Parents of Memorial Elementary School students in Mendon, Massachusetts, recently held a casino night fundraiser to raise money for interactive whiteboards and LCD classroom projectors for local schools, according to the Milford Daily News. Before the event, organizers had hoped to raise up to $20,000.
Access to classroom technology, like an interactive whiteboard, document camera or HDMI projector, allows teachers to tailor their lesson plans to students with a variety of learning styles. With technology like tablet computers, for instance, a teacher can assign students who read at different levels variations on the same reading material through an instructive app. Some reading apps may come with recorded audio for students who retain more aural information.
The parent teacher organization hosting the casino night typically raises between $17,000 and $20,000 through smaller fundraisers throughout the year, so any funds received approaching the $20,000 mark in a single night would be a huge success for the school.
Memorial Elementary already has some interactive whiteboards, but teachers say they are outdated. Eventually, the PTO hopes to fund the purchase of iPads and integrate interactive whiteboards and projectors into every classroom in the school.
