RAFT Blog, News, and Events

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…

DreamBox Impact Series: Oak Grove School District

February 27, 2025

Empowering Newcomers Through Hands-On STEAM Learning In Summer 2024, students at Oak Grove School District‘s Newcomer Summer Academy embarked on an innovative hands-on STEAM adventure. Through RAFT’s creative reuse materials and engaging activity kits, 75 students explored the mysteries of space while strengthening their English language skills, guided by 3 dedicated teachers. Hands-on learning is…

AmazonSmile: Shop and Support!

Nov 17, 2022 | Comments Off

Help support RAFT by shopping on Amazon! AmazonSmile allows you to support your favorite charity every time you shop. You’ll find the exact selection of items, prices, and services with the added benefit that Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the…

Subscribe, Save, STEAM!

Nov 11, 2022 | Comments Off

Get regular access to affordable, sustainable, and quality STEAM kits and learning activities through RAFT’s STEAM Subscription Kits! This subscription service was launched in 2021 as a way for us to share our dedication to making STEAM learning more accessible and engaging. Individual Subscription…

RAFT – Found Engineering

Nov 3, 2022 | Comments Off

At RAFT we strongly believe that hands-on learning is crucial to a student’s development and learning. Students who are more physically engaged in the learning experience tend to have a deeper understanding with higher engagement and improved outcomes. Hands-on activities require materials that can…

Arista Funds RAFT Makerspace Build at Local Elementary School

Oct 20, 2022 | Comments Off

With its goal to provide educators with STEAM learning resources, Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT), a non-profit organization founded in 1994, organized a makerspace build for the Kathryn Hughes Elementary School in Santa Clara. RAFT believes that makerspaces are a great way to encourage…

RAFT Participates in Viva EscuelaSJ

Oct 12, 2022 | Comments Off

October is International Walk to School month! The CDC recommends that children ages 3 through 5 years need to be active throughout the day, while children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 need to be active for 60 minutes every day (see here for…

2022 Fall Sale & Membership Drive

Oct 2, 2022 | Comments Off

As we were welcomed by cooler temperatures and falling leaves, RAFT held its annual Membership Drive on October 1st and 2nd, 2022. On Saturday, RAFT brought out its best and deeply discounted items from the store for a Parking Lot Sale open to the…