs they were learning in music class on the Spec Drums. It was great to see technology and the arts combine, and the students certainly loved the experience.
Although the closure of our school did not let us get to use all of our new resources fully, students were able to build the drones and charge the batteries. Unfortunately we were not able to fly them this year. I did bring them home for distance learning lessons and plan to share aerial footage with my students so they can see the drones that they prepped in action.
Thank you once again for supporting my students in their education. We will certainly make even more use of the resources from this project once we are able to meet in class.”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by Anonymous Arts Supporter and 6 other donors.Help Spark Learning with Circuitry!
Funded Aug 13, 2019Students at my school love creating circuits with the supplies that you generously donated. We began by using augmented reality applications to create circuits. The students were thrilled. Once the excitement behind augmented reality wore off they asked if they could make real circuits.
I kept the Squishy Circuits as a surprise. When I reviewed circuit basics the students had retained their knowledge and were extremely motivated to use the conductive dough to make their own circuits. Students made educated guesses as to what happens when the dough touches (short circuit), tried lighting multiple bulbs, and built a daisy chain. We are going to add toggle switches, sound, and motion with the motors (all of which came in the classroom kit) to our next creations. The students are even more excited to move beyond lights.
We were also able to add the Art to STEAM by choosing color schemes with our dough and LED lights. Students made sculptures with their dough and added stick bots, LEGOs, or dinosaur fossils to create scenes that they were able to light up!
In February the 5th grade starts an architecture unit. Upon building their designs we will add circuits using the copper tape and conductive paint to light up their buildings for display.
These materials are a great addition to our makerspace and have supplemented the science curriculum in a way that has made learning fun and memorable for the students. I can not express my gratitude enough. Thank you once again for supporting learning at my school and giving my students memories motivation and knowledge.”
With gratitude,
Mr. DeMeno
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.