Lounsberry Hollow receives funding from Ripple

VERNON — Recently Ripple, an online company that can be used to “send money globally using the power of blockchain” (Ripple.com) funded every project on DonorsChoose.org and the students at Lounsberry Hollow School were among the lucky recipients.
On March 27, 2018, Ripple donated twenty-nine million dollars to DonorsChoose.org to fund every classroom project — over 35 thousand projects. Among these projects was “Project Positivity! Promoting Positive Behavior, Respect & Responsibility” created by Mrs. Barbara Monschauer, instructional math interventionist at Lounsberry Hollow School to help promote the school’s positive behavior program.
Thanks to the generosity of Ripple, the students of Lounsberry Hollow have received over twenty-five STEM, critical thinking, and problem solving games and activities. These activities will be housed in the school’s Kid Central room and students who have earned Viking Vouchers for “being on board with respect and responsibility” will have an opportunity to trade in the vouchers for “Brain Games Time” during lunch and recess.
Mrs. Monschauer personally chose all of the products because of their promise to promote positive attitudes about perseverance in both STEM and critical thinking endeavors. She has utilized many of these at both home and school, and seen great success with all types of learners. “By providing avenues in which children can feel successful not only increases their self-esteem, but I feel these activities promote problem solving skills that can be used to solve word problems in math and aid in determination and perseverance in all areas of life” stated Mrs. Monschauer.
While today’s children are more “tech savvy” than ever before these activities allow them to engage other parts of their brain. The STEM activities include coding, hands on building activities, and other games that promote experimentation with design. Other critical thinking games include Rush Hour, varieties of Chess, and many more! With the school looking towards its second year of educating grades four and five, this will hopefully prove to be an exciting addition.
For more information about DonorsChoose or Ripple, please visits their websites: DonorsChoose.org and Ripple.com.