Ham radio in my elementary classroom

[K5ATA]

Hello all.... I am a ham, and a 3rd grade teacher.  We have gotten some gear donated to start a station in my classroom.  The hope is to get some kids interested and get some of them licensed and on their way in ham radio.  We still lack power supplies for some of the gear.  I wrote a grant on donorschoose.org to try to raise the funds for the PS.  They forced me to use certain vendors, and not many school vendors carry anything in the way of gear. hihi.  If y'all wouldn't mind passing the word along to fellow hams, it would be greatly appreciated. Even a couple bucks of donation adds up when many give.  Thanks in advance...

73 de k5ata

http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/145486.683680535

[AE5QB]

This sounds like a good fit for an ARRL progress grant.  There are very generous companies and individuals who contribute to the ARRL Education and Technology Program.  These grants are separated into two broad categories - School Station Grants and Progress grants.  The former is to help schools set up complete stations, the later is for individual projects.  All it takes is some paperwork and you could be on your way to getting a power supply.  If you are not already aware of it, there is also a TI-1 and TI-2 program for teachers.  You will get all kinds of goodies and an education if you apply and are able to attend.  They are well worth the effort it takes to fill out an application and travel to where the classes are held.  You will be reimbursed for travel and food so it is pretty much at no cost to you.  It is all paid for by contributions from generous donors.  Not a penny comes out member dues.  Great program!

Good luck with your program.

Tom
AE5QB

[K5ATA]

I have applied for the summer teacher institute with ARRL.  I am also working on an ARRL grant.  What we have so far is pretty meager, but it will work as a good start.  It's one of those things I have been wanting to do for some time again, but just had not had the opportunity... I mentioned it our tech director and he is all for it, and a local club is getting us some gear to start, so it all kind of came together in a hurry.  Thanks for the advice.

[AE5QB]

Steve, good for you.  It is great that you have a club to help you out.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you to get into the TI-1 program.  It is fantastic!  I am not sure who will be teaching it this year but it really doesn't matter, they are all great instructors.

I don't have a station up at my school yet.  I am dragging my personal equipment to the school to operate.  I am preparing a station grant now and hope to send it in sometime in the next two weeks.  My kiddos are in the process of building some tape measure Yagis.  I have a 15mw Fox transmitter so we are going to do some Fox Hunting and I may incorporate some GPS geocaching as well.  I am still working on the details in my own mind but I see them doing a math problem to get the longitude and latitude of the next clue.  After a couple of those the final clue will be the frequency for the transmitter.  We'll see how it goes.  I think the kids will love it and getting them outside will be good.  I teach middle school, by the way.

Get your third graders into Morse Code.  They are at a good age to learn it and will think it is cool to be able to talk in a secret code.  Have fun with it and don't hesitate to let the 4th and 5th graders get involved as well. After all, it is only time and money and I know as a teacher you have plenty of both.

Anyway, good look with your club and your application.  One last thing, if you didn't already know, the ARRL has brought up a teacher forum on the web site.  It is a place where teachers can share questions, ideas, and classroom activities.

73

Tom
AE5QB