Acquire+a+Wii

There are many different ways to get a Wii for your school and many come at now cost to you!

Matthew got two Wii consoles for his school using DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit helping getting much needed resources into classrooms by connecting donors with teachers. Here's his proposal, in case you'd like to adapt it for your own project on DonorsChoose.org. =Proposal to DonorsChoose.org :=

School has changed a great deal since we were kids, hasn't it? Laptops, projectors, and Smartboards help us to engage students in new ways. School libraries are changing, too. Students today are natives of a technology-rich world, and so the way we engage our students in learning is also changing.

As an elementary school library media specialist, our 450+ students in grades PreK-5 are different in many ways. However, one characteristic they share is an interest in using technology to understand new concepts and explore their world. Our school provides access to resources many of our students and families would not otherwise have an opportunity to use, such as access to books, computers, and the Internet. Our students are learners, explorers, writers, artists, creative thinkers, and active participants in the learning process. They not only ask lots of questions, but they also value the process of locating answers. Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and each brings his or her own unique ideas and understandings to the classroom when it's time to explore new things.

Educators across the country are bringing gaming technology into the classroom not only to actively engage students, but also as a new way to develop essential learning objectives. With a Nintendo Wii and Wii Sports Resort our students can explore math concepts including addition, subtraction, ordering decimals, estimation, and using/understanding data. For example, students can determine the number of remaining pins during Wii Sports bowling, and can calculate the number of pins needed to achieve a certain score. Students can estimate distance in the Wii Sports frisbee golf game and compare their "throws" with other classmates, calculating average distances or total combined feet thrown by the class. These are just two of many, many ways that the Nintendo Wii with Wii Sports Resort can have direct classroom application. Meaningful, memorable learning sticks with students, and imagine how meaningful (and memorable) using a Wii to explore new concepts would be!

Engaging students. Motivating learners. Integrating technology. Improving test scores. Approaching familiar concepts in new, applicable ways. These are just a few ways our teachers could impact student learning through the use of a Nintendo Wii with Wii Sports Resort. Unfortunately, we do not have the funds on our own to offer this great learning tool to our students. We hope you will consider supporting our school through your donation. Wii Love Learning and we're thankful for your support!