January 2017 Grant Recipients

My project, Timeless Classic, is an effort to bring Charlotte's Web to the entire third grade at my school. Right now, we have 30 books to share among three classrooms for our novel study of this classic story. My goal is to purchase 60 more copies of the novel as well as the audio book so that every third grader at my school has the opportunity to use a book throughout the day for our novel study and independent reading work.

DreamBox Math is an online adaptive learning program designed for children at the kindergarten through 8th grade levels that assesses each student's progress and adjusts the lesson plan accordingly. The interactive online platform can analyze and use the results obtained to provide the student with the best possible lesson at the correct time. As the Title 1 Teacher at Frontier Elementary, this math intervention will allow me to assess each struggling math student that I work with in grades 2-4 and monitor their growth more efficiently.

Often times, our students are candidates for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, such as iPads, that will serve as the student's "voice". An AAC device can even help a child who has limited verbal communication skills expand his/her vocabulary. However, the process that it takes from determining eligibility, to qualification, to actually purchasing a device through insurance or Medicaid can literally take months. During this process, valuable learning time is either lost or severely diminished while this child waits to receive his/her "voice."

One of our goals is to provide a monthly STEM Camp for Garfield Elementary students, 4th-6th grade. Each month will have a different integrated STEM theme with hands-on materials and exploration. Each theme will have local area connections through guest speakers in a related profession and field trips related to the month’s theme. Each camp will also provide enough materials that students can take home their designs, rockets, engineered machine, etc. The curriculum and projects used for Garfield’s STEM Camps will be drawn from Next Generation Science Standards and Idaho State content standards in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

As co-coordinator of this event, I would like if each student was able to choose a NEW book that they would receive that evening. I would use the Scholastic book site as they have many reasonable priced books. Scholastic also does a good job of labeling books per grade level and readability so students and teachers can work together to find books that are a "good fit" book for each student.

The classes will focus on Kindergarten Readiness, early literacy and STEAM activities (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). Participants will not only take away activities in these areas, but will also earn free Professional Development Credits with Idaho Stars. We are requesting a grant from CapEd to purchase a bag for each participant who attends all three classes this spring. This bag will contain items they can use for STEAM activities in their own classrooms.