Our students exceeded our goals and are currently enjoying completing ongoing engineering and coding projects together. The possibilities are endless and our students are soaring with all the new projects they invent and discover. Dany Richey | Teacher, Sierra Madre Elementary School
by Brianna Chu
In today’s technology-packed world, learning to code can never start too early. Sierra Madre Elementary School’s first grade teachers, Dany Richey and Kristina Keck, decided to get their students into coding early with the help of Ozobot, a company that makes educational robots that can be coded in two different ways to perform a multitude of functions.
When the robot kits arrived, they were accompanied by large, thick manuals full of instructions. Ms. Richey and Ms. Keck were slightly daunted; however, their students were quickly engrossed by their new bots and helped teach their teachers how to use them! The first grade class has also gone on to teach their second and third grade peers how to code and tackle all sorts of engineering and coding problems with “Ozobot,” “Botley,” and “K’Nex.”
Ms. Richey and Ms. Keck feel that the robots have given them a new perspective on their teaching as they’ve taken a more observational role with the coding robots as opposed to viewing themselves as the experts. With the appropriate resources, support, and encouragement, they’ve noticed that the children construct—and overcome—their own educational challenges. The teachers definitely plan to share the toys and resources with the rest of the elementary classes to enjoy and experiment with in the years to come.
The Pasadena Educational Foundation’s Teacher Grants help inspirational teachers throughout Pasadena Unified take their creative projects from idea to reality by providing resources to enhance the classroom experience for their students. The grants, provided directly to the teachers, benefit thousands of students in Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre.
For our 2018-19 grants we were proud to provide more than $200,000 for 125 grants to 190 educators including 14 school-wide grants. PEF Teacher Grants are made possible with generous support from the College Football Playoff Foundation, Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, FEDCO Charitable Foundation, California Community Foundation, and individual community donors. Find out more here: http://pased.org/teachers.
