The ISD 197 Education Foundation Board recently awarded grants for the 2013-14 school year for initiatives that will help enhance educational offerings throughout the district. After receiving a record number of proposals from District 197 teachers, the Foundation awarded eight grants totaling $13,050 to educational initiatives.
“We are excited to help District 197 students experience innovative projects and programming led by our excellent teachers,” said Scott Van, ISD 197 Foundation Board president. “We are also thankful for the generous donations to the Foundation from families and community members — these grants would not be possible without their support.”
One grant will fund the purchase of three iPads for 5th-8th grade students to use in Friendly Hills Middle School’s media center. The students will use the iPads to search for information and recommendations about books they might be interested in reading. Students currently work with the media center specialist to find books to checkout, but this process will encourage student independence while also making the book information accessible to more students during their time in the library.
A special feature of the iPad is its ability to scan QR codes located around the Friendly Hills media center that link to more information about certain books. Students could scan these QR codes to access more information about the books and find books that fit their interests. In addition, students will be able to use the iMovie software on the iPads to create promotional trailers for books, which could be shared with other students and encourage more reading within the school.
Another grant from the Foundation will fund the purchase of a document camera for the science department at Henry Sibley High School. The camera will help science teachers incorporate AVID-program strategies into core classes. The AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program teaches skills and strategies that prepare students for college. One key strategy students learn is “Cornell Notes,” a note organization system that has been shown to increase student retention of material. Cornell Notes are also used in some Sibley Advance Placement (AP) classes. The document camera will help science teachers demonstrate proper note-taking, and also showcase good student examples of Cornell Notes. The camera will also be used to broadcast science demonstrations and can be attached to a microscope to function as a scope cam.
Other 2013-14 grants from the ISD 197 Educational Foundation will provide funding to:
- Expand the “Take My Teacher Home” Kindergarten literacy project to preschool students
- Allow parents of Early Childhood Special Education students opportunities to connect while their 3-5 years old student have class
- Purchase English Language Learning software and to support the play at Moreland Arts and Health Sciences Magnet School.
- Support E-STEM activities for after-school age care programs at each school during the school year and into the summer
- Provide scholarships for Garlough Environmental Magnet School to visit Eagle Bluff
- Purchase video recording equipment for Henry Sibley High School’s ALMAS group so students can produce videos for the district’s community
