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RAFT Back to School Begins Saturday, August 6th, 3 weekends of specials! RAFT’s Back to School event, our signature member event, will be bigger and better than ever.  We’ve listened – the event won’t be just a single weekend which might not fit with your schedule and which always included long lines, but will be spread…

Receiving four out of a possible four stars means RAFT supporters can be assured that their organization is worthy of trust and commitment.   Resource Area for Teaching’s (RAFT) strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency, has once again earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. Since 2002,…

RAFT provides educators with engaging and affordable learning activities for summer. On average, students lose two months of academic skills over the summer, and studies show that teachers spend large amounts of time re-teaching material once students go back to school. To curb this decline in education advancement, some school districts are investing in structured…

In 2015, President Barack Obama proclaimed the National Week of Making to help fortify a country of makers inspired to pursue their passions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). This year, Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) supports the National Week of Making by partnering with local schools to install hands-on Makerspaces. Educational makerspaces, sometimes…

By Courtney Hunter, Resource Specialist Three percent of students in every classroom need some accommodations or assistance to achieve proficiency in academic subject areas. Not only are students not getting accommodations, many aren’t making significant progress either. Using minor technology devices in the classroom can help students meet their needs. In addition, the assistive technology…

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 empower students? Ever think of letting students use power tools?   Then…

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 will support 10,000 student learning experiences and were donated to 18…

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 students that are normally reluctant learners suddenly are engaged and willing…