Need help and advice on filling donors choose grant and usin

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rcushman_crschools
 
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Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 12:42 pm

Need help and advice on filling donors choose grant and usin

Post by rcushman_crschools »

HELLO,

I teach Middle School Computer Science in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We have been using code.org Unit 6 in the Computer Science Discoveries course to learn physical computing with your Adafruit circuit playgrounds ( I have 60 of them since I manage another class set for a part time CS teacher in our building as well). I wrote a donors choose grant to get your Adafruit branded battery packs funded to power the circuit playgrounds without being tethered to the students devices through usb power so we could design for more than just digital environments on screen when applying our learning.

The grant was funded and I got some rechargeable batteries delivered, but unfortunately your branded battery holders with the on/off switch are shown as not available through my amazon order currently (see below). They are asking me to choose a replacement pack. I couldn't find anything with the same 2 pin JST connection on the Donors Choose Amazon Business link they provided other than yours that is now apparently not available. Do you have any advice on how I can get this order filled through you or recommend a replacement option for me?

I also have two additional questions that will shape some future decisions I make for my students. First, I am looking to use microsoft code projects for enriching what we learn in code.org and for some of the unplugged learning extensions we could now use with the added mobility of the battery packs. Do I HAVE to update versions of the board to the Circuit Playground Express, or will my Classics still connect and load code in Microsoft Make Code?

Finally, my students are middle school kids and are inherently rough on hardware. Most of the time they have the best intentions and aren't purposely trying to bend/break connections. I really need a nice protective cover to keep the boards fully functioning and protect the usb / JST connections. Do you have a recommended case for the classic, or would the clear case for the Express work ok? I showed my students and they thought the clear case was cool, so I figured I would check even though I know it was built specifically for the express board. Obviously, we learn on a tight budget so there are some limits to what we can do immediately, but over time and with some help from others I will find ways to put the best options to allow for choice and creativity while demonstrating learning in front of my students.

Thanks for any direction you could offer. It's been a rough year teaching remotely, so I really appreciate any advice on how to get this done for my students. We love using your Adafruit products in my class!

Rick Cushman
Harding Computer Science
4801 Golf Street NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402



FROM DONORS CHOOSE AMAZON BUSINESS ACCOUNT:


REPLACEMENTS NEEDED FOR
Computer Science Learning Power!
Check out the guide to selecting replacement resources.

UNAVAILABLE ITEMS$258.00
Adafruit Accessories 3xAAA Battery Holder w/ On/Off Switch (1 piece)
40 x $6.45 • Amazon Business
You've got $258.00 available to spend.
Select any resources that will benefit your class, even if they don't speak to the original goals of your project. We'll share your selection on your project page.



Rick Cushman
Computer Science / Student Leadership / Soccer
319-558-1051 - [email protected]

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Franklin97355
 
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Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Need help and advice on filling donors choose grant and

Post by Franklin97355 »

I'll check with support .

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rcushman_crschools
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 12:42 pm

Re: Need help and advice on filling donors choose grant and

Post by rcushman_crschools »

Thank you for looking into this for us!

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adafruit_support
 
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Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:37 pm

Re: Need help and advice on filling donors choose grant and

Post by adafruit_support »

hi rick,

thanks for posting up, we checked with our teams and pulled out the 3 questions you had:
rcushman_crschools wrote:Do you have any advice on how I can get this order filled through you or recommend a replacement option for me?
we do not know if amazon will allow you to use the donor's choose funds with something like amazon checkout (which we do have on our site), you may want to contact amazon support and see if they can apply it as credit for you to use which could then be used directly on adafruit.com during checkout via your amazon account.
rcushman_crschools wrote:Do I HAVE to update versions of the board to the Circuit Playground Express, or will my Classics still connect and load code in Microsoft Make Code?
Microsoft MakeCode requires CircuitPlayground Express.
rcushman_crschools wrote:Do you have a recommended case for the classic, or would the clear case for the Express work ok?
The case works only with CircuitPlayground Express.

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