November 2023 Grant Recipients

I have received a grant from the Idaho STEM Action Center for an After School STEM camp. We will run an innovative STEM After School Club at our elementary school. This program aims to foster a passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in elementary school students by providing engaging and hands-on experiences through four 6 week camps - 2 DaVinci Camps and 2 Claymation Camps. The club will meet once a week throughout the school year, offering students the opportunity to explore, create, and learn in a supportive and enriching environment. Through this opportunity students will boost their learning about STEM and help address the learning loss that occurred during the out of school time due to COVID.

Books, books, and more books! Having funds to purchase high-interest and engaging books at various levels for my elementary students to independently read and enjoy would be wonderful. A classroom library exposes students to a variety of books inspiring them to explore and enjoy reading. Currently, my classroom library consists of used books purchased from thrift stores and garage sales. Although many of the books are outdated and worn, my students still enjoy selecting books and exploring different genres. I would love to offer students the ability to choose colorful, current, and engaging book titles to independently read and enjoy.

The grant funds would be used to purchase new books at many different levels promoting student engagement for all learners. New books would encourage students to read both inside and outside the classroom.

We want to make learning letter names and sounds a fun and interactive experience for our youngest learners. We would do this by utilizing a program called Zoo Phonics that uses movement and songs to create lifelong learners. I am a reading intervention teacher for a k-12 school in rural Idaho. One of my main tasks is working with kindergarten through 5th grade students to increase their reading skills. In the community our kids reside in there are no public or private preschools. This automatically gives most of our kindergarten students a huge disadvantage entering kindergarten with little to no pre reading skills. Unfortunately we are often faced with the task of playing catch up with students' reading skills right off the bat. With the program Zoo Phonics we could help our lowest students that need multi sensory learning have fun while learning!