Fall 2012 mini-grants awarded
Five programs in the Monroe Public Schools, administered by eight classroom teachers, have received mini-grants from the Monroe Public Schools Foundation.
Grants were awarded to these projects:
Kim Burkey, Kathy DeSloover and Joyce Pomerville, Raisinville Elementary – A program to improve student writing by purchasing mentor texts that support the district’s writing curriculum.
Amy McBroom, Monroe High School – Purchase of two more digital cameras for the class “Photoshop for Artists,” allowing the students to be more creative with images instead of relying on stock internet-available footage.
Kari Tackett and Kristina Watterworth, Custer Elementary – Access to the Raz-Kids website and acquisition of the Wilbooks Leveled Reading Book site to help improve students reading and comprehension, involving parents in the process.
Erin Allen, Manor Elementary– A one-year subscription to Tumble Books’ library with access to picture books, chapter books and graphic novels. The entire school will have on-line access to the books for a year to help improve their reading and comprehension.
Janelle Martin,Arborwood Elementary – Purchase of five musical keyboards so students can learn to play the piano and have an opportunity to explore other musical concepts.
The Foundation – the only organization of its type in any of Monroe County’s Public Schools – awards mini-grants twice a year to teachers to support innovative teaching and learning that might otherwise not have been possible.
In all, 14 projects were submitted for consideration, with almost two-thirds of them geared toward reading improvement. Teachers whose projects were not chosen still will receive a $25 gift card to use for classroom projects.
Spring 2012 mini-grants awarded
Six programs in the Monroe Public Schools, administered by 10 classroom teachers, have received mini-grants from the Monroe Public Schools Foundation.
Grants were awarded to these projects:
Linda Ellis, Teresa Stewart, Amy Pabin and Susan Raczkowski, Raisinville Elementary – A program to nurture scientific inquiry in kindergarten using emergent science texts.
Dawn Kimble, Arborwood South Elementary – A program to encourage fifth and sixth-grade boys to read books at their grade level, by making available books that appeal to children of this age.
Sherry Hunt and Kelly Lake, Custer Elementary – A program to further engage students in reading by using DVD books which the children can follow on computer laptops, just as if they were holding the book in their hands and reading it.
Andrea Wylie, Arborwood South Elementary – A program to stress bully prevention for students with some sessions for parents.
Alka Pandya, Monroe High School – A program where students will learn about cardiac fitness through hands-on experimentation, data analysis and scientific tools use.
Meghan Bernard, Custer Elementary – Acquiring language arts and math activities for the SmartBoard for use by Young 5s and kindergarten students, to allow them to learn in a whole group, small group, during round robins, literacy stations and choice time.
Fall 2011 mini-grants are awarded
The Education Foundation of Monroe Public Schools has awarded more than $3,500 in mini-grants to classroom teachers for 10 innovative classroom projects.
The fall mini-grants went to:
--Meghan Bernard, Custer II Elementary School, for a literacy station listening center to be used by children in the Young 5s program.
--Marcie Boyce and Sarah Kokx, Custer I Elementary School, for a project using non-fiction mentor texts to inspire student writing for fourth graders.
--Sonya Samona, Custer I Elementary School, for a classroom subscription to Reading A-Z, which helps a teacher to better differentiate the type of reading instruction needed by each student.
--Kelly Davis, Custer I Elementary School, for Reading Enrichment Magazine Clubs Reading A-Z access to purchase grade-level appropriate magazines for students to read together.
--Kate Dunlap, Custer I Elementary School, for a SMART Slate wireless slate, giving Mrs. Dunlap and her sixth-graders the ability to interact with digital content anywhere in the classroom.
--Jacqueline Pecora, Arborwood North Elementary School, for Brainpop in the Classroom, a website that provides video clips, resources, Q-and-A forums and digital components for classroom use for fourth graders.
--Meghan Gibson, Katie O’Connor and JoAnn Burke, Monroe Middle School,for an MMS Mathematical Problem Solving Resource Library, which includes a selection of high quality, mathematically rich, problem-solving ideas, lessons and activities for middle school students.
--Tigra DelBen and team members of Team 8E, Monroe Middle School, for a Monroe County Community College visit by eighth-grade language arts students.
--Anne Knabusch, Monroe High School, for two digital cameras to capture high-resolution images for use in Photoshop-related activities.
--Patrick Finnegan, Monroe Middle School, for four flip cameras to use in Video Production/ Vodcasting/ Digital Storybooking as part of eighth-grade science.
Spring 2011 Mini-grants are awarded
Five projects earn mini-grants
The Education Foundation of Monroe Public Schools has awarded nearly $3,500 in mini-grants to classroom teachers for five innovative classroom projects. Twice a year, the Foundation makes the awards – once in early spring and once in the late fall.
