RAFT Hands-On Education

By Jeanne Lazzarini, RAFT Math Activity Developer & Mentor, and the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, NCTM Create a classroom that engages you and your kids. Make your room a place that you like be in.  Some suggestions include: Fill your classroom with examples of the real world. Dedicate a bulletin board to certain topics. Include a “Problem of the Week.” Create a center including puzzles, thinking games, and manipulatives that could be explored by students. Develop a plan to connect with parents. Provide parents with a welcome letter followed by monthly newsletters that include a brief overview of topics their children will be learning about in the coming month. For the younger grades, a take-home “manipulative of the month” made out of sheets of craft foam or other inexpensive material could also be shared. Suggest activities for parents to do at home to reinforce the concepts and activities that the students are investigating in...

Twelve STEAM Innovation Leaders from the Campbell Unified School District (CUSD) came to RAFT earlier this month to create new motivational activities for the start of the school year!  They met in grade-level teams with our RAFT Education staff to generate new ideas using RAFT materials that will motivate, challenge, and inspire their students. Each team was given a RAFT Makerspace-in-a-Box containing a wide variety of upcycled materials. They were asked to create a Design Challenge that directed students to solve the instructor’s challenge with the materials from the box. The Design Challenges addressed an engineering standard appropriate for each grade level and could include standards from other subjects. Here are some of their exciting back-to-school ideas: ************************************************************************************* Grades TK – 2 Engineering Standard: K-2-ETS1-1:  Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situa...

RAFT does not carry these glasses, but you do not need to look at the sun to enjoy the experience of a solar eclipse. As you may know the Bay Area will see about 75% of the eclipse on Monday, August 21. The eclipse will be at its fullest at approximately 10:15 that morning. We are hoping there will not be any cloud cover! Even if there are overcast skies, students will be able to observe the darkening effect in the sky. If the sun is shining, you can do activities with your students such as observing the rays cast by the sun on a plain surface, holding up a piece of peg board, a colander, or anything with round holes in it. Students will see tiny images of the eclipsed sun without having to look up into the sky. They can also observe other shadows and images of the sun’s rays coming through leaves on a tree or shrub, or even used their own hands, fingers splayed and over-crossed, to observe these images. If possible, have your students do the same activities at the same time of day ...