March 2017 Grant Recipients

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." -Harry Truman. At Indian Creek Elementary we focus and foster important leadership traits. We hope to inspire our students to become leaders from where ever they are. Strong literacy skills are essential to supporting our lifelong learners. The books would assist students in exploring big ideas such as American Heritage, Community, History, Culture, Environment, Geography, and much more. These books will provide rich language development and experiences for our students.

At North Star we do not have headphones for multiple users for health reasons. We require students to bring their own earbuds for computer class. This year our school has added computer classes for our full-day kindergartners. We have found that earbuds fall out of the kindergartners' little ears. This causes them to be unable to use the audio portion of many exciting learning adventures on their computers. We have tried many kinds of earbuds and realized that headphones are the best solution to this problem.

One of our district goals this year, and years to come, is to increase our Reading/Literacy scores in all of the measures that we use to determine proficiency. I would love to focus on our Jr/Sr High school library and get some updated literature in there for students to enjoy and learn from. The project will immediately benefit all of my Jr/Sr High school students, and many more students for years to come. I have a district librarian in place to help facilitate and organize the new books, and a school counselor that is willing to do some behind the scenes work as well...we just need the books.

In March, for Read Across America Week, we are doing a Read-a-thon challenge where we are challenging every student to read for a minimum of 20 minutes every day for the month of March, in hopes that it will establish a life-long habit of reading. Research shows that if students are not reading fluently by the third grade, 1) they are likely not to be readers ever, and 2) they are statistically more likely to live at-risk lifestyles for dropping out, crime, and drug abuse. Literacy is a skill that all adults need in order to be successful.

Current research shows that flexible seating arrangements have a positive impact on student learning and growth. After researching the concept, we would like to begin modifying our classroom environment so that students have as many tools as possible to reach their full potential in all type of learning groups. We will begin replacing our outdated, highly limited seating arrangement with one that provides flexibility and that increases student learning while promoting physical activity.

The FLIR One iOS device can be used by the shop class to analyze typical heat loss among various structures. This would be ideal for long-term real-world application in and outside of class. Students can go on to understand how different roof formations may hold on to or lose heat more readily. Looking at different building materials such as brick, wood, plastic siding are also practical applications. Windows are another source of heat-loss if they are not properly installed. This device can be used to detect damage in the window panes and check to see if they are no longer holding a proper seal.

Earlier this year, I had a request for a Spanish edition of a classroom novel for an English learner. The NHS Library and textbook collection didn’t have one, nor did either of the other district’s high schools. Shortly after the above request, I had a teacher ask if we had a large print edition for a student who was having difficulty reading the small font. Once again, we didn’t have the book. This was not the first time such requests have been made. Obtaining a grant would help start the process of purchasing these editions of classroom novels in order to provide educational support to segments of our student population.

Many objectives in the science, language arts, and math curriculum will be incorporated in our chicken egg hatching project. Students will be using the procedures of the scientific method---observation, questioning, hypothesis, experimenting, recording data, analyzing results and collecting and organizing data. They will be predicting the outcome of the incubation. Students will be learning what sort of environment animals need in order to survive and thrive. We will discuss needs and wants that animals and people have and the difference. How can we provide what the chicks need?