December 2018 Grant Recipients

The key to the success of the Edmark Reading Program is its use of a carefully sequenced, highly repetitive word recognition method combined with errorless learning. This approach eliminates incorrect responses and helps students view themselves as a reader, building their confidence and encouraging them to read. Edmark Reading is currently being utilized in our Filer Intermediate School's Special Ed program with marked success. With this grant, the Elementary School Special Ed students will have the opportunity to utilize a reading program that helps those who learn differently.

Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is a nationwide environmental education program to increase student understanding of watershed science and water quality, ecosystem health and cold-water conservation by connecting students to their local environments and watersheds. TIC is sponsored locally by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the local chapter of Trout Unlimited. Students will raise trout from egg to fry, and then release them into a local waterway. By caring for trout, students learn about ecosystems and food webs, stream health, chemistry and water quality, nutrient cycling, animal behavior and anatomy, and genetics. Students monitor tank conditions and predict the hatching of eggs based on their growing understanding of habitat requirements. They regularly monitor water quality, measuring important parameters including temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. This supports students learning about habitat requirements, nutrient cycling and water chemistry. These hands-on, minds-on activities support many of the Idaho science standards for the middle grades, including Ecosystems, Heredity, and Biological Adaptation.

My students need more experience with fine more skills. They also need more practice in communication both oral language and with written language. I recently was given a grant for a paint station. The children have been so excited and get to paint once a week. I have seen an increase in fine motor skills and my students being excited to share about their painting with others. Many students want to write about it or have me write about it on their paintings. This is so exciting and will help them meet the standards for Language and writing. I will be using this grant to obtain need more paper and paint to continue this amazing activity.

School is synonymous with academics but one area that is often overlooked is the emotional well being of a child. In the last three years, my colleagues and I have noticed a growing trend of students who are struggling with social and emotional issues. These issues are affecting their academic performance and preventing them from reaching their full potential. The purpose of this grant is to purchase high quality social/emotional literature that will aid my colleagues and me in helping our students identify and adopt strategies to help them overcome the problems they face. These books will serve first graders this current year as well as first graders in the future.

I will be purchasing a class set of digital writing tablets, more specifically, e-writers called Boogie Boards. My district currently uses a math curriculum that requires teachers to place a template inside a clear plastic sheet protector for each student and heavy use of dry erase markers. The dry erase markers are often large, causing young students to write fat numbers and letters, the markers run out of ink quickly, and the odor is not something I am comfortable exposing children to. These e-writers do not require any technical support. E-writers are simply a thin LCD screen that comes with a stylus to write. Writing on the these feels as natural as pencil and paper. Also, students can erase their work with a touch of a button. No more old socks, cutting felt squares, or using tissues as erasers. The screen is see-through, so a template can easily be placed underneath the tablet, saving money on copy paper and ink. I would use these tablets for practicing proper number and letter formation, for working out math problems, spelling practice, vocabulary, and as a writing organizer!

I teach an Entrepreneur Experience class at Melba High School. This year our class business is a t-shirt business. We have an embroidery machine and have embroidered many things including, mug cozies, reading pillows, Christmas decorations, shirts, letterman jackets, beanies and coats. The Entrepreneur Experience class is only 1 hour a day and we have a four-day school week. In order to be competitive with the business world in the aspect of time, we need additional equipment to speed up the process. I will be using funds from the grant to purchase an additional heat press. With an additional working heat press, we could cut in half the time needed to press the shirts and sweatshirts. The expected outcome of the purchase of an additional heat press would be increased efficiency in our business in the Entrepreneur Experience class. This business will continue through next semester and in the years to come, spreading school spirit through apparel designed, and produced by the students’ in the Entrepreneur Experience class.