{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"United Intermediate School","outOfStateSupporters":7.1,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":6521699,"projectId":10095938,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generous donations to our meteorology project. Your donation helped us to purchase materials that will help our students learn valuable skills by incorporating technology, math and science to better understand weather and weather patterns. My students were so excited when we first revealed the new equipment and materials and could not wait to try them out. Our program is relatively new (we are in our third year as an intermediate building and this is the third year of our STEAM program) and we are still working on building materials and resources to use for our lessons. Any time we are able to get tools that students can use is such a fantastic way for learning to come to life for our students.\r\n\r\nWe are just getting ready to start our weather units, so we have just begun to explore and investigate our new equipment at this time. Our fourth graders and our resource room class will begin learning about weather concepts now that we are in the second quarter. We plan to use the compasses, wind sock, wind vane and anemometers to help us determine directions as well as to help learn how to take accurate measurements of wind speed as part of tracking weather patterns. This data will be used as we track the weather, input data into spreadsheets and learn how to utilize spreadsheets for data collection, and then turn that information into graphs that we can use to share our findings. We will also use these tools to help us as we do activities to help us better understand the challenges that engineers face as they work to build structures that can withstand the winds from derechos, hurricanes and tornadoes.\r\n\r\nFifth and sixth graders will also be using these tools to learn about data collection. As a part of our data collection, we will also be learning how to obtain measurements from our weather station, thermometers, hygrometers, heat lamps and rain gauge in order to get a more complete picture of the weather patterns we observe. Students will use this information and apply it to plant growth and farming practices. These are important skills to have for our area as we live in a rural farming community. Even if students do not live on a farm, it will help them have a deeper understanding of how greatly the weather affects farming day to day. We have access to an online maker space where students can build farm equipment to help assist with farming skills like hauling hay and moving rock. We will use the knowledge we build from using our weather tools and applying it to our engineering and robotics lesson as we talk about work conditions on the farm and how to build machines that will be sturdy enough to handle different weather and environmental conditions.\r\n\r\nMy future hope for this equipment is to give our students the background knowledge they need to become more innovative as members of our school garden club, their 4-H clubs and eventually our FFA program as they enter junior high and high school. I hope to eventually have students build skills to start experimenting with broadcasting and how to communicate their weather results with larger audiences as well as using the information to start learning about innovations in gardening, farming and agriculture. \r\n\r\nAgain, I want to thank you so much for your generous donation to our STEAM program project. Your gift will make a great impact on all of our students and will help equip them with the skills they need to have a greater understanding of weather and climate and how those affect their daily lives. We appreciate your generosity and look forward to being able to use these tools for years to come.","fullyFundedDate":1777973911531,"projectUrl":"project/becoming-red-storm-meteorologists-with-t/10095938/","projectTitle":"Becoming Red Storm Meteorologists With Tools to Understand Weather Patterns","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Feltmeyer","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp6521699_orig.jpg?crop=2320,2320,x0,y162&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1712932875723","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/carey-feltmeyer"},{"teacherId":9932798,"projectId":9134708,"letterContent":"The 3D printers have been a phenomenal addition to our STEAM program and library classes at United Intermediate School. After their arrival last spring, I spent time learning the machines so students could begin exploring 3D design and printing. By late April, our 4th and 5th graders were already creating personalized keychains, experimenting with shapes, and discovering how their ideas could take form in the real world. Meanwhile, our 6th graders tackled a challenging first project—designing skateboards from scratch in Tinkercad. They learned how to use cylinders and cubes in both solid and hole form to create boards with functioning wheels. It was an ambitious start, but they rose to the challenge. I was amazed by how quickly they grasped the concepts—two students even surprised me one day with a detailed 3D rendering of our school building that looked astonishingly accurate! Others recreated famous landmarks, moments in history, and local places that mattered to them, connecting creativity with real-world learning.\r\n\r\nThroughout these projects, students quickly realized that precision, patience, and persistence are key to success. A single skipped step or slight misalignment could cause a print to fail—whether it was a skateboard with stuck wheels or a keychain with \"floating\" letters. These experiences became valuable lessons in problem-solving and perseverance. Students learned to slow down, follow directions carefully, and make small, deliberate changes to improve their designs. They began to see how the engineering process is a constant cycle of testing, adjusting, and trying again. Beyond learning to use a new technology, they developed critical life skills: focus, collaboration, spatial reasoning, and the ability to troubleshoot and adapt when things don't go as planned.\r\n\r\nWe are incredibly grateful to our donors for making this possible. Because of your generosity, our students are not only learning about technology—they are creating with it. Their excitement is contagious, and they constantly ask when they can design their next project. As we enter our second year of 3D printing, students are more confident, skilled, and ready to take their creativity to the next level. Thank you for giving them the opportunity to imagine, design, and build their ideas—your support has truly sparked a new wave of innovation and enthusiasm in our school.","fullyFundedDate":1743608386420,"projectUrl":"project/a-tale-of-two-printers-3d-learning-begi/9134708/","projectTitle":"A Tale of Two Printers: 3D Learning Begins at UIS","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Koerner","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp9932798_orig.png?crop=1169,1170,x0,y350&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1740896327802","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/mrskoernerslibrary"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_132193","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":204,"numTeachers":null,"percentFrplEligible":44,"percentAsian":1,"percentBlack":2,"percentWhite":86,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":7,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":1,"gradesServed":"4 - 6","studentTeacherRatio":null,"demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"TOWN","ncesMetroType":"RURAL_DISTANT"},"inStateSupporters":92.9,"schoolId":132193,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about United Intermediate School on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"United Intermediate School","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/illinois/united-community-unit-school-district-304/united-intermediate-school/132193"}