RAFT Blog, News, and Events

Bringing Hands-On STEAM Learning to San Diego Educators

May 18, 2025

RAFT recently had the pleasure of participating in the San Diego STEAM Educators Conference at the University of San Diego from May 16-17. The event brought together hundreds of teachers from across the state committed to advancing STEAM education across Southern California. Nancy McIntyre, RAFT’s new Community Engagement Manager, represented our team at the conference,…

From Honoree to Advocate: A STEAM Award’s Ripple Effect

May 14, 2025

At RAFT, we believe in celebrating educators who bring STEAM to life through hands-on learning. Our STEAM Teachers and Administrators of the Year Awards honor those who go above and beyond-and sometimes, that recognition inspires something even bigger. Just ask Bryan Williams, a past STEAM Teacher of the Year award recipient who later nominated another…

DreamBox Impact Series: Milpitas Unified School District

April 1, 2025

Engaging EL and SPED Learners Through Hands-On STEAM For the past two summers, RAFT has partnered with Milpitas Unified School District to bring hands-on STEAM learning to the district’s Extended School Year (ESY) summer program. This past summer, 230 fourth- through sixth-grade Special Education (SPED) and English Learner (EL) students became environmental engineers-designing water filtration…

Bringing Stories to Life: RAFT’s Intersession Program at Northwood Elementary

March 18, 2025

This winter, Northwood Elementary students in Berryessa School District embarked on a creative journey through RAFT’s three-day Intersession program. Designed to spark imagination and hands-on learning, the program engaged 66 students in grades K-5 in the art of puppet-making, storytelling, and performance, culminating in a special showcase for families. Student-made marionette puppets displayed with crafting…

RAFT’s Summer of Fun Includes Camps for Teachers & Kids!

Jun 2, 2016 |

Want to stoke the creative innovator in you and your students? Ever wonder what it takes to design an engaging project or design challenge? Interested in generating your own project based learning experiences but don’t know where to start? What does it mean to…

RAFT and the Community Support 10,000 Student Learning Experiences

May 31, 2016 | Comments Off

Together with help from the Santa Clara community, RAFT and Intel created 10,000 student experiences using hands-on learning kits. Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT), Intel, and the Santa Clara community came together to build 1,000 educational kits to help support hands-on learning. The kits…

Student Coaching Works

May 19, 2016 |

By Elisha Burns, RAFT Fellow Older students helping the younger ones garden To increase student engagement, I say let the students take the lead. I have found that my students do their best work when they are put into a position of leadership. My…

Introducing Parents to STEAM

May 12, 2016 |

Rita Mercado, First Grade Teacher, Serendipity School The idea of having parents come into the classroom can be overwhelming at times, but it is an important step in having them gain an understanding of the learning that happens throughout the day that isn’t able…

RAFT Thanks Teachers During Teacher Appreciation Week

May 2, 2016 | Comments Off

The week of May 2nd, educators all over the country are thanked for their efforts in teaching. When it comes to student performance on reading and math tests, a teacher is estimated to have two to three times the impact of any other school…

Doing Laundry in Pre-K

Apr 27, 2016 |

By Ashley Estes, RAFT Fellow RAFT is one of the best places to find some amazing premade kits and learning tools. These kits are great and can be used across many grade levels. As a 1st grade teacher, I use them weekly in my…