RAFT Hands-On Education

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and this is an excellent time in the school year to take a moment and reflect on the teachers and students for whom you are grateful! Thanksgiving is a holiday that reminds us to stop and think about the people in our lives who have made a significant impression, who have inspired us to go further, and who have helped you embrace new challenges without fear of failure! In many ways, these people are the teachers and students we’ve met in our lives, which includes YOU, our devoted RAFT educators! Take time to think about this: who are the teachers and students you’re grateful for? To me, in a way, we are all teachers in some capacity when we care about another person and want to help them positively learn something. I remember my kinder teacher, Ms. Lamb, and my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Turturici, who encouraged a timid little girl to be whatever she wanted to be. And that little girl was me! I thank them for their patience and persistence

What do math and music have in common?  Numbers tell us a lot about music! Math explains why notes sound higher than others, why instruments look the way they  are, and why some sounds are more pleasing to the ear than others. Math and music  are universal languages and use patterns to convey meaning! On November 3rd, at this year’s Marion Cilker Conference at SJSU, RAFT’s  Education Team’s Jeanne Lazzarini and Dianne Hurvitz co-presented “Harmonizing  with STEAM Standards” on that very subject in front of enthusiastic SJSU students!  Participants tackled a Design Challenge creating music collaboratively out of recycled  materials and making connections with mathematics! This challenge also introduced  other opportunities for cross-disciplinary STEAM lessons in literature, technology,  engineering, and science! How can you generate curiosity about music and math Watch this fantastic YouTube video with your students : Landfill Harmonics Make a musical instrument out of recycl