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Grand Island Education Foundation awards classroom mini-grants
Grand Island Education Foundation Board members surprised teachers and students in Grand Island Public Schools when they arrived at schools Dec. 6 and Dec. 7 to award 21 classroom mini-grants.
Students and teachers were thrilled when a cardboard school bus drove into classrooms delivering opportunities to students. Each teacher received a giant check with the grant award.
The Grand Island Education Foundation awards mini-grants in two rounds on an annual basis. Mini-grants are designed to fund educational opportunities for students that are not available through the school district's general budget.
This is the seventh annual mini-grant cycle for the Grand Island Education Foundation. During the past seven years, 103 mini-grants totaling $82,087 funded projects across the district. Grants have benefited more than 20,000 students.
The 2010-2011 mini-grant fund was established via the "Add it Up to Opportunity!" Staff and Board fund drive and the "Back to School" Community Campaign held during the past 12 months.
For the 2010-2011 school year, 21 mini-grants totaling $15,859 were awarded. Grants range from $200 to $2,000. Approximately 4,000 students will benefit from a classroom mini-grant this school year.
Round One grant winners, grant amounts, and project titles were:
*Dr. Jenna S. Christensen, Grand Island Senior High School, $1,250, "Managing Mandatory Placement: Securing Futures." This project will provide computers in the Counseling Office for student use. Students will take placement tests required through Central Community College for dual credit coursework. Up to 250 students will benefit each year.
*Emily Brady, Jefferson Elementary School, $310, "Recorders for a Well-Rounded Music Education." This grant will purchase additional recorders to enhance the music curriculum. Recorders help foster music growth by reinforcing note-reading skills as well as improving motor skills needed later in band and orchestra. Approximately 120 students in third through fifth grade will benefit.
*Benjamin Hanson, Westridge Middle School, $1,000, "An ELMO in Multiple Content Area Classrooms." This grant will fund an ELMO Teaching Tool. It is a multipurpose tool that can help students show their progress to others in the classroom. Presentations could be further enhanced and done in real time. Up to 375 students will be affected by this project.
*Susan Stoeger and Nancy Chavez, Seedling Mile Elementary School, $1,150, "Cooking Up the Traits with N.L. Sharp" and "Young Author's Day: A Celebration of Writers." Author N.L Sharp will provide two half-day student presentations and one after-school staff development opportunity. The first student presentation will target the six traits and the writing process. Staff development will correlate with her theme "Cooking with the Traits." The second presentation will celebrate and reflect with the students on their growth. All 115 Seedling Mile students in kindergarten through fifth grade will participate.
*West Lawn SIP Team: Carolyn Wetzel, Mary Teichmeier, Christina Eutsler, Lisa Bales, Natalie Harden, and Wanda Stelk, West Lawn Elementary School, $997, "World Class Learning." The West Lawn School Improvement Plan Team will give students the opportunity to "travel" to various continents by using different modalities during the learning process. Special after-school events will be created that tie into daily curricular adventures. This will also give an opportunity for community and parent involvement. The program will benefit all 308 West Lawn students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
*Cheri Felton, Julie Armstrong, and Leah Faltin, Jefferson Elementary School, $1,000, "Spark Student Learning with ELMO!" This grant will fund an ELMO teaching tool. The ELMO enables teacher and students to collectively draw, annotate, manipulate images, and interact with multimedia resources and applications from all areas of the curriculum. Approximately 120 students in kindergarten and first grade will participate.
*April Patterson, Cheri Felton, and Julie Armstrong, Jefferson Elementary School, $550, " 'Toad-ally' Into Reading Books with My Family." Several times a week, each student will take home a " 'Toad-ally' Into Reading Books with My Family" bag filled with different genres of books to read together for 20 to 25 minutes. This project will promote family involvement with reading outside of the school day. Approximately 66 first-grade students will participate.
Round Two grant winners, grant amounts, and project titles were:
*Michelle Carter, Dodge Elementary School, $1,990, "A Flash of Green." This grant will fund iPod Touches. A Flash of Green allows students to create flashcards for their vocabulary words. The students generate definitions and a visual image for each word. The students will transfer the cards to the iPod Touches for practice. Approximately 145 of the fourth- and fifth-grade students will participate.
*Dr. Robin Dexter, Kneale Administration Building, $1,000, "Dictionaries for Third-Graders." Together with Sunrise Rotary of Grand Island, this grant will fund hardback dictionaries for third-graders in Grand Island area schools. Rotary members then deliver dictionaries to students. This project involves all 753 third-graders in Grand Island Public Schools.
