January 2023 Grant Recipients

Currently in my classroom, we use tables for our centers. When it comes to writing, it makes it difficult to put all the supplies on one table for groups of 4-5 to use. We all know how important the writing process is, especially for littles. Giving my students a writing center would allow us space to write, make mistakes, and learn. The writing center table also has storage cubbies above the table. I would be able to keep supplies up there as well such as stamps, sentence strips, highlighters, pencils, paper, letter tiles, etc. I hope that having a space like this in my classroom will inspire and motivate my students to get excited about writing.

Each day in our classroom we have "D.E.A.R." (Drop Everything And Read) time. We also have a rating and recommendation board which students use to review, rate, and recommend (or not) the books they've read. This daily activity and board has planted a seed of excitement for reading in our 4th grade class. However, our class library is very limited. If awarded this grant, we would use it to bolster our library with award winning books (Caldecott, Belpre, Newbery, King, etc.). The class would work together to choose exciting books to continue to grow our love for reading.

Students are in an era of consumption: We consume clothing, food, entertainment, you name it. In education students are often still relegated to the role of the consumer— somewhat mindlessly consuming the notes from a teacher to internalize information. With this project we are working together to build a set of Physical Science lab experiments that turn students into the producer rather than the consumer.

We are hoping to purchase a 3D printer that will be used for many projects— but specifically for two projects in our Physical Science courses. As students learn about acceleration and impulse, it is common to talk in the context of the crumple zone on a car. The crumple zone of a vehicle decreases the peak forces experienced in a collision. Our students will be tasked with the same job: Create a small vehicle out of some 3D printed components and a few index cards that can not only run down a ramp with the maximum possible speed but collide with a barrier at the end and have an egg survive— almost like we are combining the classic Pinewood Derby with an Egg Drop. The 3D-Printed components would be primarily wheels and axles, with index cards serving as the body of the vehicles. In our first iteration, we would design the wheels and axles; however, our goal is to move toward student-designed models in Tinkercad.

Our second project, run hopefully when the weather is warmer, is to launch 3D-printed rockets that students design themselves using a free program called OpenSCAD and code that we have found available. The program allows students to determine the height, diameter, fin shape, nose cone shape, and other factors of a rocket and will produce a 3D-printable model of that rocket for them. Students will be given information about our rocket motor capabilities and will set a target height for their rocket— then launch to reach that target.

We are in need of decode-able readers for our students to use to practice their phonics skills after they have learned them. Our curriculum does not provide readers aligned to the skills we are learning with phonics. Students need to practice the skills they have learned several times and in some type of context. Currently, we are teaching phonics according to the Orton Gillingham method. We would be greatly appreciative for any help we can get for purchasing online and printed decode-able books for our first grade. This will enable our first graders to work on fluency and read up to 70-100 wpm by the end of the year. Currently, fluency is our lowest score along with comprehension on our istation score.

I have developed a class to help my middle school students meet a STEM elective requirement. The class is marketed as a 'science lab class on steroids' where I offer students novel, hands-on experiences they wouldn't typically have until later grades. For example, students are introduced to physics and chemistry in 6th grade, but do not take classes in these subjects until 9th or 10th grade. I feel it is imperative to keep students engaged in STEM during the interim to stimulate interest and excitement. One way to accomplish this is by offering students ample time to deepen their curiosity through exploration and play. I currently use a small simple Snap Circuit kit which is fantastic for learning circuitry concepts- right out of the box! I wish to obtain enough complex versions of the kits for the classroom and use standards-based curricular units from Teachers Pay Teachers.

One such unit, "Snap Circuits Electricity Lessons and Experiments" teaches students both quantitative and qualitative concepts through the use of a voltmeter. The trove of lesson plans that exists gives evidence to Snap Circuits' classroom value!

The project would start by learning the fundamentals of electricity. Then, small groups would choose a project and work autonomously to complete it. Students would work cooperatively to plan, build and problem-solve using colorful electronic circuits to produce alarms, solar clocks, motion detectors and the like using these kits. There's something enticing about building a functioning model- it beats the 'paper model' projects! Additionally, student-led activities generate a sense of pride and accomplishment. I'd finalize the unit with a "STEM ElectroDay" event where students share their projects with families and classes to practice their presentation skills and demonstrate their understanding of circuitry.