Crestwood Elementary and Junior High School students and staff are preparing for a night showcasing how technology is utilized in the classroom.
    Students and Technology Uniting for the Future (STUF) will be held from 4:30-6:30 p.m. March 6 at Crestwood Elementary and Junior High School. The event will serve as a technology open house, as well as a school fundraiser aimed at raising money to purchase more technology for the classroom.
    Kindergarten through eighth grade students and school staff will hold 26 demonstrations during the two-hour event showcasing the types of technology currently used throughout the elementary and junior high to help support student achievement in the 21st Century. Demonstrations will feature technology such as the school’s electronic card catalog, Powerpoint presentations, a 3-D landscaping program and how parents can access grades and attendance records for their children on the internet, in addition to many other types of technology used at school.
    The event, which is open to the public, will also include a soup supper in the school cafeteria for a free-will donation, with soup and staff provided by Cresco Bank & Trust.
    A silent auction of items donated from several companies and local businesses will also be held. Elementary and junior high classrooms are helping compile baskets for the auction filled with items such as gift certificates, hats autographed by NASCAR drivers, college sportswear, locally made quilts and blankets, artwork and a variety of other items.
    The soup supper and silent auction will help the school raise money to purchase more technology for the elementary and junior high building.
    “We’d like every classroom to have as up-to-date technology as possible,” said Junior High Principal Todd Knobloch.   
    The school’s goal is to furnish each classroom in the building with a SMART Board (an interactive white board), a projector for the board, and an Elmo computer projector, according to Knobloch and Elementary School Principal Shirley Sovereign. SMART Boards cost about $1,200 apiece, projectors that work with the board cost about $500 and Elmo projectors cost approximately $600 each.
    As of now, three Elmos and three SMART Boards are located in the junior high and elementary building, all of which were funded by grants.
    “Our teachers have done a wonderful job on writing grants,” Sovereign said. “This [the March fundraiser] is just another way for us to get the technology we need for the building.”
    Last December, three Howard-Winneshiek teachers were awarded McElroy Grants, allowing the district to purchase two SMART Boards and a Mimio Interactive projection unit.
    Michelle Midthus, one of the three Crestwood teachers awarded McElroy grants last year, says her fourth-graders enjoy learning on their new SMART Board.
    “It really grabs students’ attention,” she said.
    The board’s touch-sensitive display can be connected to a computer and digital projector, which projects the computer’s screen onto the board. Her students practice grammar, writing, math and other skills using the technology.
    Knobloch and Sovereign hope the technology open house will help raise funds to purchase new technology for other classrooms throughout the building.
    “We encourage everybody to come out,” Knobloch said.
    The technology event will precede the junior high musical, Twinderella, which begins at 7 p.m. that night.