*Fawn Gernstein, Paula Poppe, Sarah Wolf, Robyn Warner, Greg Morrow, and Montie Fyfe, Grand Island Senior High, $500, "Always Remember." This project will bring in four Holocaust survivors from the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha. Through inspiring critical thought and personal growth, Always Remember will assist students in developing an understanding of the roots and ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping in any society. Approximately 400 students will participate.
*Karmyn Barnes, Newell Elementary School, $175, "iLearn." This grant will fund iPad applications. The iPad is a fun and rewarding tool to use to help students who struggle. By using the iPad applications that concentrate on articulation and language, the speech/language students will make greater gains in a shorter period of time. Fifty to 60 students in kindergarten through fifth grade will participate.
*Shirley Wahlgren, Gates Elementary School, $250, "Empower Me For Life." This project is a hands-on after-school program where children learn to read food labels, are encouraged to eat fruits and vegetables at every meal, and get 60 minutes of exercise daily. They learn to construct healthy snacks and learn the value of making healthy decisions for a lifetime. Approximately 21 third- through fifth-graders and their families will benefit each semester from this grant.
*Charity LaBrie, Wasmer Elementary School, $1,000, "Arts Alive!" This grant will help fund an arts experience for students. Fourth- and fifth- grade students will travel to the Lied Center for Performing Arts to attend the ballet performance of "Alice in Wonderland." Second-grade students will travel to the Lied Center for Performing Arts to attend the live performance of "Choo Choo Soul" followed by a trip through the Sheldon Art Museum. Approximately 201 second-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students will be part of this project.
*Maura Hendrickson, Lincoln Elementary School, $940, "Eight Ps in the Pod." This project will provide iPod Touches to enhance student learning experiences. The iPod Touches will be used to enhance current kindergarten through fifth-grade curriculum with eight Ps: practice, presentation, purpose, potential, possibility, promise, practicality, and procedure. Approximately 340 students in kindergarten through fifth grade will benefit.
*Deb Lawson, Grand Island Senior High School, $325, "Public Speaking/English Formative Assessment Video Equipment." A high-definition video camera will be purchased with this grant. The video camera will allow students almost immediate access to view and review their performances and presentations for formative feedback. This project will benefit about 150 11th- and 12th-grade students each semester.
*Paul Walkowiak, Walnut Middle School, $380, "Safari Club." This project will give students an opportunity to study photography with a focus on outdoor and wildlife picture taking. Students will travel to local wildlife destinations for "photo safaris." Students will use portable blinds, professional cameras and telephoto lenses, along with their new knowledge and skills, to capture images of Nebraska wildlife. Nine to 18 sixth- through eighth-grade students will benefit.
*Robin Mettenbrink, Starr Elementary School, $413, "Reading at Home is Fundamental." Starr Elementary School applied for and has been awarded federal funding from the Reading Is Fundamental program. Reading Is Fundamental provides 75 percent of the cost of three books each year for every Starr student. This grant will provide the minimum 25 percent in matching funds required to provide these books for Starr students. Approximately 275 to 300 students will benefit.
*TiLynn Scott, Gates Elementary School, $1,200, "iBelong, iContribute, iSucceed." This grant will purchase iPads, cases, and iTunes cards. Students with autism and other special needs students will use this technology to help remove communication and social barriers that they face. Approximately 26 students will be directly involved, and all Gates students in kindergarten through fifth grade will benefit.
*Kellie Prather and Heather Nicholson, Jefferson Elementary School, $210, "Learning with ELMO on Jefferson Street." This project will fund document cameras for kindergarten classrooms at Jefferson. The document cameras will make materials available to a wide audience and provide stimulating visual displays that will improve student participation and retention. Approximately 35 kindergarten students will be affected.
*Janel Keyes, Howard Elementary School, $1,000, "Mobile Learning." This project will fund iPod Touches. These iPods will be available to teachers on a check-out basis and used as curriculum support. All 430 students in kindergarten through fifth grade will benefit.
*Terry Wiegand and Cara Kuhl, Stolley Park Elementary School, $211, "Stolley Park 'Counts' on Reading." This project will label a variety of books in the media center for use with the Reading Counts! program. The Grand Island Senior High School Student Wellness Advisory Board will provide the labor to label books and also mentor students in the beginning use of the Scholastic Reading Counts! computer program. All 220 students at Stolley Park will easily be able to choose books appropriate for their reading level, thus supporting the successful and fun use of Reading Counts!
For more information, contact: Traci Skalberg, Executive Director, Grand Island Education Foundation, (308) 385-5900, tskalber@gips.org