RAFT Blog, News, and Events

STEAM Dream Summer Camp 2025: A Season of Innovation, Discovery, and Fun

August 19, 2025

This August marks the exciting wrap-up of RAFT’s 2025 STEAM Dream Summer Camp and DreamBox season-our biggest yet! Over the course of eight action-packed weeks, we delivered more than 180 hours of hands-on STEAM programming, engaging TK-8 students from across the Bay Area in engineering challenges, storytelling adventures, and STEAM experimentation. With programs running across…

🏆 RAFT Wins Double Gold in Bay Area Parent’s 2025 Best of the Best Awards!

July 29, 2025

RAFT is proud to announce that our STEAM Dream Summer Camp has been awarded Gold in two categories in Bay Area Parent Magazine’s 2025 Best of the Best Awards: 🥇 Best Day Camp – Silicon Valley 🥇 Best Science & Technology Camp – Silicon Valley This exciting recognition reflects the strength and impact of RAFT’s…

STEAM in Action: RAFT Joins Synaptics for Bring Your Kids to Work Day

July 25, 2025

RAFT kicked off July with a hands-on, minds-on celebration of innovation by partnering with Synaptics for their Bring Your Kids to Work Day at the company’s San Jose campus. Synaptics employees brought their children to learn more about what their parents do and how STEM and STEAM skills power the technology all around us. RAFT…

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,…

It’s Okay to Make Mistakes!

Sep 28, 2015 |

By Jeanne Lazzarini, Math Master Educator/R&D Specialist, RAFT I have often shared with my students that I make mistakes, and I have learned so much because of them! Sometimes I even purposefully made a mistake in a math lesson to see if students take…

RAFT Hosts Code.org Professional Development Workshops

Sep 16, 2015 | Comments Off

RAFT teams up with Code.org to offer free workshops to assist in teaching computer science. Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) is offering free technology classes designed by Code.org, who will cover all workshop costs. The workshops will be open to everyone, though slots…

How does math relate to real life?

Sep 15, 2015 |

By Jeanne Lazzarini, Math Master Educator/R&D Specialist, RAFTHow does math relate to real life? One way is to take a look at the shape of a cloud, a mountain, a coastline, or a tree! You might be surprised to find that many patterns in…

RAFT Hires work2future Participants

Aug 31, 2015 | Comments Off

RAFT and work2future connect to focus on community support for youths seeking employment. August 31, 2015 – Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) has employed two work2future participants as retail and kit production assistants for their San Jose, California location. The work2future Foundation offers programs funded…

Using Personal Stories to Encourage Good Behavior

Aug 28, 2015 |

By Earlene Coleman, Special Education M.A. After teaching Special Education for twenty-five years, I’ve found that sharing personal stories with my students helps build positive relationships. How NOT to be around your students Now that the school year is off to a start, teachers…

RAFT Receives $15,000 Grant From StopWaste

Aug 11, 2015 | Comments Off

StopWaste supports Resource Area for Teaching in upcycling repurposed materials into inspiring hands-on learning tools August 11, 2015 – Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) has just been awarded a “Reuse Operating Grant” from StopWaste, a public agency responsible for reducing the waste stream in Alameda County.…