We are so grateful for all those who supported the fund the need last year and enabled us to take a huge step into implementing STREAM. STREAM combines science, technology, religion, engineering, art and math to help students work together to create solutions to problems. This isn’t always done in science labs but throughout the day in all classes.
I wanted to give you a full disclosure of where the fund the need money from last year’s auction went. The committee of teachers that helped determine how to use the money has been very intentional and frugal with the generous donations. I hope that you have had a chance to visit the library and see the renovations. As part of the facility plan, new carpet was installed and a fresh coat of paint was done during the summer, so we did not need to use funds for that. One of the team members installed the vinyl window clings and the facility crew installed the storage cabinets. The 60 inch Smart TV was purchased using a credit from a vendor.
Now that the school has hired a librarian with years of experience, we have been able to identify some strengths and needs in our collections – many of the books purchased are non-fiction or are able to be used with STREAM lessons. The team felt it was important to commit to this endeavor.
When we were planning, we were shocked at how expensive furniture was. As God does, He took care of us. During the summer, we were contacted by St. James to see if we were interested in some furniture that they had from Garmin. It is expensive furniture and after looking at it, the team decided that it was what we were looking for. We did need to order some additional chairs to complete the room.
Mr. Whalen had been a STEM instructor at Clear Creek before coming to SHOJ and became our expert on what supplies the teachers needed and how to use them. He has presented a couple sessions of professional development for the staff and will be visiting rooms to help use the equipment we purchased. At his recommendation we got a class set of SPHERO programmable robots and new iPads with cases and a charging station to go with it. We also purchased some lesson resources to use in the classrooms.
Mr. Chapman has always been willing to work on the technology part of STREAM. To support this in the tech class, we purchased a 3-D printer and the accessories to go with it. The students have been using CAD to design things and actually see some of them printed. Technology in general is always a need. We have decided that it is time to have another class set of Chromebooks with a cart to ensure that teachers have them available when they need them.
So here are the numbers:
Books/resources: $10,300
Furniture / library updates: $3,200
Technology: $15,900
Professional Development: $1,000
Remaining: $5,600
The committee is waiting to see what teachers may want as they learn how to implement STREAM in the classroom or if there is another professional development that might be good. The alternate plan with the remaining money is to purchase a SMART TV to replace another smartboard/projector in one of the classrooms if no other needs come up – this will free up future technology funding.
