A majority of children who enter the foster care system come only with the clothes on their backs and many times when a child is transitioned from one foster home to another, they are handed a plastic trash bag to gather their belongings. As part of the sewing curriculum Central High School students in the Family and Consumer Sciences classroom sewed bags and made blankets as a service-learning project so that students in foster care have something they can call their very own. The bags were filled with hygiene items, toys, a blanket, and much more.

Beginning this school year, 4th – 8th grade students at Big Creek Elementary had an opportunity to take a woodshop class where they learned basic to advanced wood-working skills. Projects included building a toolbox where they learned to sand, assemble, and nail it together. They learned about more advanced tools and proper safety practices when using these tools. The woodshop class also taught students basic life skills such as correctly using a tape measure, hammer, and screwdriver.

Memorization is crucial and a precursor to higher level thinking. The goal of the I’ve Got Skills incentive is to encourage 3rd grade students at Caruthers Elementary School to strive, to learn, and memorize their multiplication facts. In order to help motivate students to achieve this goal, students were rewarded with a T-shirt that says, “I’ve got skills---I’m multiplying,” along with a picture of the multiplication chart once students passed their facts within a given time frame. Memorizing multiplication facts is still an important skill that students will use far into the future.

All of the kindergarteners at Washington Colony are up and coming engineers with the introduction to coding with new Bee Bots and Code-a-Pillars in each class! Kindergarteners were able to define a code as a sequence of directions for the technology to follow. They also learned and started to use the engineering design process and vocabulary: identify the problem, brainstorm, plan, create, test, edit, and improve.

The Viva Mariachi! project centered on a Mariachi music program for grades 6-8 at Orange Center Elementary School. There was a Mariachi performance at Fresno State University with the FSU Mariachi, one for Mother's Day at the school, and one at Open House. The students presented reports in class on the culture of Mexican music and different artists and genres. The program was able to purchase new Mariachi attire.

Makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore, and discover using a variety of tools and materials. This year the goal was to expand the robotic and 3D printing capacity in the Makerspace at Sierra High School. Student now have greater opportunity to participate in STEAM projects and competitions that are not currently available via the classroom. This project inspired students to investigate the technological world through tinkering and robotics and to see the real-life application of math, science, technology, and art.

The Firebaugh High School Criminal Justice class took a day trip to San Francisco. They were able to take a short tour of the San Francisco Police Department and participate in the prestigious Alcatraz Prison Tour. The class learned the step-by-step process of what it takes to become a police officer in a city such as San Francisco. They were exposed to a whole different set of expectations than a typical small police department they are used to seeing in a city like Firebaugh. The students then made their way to Pier 39 to load up the Ferry that made its way to Alcatraz.

From the Garden to the Table was a fabulous kindergarten class project at Alvina Elementary. Students enjoyed gardening, observing, cooking, reading, writing, and singing. As students eagerly watched their ripening tomatoes, they learned a song about pizza, which was an introduction to the final cooking project of making our own pizza. Students enjoyed learning that they can grow plants from seeds and some from clippings. They enjoyed learning that plants have various scents with favorites being rosemary, lavender, and mint.

Using Reader’s Theatre, Burrel Elementary students read and performed various stories from the Greek Gods to Cleopatra in class to bring stories in literature and in history to life. The goal of this project was to improve reading comprehension and fluency. The reading program allows students to improve their reading skills while having fun and gaining confidence as they performed the scripts in front of the public.

Students in the Ag Biology course at Kerman High School found local resources to grow 88 heads of lettuce using 35 gold fish. They learned all of the bacterial breakdown of Nitrogen and the Nitrogen cycle and were able to incorporate what they learned to monitor the plant health and the fish health. Students learned about the nitrogen cycle, water quality assurance, and raising fish and growing food. They also learned the basics of testing for water quality through a closed system and maintaining the appropriate nitrate and ammonia levels.

Students at Washington Colony have transformed their ability to take quality pictures. Throughout the year they learned about using a digital camera, photography concepts, and editing pictures. Students learned about the different capabilities of digital cameras and started applying them as they made steps to improving their picture quality. Students also took their knowledge of photography concepts and applied them by taking portraits at sporting events, to capturing the beauty around them, and everything in between.

Kepler Neighborhood School has successfully purchased equipment, designed the program, and begun implementation of it’s Minds-in-Motion Maze. Students thoroughly enjoy the colorful brain and body strengthening equipment and exercises. TK & Kinder students are using the twist boards and balance beams to strengthen core muscles and improve balance. They're using bean bags for visual tracking and coordination exercises as well. Exercise mats are used for hurdles, crawling, and rolling exercises.

Battery powered drills are an essential part of the Firebaugh High School Construction Technology program and current trends are seeing an increase in their usage. The Innovation Grant provided the opportunity to increase the availability of these tools for students in the program. Students were able to take the tools to construction competitions, which enabled them to work faster and with more accuracy. With their experience using these tools, students will be better equipped for jobs in the construction industry.

If You Build It, They Will Learn, was a project at Riverdale Elementary School that encouraged students to work collaboratively to build a Rube Goldberg type of machine. Using research, collaboration, engineering practices, physics concepts, design, testing, data collection, refining, and writing and communication skills students worked to solve a problem using a series of simple machines to accomplish a task.

Let it Grow! provided students at Pacific Union Elementary an opportunity to participate in a hands-on learning experience on propagating plants in a greenhouse.