The spring mini-grants went to:
· Kate Dunlap, Custer 1 Elementary School, for earth science materials to help enhance and support the newly adopted sixth grade science curriculum. Rock and fossil kits would provide additional learning opportunities in the classroom.
· Melissa Provo, Scott Hoppert, Lisa Cole, Cathy Furnari, Holly Renko and Beth Addis, Monroe Middle School, for the purchase of 130 1-GB flash drives to be used in the Monroe Middle School Pilot Program to start in the 2011-2012 school year. In this program, students will use technology to research and create evidence of learning. The flash drives will allow students to save content, their writing, research notes and technology-based projects, and also will allow them to take their work home.
· Sonya Samona, Custer I Elementary School, for a flip camera to be used in her classroom to create and upload videos to view on television or computer. The camera will be used as a learning tool and a form of assessment, for the students and the teacher. It also will provide students with a fun, updated way to learn.
· Mary Bullard, media specialist, Monroe High School, for the purchase of an Apple iPad and projector. The equipment will be shared by MHS teachers to use in classroom teaching applications. Teachers will be instructed how to use the equipment which will be circulated throughout the building on a cart with a projector.
· Lee VanValkenburg, Arborwood South Elementary, for restoration of the pond in the school’s courtyard. The pond cannot hold water so it will be dug deeper – the result of a class research project -- and a pond liner will be installed to help retain water. An external pump will be installed to run the waterfall and fountain, which are necessary to oxygenate and circulate the water. The grant also will provide aquatic, floating and emergent plants for the students to plant in and along the shoreline.
Fall 2010 mini-grants are awarded
Six MPS projects earn mini-grants
The Education Foundation of Monroe Public Schools has awarded nearly $4,100 in mini-grants to classroom to teacher for a half-dozen innovative class room projects. Twice a year, the Foundation makes the awards – once in early spring and once in the late fall.
The teachers who earned the grants were honored by the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education at the Nov. 14 meeting.
The fall mini-grants went to:
· Staci Dreger and Melissa Vander Horst, Custer 1 Elementary School, for a program to improve vocal music skills and to increase public recognition of and public exposure to the school’s 42-member choir.
· Callie Cole and Ellen Perkins, Waterloo Elementary School, for a program to establish a kindergarten take-home library at the school, starting with 166 books and two sets of science vocabulary readers so children can read at home with their parents.
· Kathryn Rahal, speech language pathologist at Monroe Middle School and Monroe High School, for the purchase of a portable keyboard device to help language-impaired students at MMS and MHS to independently produce written work required in their classes. The aim is to help the students produce coherent and well-developed written work, resulting in better grades.
· Cari Mitchey, Deb Mau and Jolene Yourist, Monroe High School, to help produce a second annual program on the Holocaust Remembrance/Promoting Tolerance, based on the book, “Never Shall I Forget,” by Elie Weisel. The grant also will allow the school to host a Holocaust survivor to speak with the students.
· Kate Dunlap, Custer 1 Elementary School, for a one-year subscription to an interactive website offering students and teachers animated tools to help introduce, reinforce and/or supplement contest areas of science, social studies, math, health, English, arts and music.
· Laura Lavender and Julie Everly, Arborwood Campus, to purchase reading materials to expand the intensive reading improvement program on the campus from just grades K-2 to grades 3 through 6.
Spring 2010 mini-grants are awarded
The Education Foundation of Monroe Public Schools has awarded $3,821 in mini-grants to classroom teachers for several innovative classroom projects. Twice a year, the Foundation makes the awards – once in early spring and once in the late fall.
The spring mini-grants went to:
· Justin Nye, Custer Elementary School, for an after-school program in which students will use animation software and hardware to create short animations to tell stories about their community and personal experiences in Monroe.
· Jill Wilson, Custer Elementary School, for her program with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum for a family night program at the school where adults and children will do fun science and math activities together.
· Russell Columbus of the Knabusch Math and Science Center for the purchase of plants to be used in the fifth and final phase of planting 18 species of native plants at the center in Bolles Harbor.
· Angela Ashcraft and Michelle Homer, Manor Elementary School, for two fifth-grade classes to tour the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. Plans are to have the children create an oral retelling of the experience that can be recorded and available on the school webpage.
· Manor Elementary School for the purchase of a system with 30 student responders for use in the 4th through 6th grades so teachers can know immediately if students are understanding the lessons that are being taught. The system allows students to answer questions without the fear of having a wrong answer in front of the class
Fall 2009 mini-grants are awarded.
The Education Foundation of Monroe Public Schools awarded nearly $4,100 in mini-grants to classroom to teacher for a half-dozen innovative class room projects. Twice a year, the Foundation makes the awards – once in early spring and once in the late fall.
The fall mini-grants went to: <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-ind</body></html>