Breakout of Boring at Coalinga High School utilized Breakout EDU boxes to bring an element of fun, hands-on learning, and to promote critical thinking. To open the locks, students must unravel mysteries and clues relevant to the content. The boxes can be set up to review content for a test, as a preview for a unit, or as a way to teach new content. Students used the boxes for lessons in DNA, Evolution, an introduction to marine life, and to review for the AP Biology exam.

Big Creek Elementary enhanced their selection of board games for the Youth Board Gaming League. The League is an afterschool club designed to enhance students’ critical-thinking and decision-making skills, while having fun playing board games with their peers. The games are exciting, interesting and they help build independence and encourage cooperative interaction.

The foundation of the Find Your Voice, Find Your Future project focuses on public speaking and debate. Students at Clay Elementary studied a textbook and with their new found skills used them in the practical manner of public speaking. Students used a lectern on wheels to take their audience on a journey through the art of speech. The speeches were recorded with a video camera allowing students to analyze their speech/debate. Young people want to be heard. This program allowed students to engage in a debate that reflects organization and knowledge of subject.

Corn in the Classroom is a project for sixth through eighth grade students at John Sutter Middle School who will grow a half acre cornfield on the school campus. An area has been cleared and the soil has been sampled to determine what additives are needed and what type of soil amendments will be required. Students will use a rototiller to mix everything up and get it all planted. This project has been a great opportunity for students to learn by doing hands-on activities.

Pine Ridge School’s sixth through eighth grade students had an opportunity to tap into their coding and robotics creativity. Each day the students were enthusiastically ready to get started on understanding how to code with their "pet" robots. Students prepared for Ozobots by utilizing Kahn's Hour of Coding and Scratch for the fundamentals. After this preparation, the student’s imagination took off as they applied their knowledge to the Ozobots. As an added bonus, they also facilitated stop action story telling using Stikbots.

The students at Burrel Union Elementary rehearsed endlessly for the play "The Lion King, Jr." With the purchase of a license and the equipment for the play, students had the opportunity to host a popular, professional play. They were excited to portray characters they had only seen in the movie. Burrel was excited to put on the magical world of theater for this small community with a big heart.

The community garden project was a combined venture between Alternative Education’s Gateway High School and Special Education’s Therapeutic Intervention Program (TIP) to give at-risk students a real-world, hands-on Career Technical Education (CTE) experience. It allowed students to be innovative and collaborative with peers, teachers and the broader community. Infrastructure was put into place (pluming, electrical, humus, etc) and tree, vine and vegetable crops were planned and planted by students.

Students in the National Junior Art Honor Society at Rafer Johnson Junior High assembled a cart and filled it with art supplies. The students decided how to organize and label the supplies and then established a check out system for teachers. Teachers were given an overview of what kinds of art materials were available on the cart and were introduced to the check out system. The staff was very excited to see the variety of supplies and expressed their delight with having more options for projects that require art tools.

Building on the strong partnership between the DNA Community School and the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, this project sought to build a greenhouse on the DNA Core Conditions Group Home site.

Breakout Your Roar! integrated the Breakout EDU learning platform to immerse students in engaging learning activities that support curricular goals by addressing the 4 C’s of California State Standards. Through discovery and failure Orange Center Elementary students solved a locked box puzzle designed around a unit of study. The project goal, through student engagement and perseverance, was to foster problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and English language development in a collaborative setting.

The use of 360 degree video and equipment is an emerging 21st Century technology that benefited Mr. Warden’s 10th grade World History class at Riverdale High School. Students used the 360 degree camera, equipment, and Virtual Reality (VR) headset to bring awareness to the challenges of the developing world through researching and promoting various humanitarian organizations. Students in small video production teams chose a specific humanitarian organization to create a Virtual/ 360 degree video demonstrating the challenges that their organization desires to improve.

Art Hop Highlighting Community exposed students at West Fresno Elementary to the arts by creating a theme inspired art project related to the positive influences within the community. Each student was able to complete an art piece using a 6 x 6 inch canvas depicting cultures from the community. Each grade level had a designated theme and they all participated in the Art Hop and their canvases were displayed during Open House night.

The Firebaugh High School Agriculture Department and FFA presented Agriculture Awareness Day with over 1,000 preschool to 5th grade students in attendance. Students had an opportunity to visit and learn from 17 booths about the industry variety within Agriculture Education. This was a wonderful opportunity to see high school students become teachers and teach the youth of tomorrow about the importance of agriculture.

At Mendota Elementary the STARS Sportsmanship Project has integrated Safety first, Try your best, Active participation, Respect, and Sports etiquette through social interaction, self-responsibility, and group dynamics. Teachers accessed equipment and lesson plans that have helped students promote strategies and the ability to work effectively with teammates during P.E., which in turn helped develop good sportsmanship.

The iPads in the Classroom project at West Park Elementary gave transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students access to a set of 4 iPad minis for use during small group guided instruction. The students were so excited when they saw they had iPads for their own classroom. Intervention and other educational programs were downloaded onto the iPad and the students learned how to log on. They were introduced to QR codes and how to use the app for student learning through listening centers and reviewing high frequency words and many more fun learning activities.

The Language Enrichment & Acquisition Program (LEAP) is a district-wide program for speech services. In its inaugural year, LEAP serviced 60 preschool-aged students who reside in the Selma Unified School District and have an Individualized Education Plan qualifying them for Speech Services. LEAP is operated by a team of Special Educators, who have worked to create an environment where language and learning are fostered in an engaging and creative classroom.

The Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) Unit, Public Affairs Officer at Parlier High School is responsible for reporting on all events and activities they participate in throughout the year. The purpose of the PAO position is to take pictures, write articles and ensure that the historical accomplishments of the Unit are captured for historical files and published in local, state and national news papers. With the grant, they upgraded the Public Affairs Office (PAO) camera with a Cannon EOS Rebel SL1 package along with tripod and photo printer.

The Mini Tablets in the classroom have been a new experience for preschool students at Westside Elementary. Using tablets, Estela Valdez-Preschool Teacher, facilitates conversations with the students while observing photos and videos that were taken in the classroom and outdoors to develop language and social and emotional skills. They play games that teach them numbers, colors, shapes, and patterns among many other math activities. The mini tablets in the classroom make it easy to capture different classroom activities with pictures to produce individual portfolios for each student.