4 LA Teachers Honored: $10K in Local Education Grants from Farmers Insurance

From Communications Strategy Group:

Farmers Insurance® announced that four Los Angeles-area teachers have each been awarded $2,500 educational grants as part of the insurance group’s Thank America’s Teachers℠ program. The four teachers being honored are:

• Helen Chan with Da Vinci Innovation Acadamy
• Jonathan Tupaz with Andasol Avenue Elementary
• Gail Becker from Willmore Elementary School
• Kristin Pyle from Willmore Elementary School

"Teachers across the country are so passionate about what they do, and they are committed to improving their schools in any way they can," said Kelly LaMar, managing lead of Thank America’s Teachers for Farmers Insurance. “I am excited to announce Helen Chan, Jonathan Tupaz, Gail Becker and Kristin Pyle have been recognized with $2,500 grants through Thank America's Teachers.”

Chan is using her funds to provide her pupils with tools necessary to explore topics in statistics and physics. With these tools, Chan hopes to alter the mindsets of her students who tend to view mathematics as tedious computation. Graphing calculators and Calculator-Based Rangers will help Chan’s students see the relevance and application of mathematics beyond computation and become engaged in the learning process.

Tupaz’s grant will provide students with learning disabilities 1:1 access to iPads to develop decoding, grammar, calculation and math comprehension skills using web-based programs. The iPads will also help monitoring student progress and growth.

Becker is using her funds to continue to build a blended learning environment including iPads and Osmo, an educational game system. Becker’s students will have opportunities to code, use robotics, collaborate, think critically and learn while playing.

Pyle’s funding will go toward the purchase of alternative hands-on tech experiences for her students to supplement the blended learning program already in her fourth and fifth grade classes. Currently, Pyle’s students, many of whom do not have Internet access at home, use individual Google Chromebooks in the classroom, and the grant will allow her to purchase additional mini iPads, Oslo Gaming Systems, and Dash robotics for students to use in collaborative groups.

Chan, Topaz, Becker and Pyle are among the second group of 60 winners to receive a $2,500 educational grant through the Farmers Insurance Thank America’s Teachers national program in 2016. Across the nation, teachers submitted proposals for funding during the first two rounds of submissions via the ThankAmericasTeachers.com website.

Launched at the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, California, the Thank America’s Teachers program enables Americans everywhere to say thank you to teachers who made an impact on their lives.Through Thank America’s Teachers, Farmers Insurance will give away more than $1 million to educators in 2016 and the public will help determine who receives the grants by voting for their favorite proposals at ThankAmericasTeachers.com. Farmers will award 180 grants valued at $2,500 throughout the year during a total of three rounds of 60 winners.Teachers are urged to submit proposals for the final round, as well as for the Dream Big Teacher Challenge, which awards six $100,000 grants to help support innovative educational programs in communities across the country.

About Farmers Insurance
“Farmers Insurance®” and “Farmers®” are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies, across all 50 states, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange®, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2016 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

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