Our school grounds have fields, trees and a learning garden to explore. Students here love learning about all things STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and are especially excited when they get to use technology. These kiddos are anxious to explore the larger world around them using technology and Project Lead the Way (PLTW) curriculum!
Our public, kindergarten through sixth grade school serves a diverse group of students who come from middle to lower class homes.
Forty-eight percent receive free or reduced price breakfast and lunch. Since there is no sales tax in Oregon, schools have tight budgets, and teachers often rely on grants for funding.
My Project
Our students are inspired by the high-tech industry that surrounds our community. In fact, many of them are aspiring to have future careers right in their hometown. Our students absolutely love learning about coding, rapid-prototyping, engineering/design, and more. Unfortunately, our students are very limited with their explorations, due to our school's lack of technology. Our students come from low to middle socioeconomic households, thus many of them don't even have access to technology at home. We are determined to bring the best educational opportunities to our students everyday. We know that our students deserve inspiring hands-on experiences and STEM opportunities early.
Our school has decided to work with Project Lead the Way, a nationally recognized STEM curriculum and professional development partner.
Through PLTW we intend to bring STEM education (Engineering, Biomedical Science and Computer Science) to our students. My teaching partner and I have written similar grants with the hopes that both of our fourth grade classes will be able to experience the PLTW curriculum simultaneously. Our parent-teacher organization believes in our efforts so much that they were the first ones to support us, but we need even more help to move forward with this technology-rich curriculum.
Our students will cooperatively use the iPad minis to fully engage in the PLTW curriculum. Our kindergartners and fourth graders will be the first to implement this curriculum. Within three years, we plan on having everyone of our kindergarten through sixth graders using Project Lead the Way STEM curriculum.
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