2024 Teacher Innovative Grants:
A Night to Remember
This grant provides funds to the Special Education Department and it is called “Night to Remember”. The project contact, Ms. Giny Beltran writes this grant request to provide a prom for the special needs students in our district. This special evening allows students, families and staff to come together to enjoy a night filled with laughter, dancing, food, and fun. The Night to Remember is always a success year after year. It allows our special needs students, parents, and staff to enjoy a magical night. The event brings culinary arts students and ROTC students together with our life skills to socialize over a meal and dance. The event brings school board members, teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, special education bus aides, and the special education staff together with students to celebrate all the hard work the students did throughout the year.
Empowering through STEM
This grant called “Empowering through STEM” was submitted by Somerset Elementary School. The project contact, Arlene Robles tells us that the goal was to teach and help students with their hand eye coordination, which will help with their use of visual discrimination skills to distinguish objects with different attributes to get the items to work. They use fine motor skills to develop the grip and palmar arch to grasp and release items intentionally. They use hand-eye coordination to manipulate and transfer items to a specific location on the snap board. This also helps the students use cognitive thinking and complete decision making and judgment. This project was of great success. It was used to be an option for students to learn how everyday things actually work and how it can be used as cross curricular between different subjects. Students became more confident every time the task box would be used, it lead to helping and teaching each other and promoted team building among students. Students work was being completed because it was a choice to use once all other classwork was completed. Students have even started creating their own circuits with the components. This project really helped students understand location, how a items need to be placed accordingly for the circuit to be closed for it to work.
Books for Our Readers
This project at Somerset Elementary School is called “Books For Our Readers”. Project contact Delazan Garcia writes that the project goal was to ensure all students were getting books to read and own. The objective was to show growth in student’s ability to connect to their reading and build stronger comprehension, by them being able to identify specific genre characteristics, identify the author’s purpose, and analyze the author’s craft. When our students master those skills then their writing becomes stronger and more personal as they are now able to apply genre characteristic, author’s purpose, and author’s craft. The grant “Books for our Readers” was very successful. Our students have enjoyed being able to have their very own chapter book. The book that was chosen “Stella Diaz Has Something to Say” has been a book that our students are able to really connect with. All of our 3rd grade students will go home with their very own book that they have learned how to meaningfully interact with.
The Key to Learning is Playing (the piano)
Savannah Heights Intermediate Choir Project – “The Key to Learning is Playing (the piano). This grant was submitted by Mr. Jeremiah Drake with the goal of obtaining a piano designated for student use in the music classroom with the objective to have them both read basic notation of rhythm and accompanying melodic and harmonic patterns of the I, IV, V, vi chords by the end of the school year. The project was a success on several levels. First of all, all music students were able to take advantage of having access to a high-quality keyboard, and with proper instruction and supervision, begin to apply their musical knowledge to the piano. Students were all able to begin to identify and navigate notes of the treble clef, interpreting and performing these notes on the piano, using quarter notes and eighth notes. Students were able to play the piano almost daily. Through composition projects and daily scale playing, students are able to read the pentatonic scale in the keys of C, G and F#, and even improvise a melody utilizing the aforementioned pentatonic scale. Overall musical literacy is enhanced as students are able to make an additional visual/kinetic connection to note-reading and add to proficiencies in music, affecting outcomes in public performance, building greater confidence in test-taking, interview, and presentation skills.
Cozy Up with a Good Book
“Cozy up with a good book” from Somerset Early Childhood Elementary. Campus contact Mrs. Merino reported that the project goal was to create a welcoming, comfortable and cozy environment for students to grab a favorite book and want to read it in their library center. The objective was to make the reading environment welcoming and inviting so that students will become avid readers. We have provided daily opportunities for students to enjoy their new environment. They gravitate more towards the library center since it is more creative. The students have learned to work and read together in the library center. This has also inspired other grade levels to bring in a creative and inviting environment to their library center. Our students have done an amazing job with increasing literacy across the board. We are well on our way to our goal in each class room.
Changing the Font One Pencil at a Time
Leanne Whitley at Somerset Elementary School shared with us the success of the grant “Changing the Font One Pencil at a Time”. The project goal was to have students be able to form and write letters correctly causing writing time to be less stressful and easier to read, with the objective to help the school goal with letter formation, clear handwriting, as well as less stress when it comes to writing. This project is allowing students more practice with handwriting, allowing them to write easier after learning the correct letter formation which then allows them to write on the LED screens and to share with each other. After using the Handwriting tools and the LED screen, the students’ handwriting was much clearer and they were more willing to write. This took the stress away of having to figure out how to write letters and what to do. The students loved to write on the LED and it was their goal to prove they could write neatly. We also loved the fact that this project not only helped out English classes but our bilingual classes as well. We are going to continue to use this for years to come to help our students to become successful in their writing.
The Great STEMporium in Pre-K
“The Great STEMporium in Pre-K” at Barrera Veterans Elementary! Ms. Tanya Casares shared with us that this grant was written with a goal in mind to engage students in Stem activities and get them interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at a young age to enhance their love for learning in these subjects. The objective was to provide projects and activities that engage students and build their excitement about learning and applying their knowledge. Pre-K students have excelled in these areas while building structures and using their thinking and problem solving skills to create buildings, and bridges. They are having discussions about engineers and future goals for themselves (at the age of 4) and to see their growth and love for learning in subjects like Math and Science is amazing.
