Four months of the 2018-2019 school year have passed and the students in the Union Public Schools are benefiting from grants awarded to teachers by the Township of Union Education Foundation.
Greg Pardo, Connecticut Farms School, was awarded a grant to refurbish a non-working pinball machine. His goal was to have the students disassemble the machine, explore electronics and electrical engineering and work as a team to bring the machine back to working condition. The 49 students in two fourth-grade classes have made observations, determined the cause and effect, used machine schematics to see relationships and trace circuits, all while developing etiquette and courtesy and learning about trade jobs and tools.
Mr. Pardo stated, “I am very pleased with how this project is going. When we first started, we plugged in the machine and nothing worked. We are going over the entire machine with a fine tooth comb. We have been testing and soldering broken wires, damaged fuses, and gummed up components. We are taking a systematic approach to repairing the machine while learning about relays, coils, transformers, and even inventors such as Edison and Nikola Tesla. Currently the machine is in several different parts. I am hoping that we will get it working, but as I tell my students, it’s not about the finished product, but the process. We are having a lot of fun with this project and I am looking forward to showing it to the foundation when it is complete.”
Jennifer Reguinho, Hannah Caldwell, was awarded iPads to differentiate lessons in her kindergarten classroom. Ms. Reguinho shared, “I have students who came in to kindergarten reading on a first grade level, so while I teach basic letter sounds and formation to my whole group, I will assign a reading lesson to my higher level learners on iReady or Razz Kids. I had a new student join us from another country and could not speak one word of English when he first started. I have allowed him to use the iPad to go over common vocabulary words for the week and he absolutely loves it! His language has already improved! Students absolutely LOVE to use iPads in the classroom! It makes learning fun!”
These are two of the seven grants awarded by the Foundation for this school year to benefit the students in the Union Public Schools.
The Township of Union Education Foundation is a501 (c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. Further information can be found on our web site, tuef.org.
