2019-20 GRANT RECIPIENTS
BROWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BUILDING OUR BRAINS! (Kindergarten, $237.00)
These three OSMO starter kits will allow kindergarten students to learn AND build motor skills all at the same time. This system is like Monsters Inc and Phonics met and created a masterpiece! Not only does the kit target phonics with letter building and word practice, but it also allows the student to create their own characters that will come to life and dance right in front of their eyes. As we build letters and words and characters, students will be BUILDING OUR BRAINS through this innovative technology!
CAMP TYLER OUTDOOR SCHOOL (5th Grade, $4,928.00)
Fifth grade is going to Camp Tyler! For two days! Camp Tyler provides hands-on experience that will reach many types of learners. Students have the opportunity to learn in a fun and meaningful way with cross-curricular opportunities with a focus on science.
GOTTA GO WITH iGO2 (Kindergarten, $3,999.00)
Smart MicroScopes aren’t your standard microscope. These can go anywhere and get a closer look at anything! These kindergarten explorers won’t be limited to zooming in on a slide. They’ll be able to make discoveries about any object they’re studying! They can take pictures during the live view or take a video with sound to explain their thinking! This tool is simple to operate with one dial for focus, a snapshot button, and one dial for lighting.
GOTTA GROW WITH OSMO (Kindergarten, $1,728.00)
Imagine being able to learn but the tools you use are just like playing a game so you never lose the FUN! That’s exactly what’s going to happen with the new Osmos you’re getting. With the Osmo, Ms. Martin will be able to provide individualized learning in reading and math to meet her students at their learning levels.
LEARNING LOTS WITH BOTS (Pre-K through 5th Grades, $4,984.20)
This grant provides five types of programmable robots! These are high quality and engaging robots that will take your technology lessons to an even greater level! Students will have the opportunity to learn about technology applications, programming, coding, and robotics. These robots will give students the building blocks of divergent thinking as they grow developmentally through their time at Brown.
NO TRIPPIN’ FIELD TRIPS (1st Grade, $785.00)
Animals are coming to 1st grade! This grant funds The Creature Teacher to come with 8 exotic animals (from various parts of the world) to lead an educational/interactive session on the various creatures, their biomes, and characteristics. It also funds Half Pint Farms to come with their farm animals to observe, feel and study for all five 1st grade classes of Brown Elementary.
ROBOTICS CLUB (2nd through 5th Grades, $3004.82)
The Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 Core Set is a hands-on, cross-curricular STEM solution that engages students by providing the resources to design, build and program their creations while helping them develop essential skills such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. The LEGO Boost as a robotics kit is also included with this grant.
SETTING THE STAGE (Kindergarten, 2nd Grade, $829.27)
Reader’s Theater and Publisher’s Party is getting an upgrade! Instead of just standing at the front of the room, students will have access to a portable microphone and stage. This will elevate student engagement and investment in their writing pieces, as well as boost confidence. 2nd graders will also partner with Kindergarteners to share writing. “Star writers” in kindergarten will also have the opportunity to share from the stage.
STEMSCOPES SUPPLIES TO BUILD SUPER SCIENTISTS (1st Grade, $1754.74)
Baby chickens are coming your way! This grant funds incubators that integrate with the StemScopes program being used by Brown Elementary.
WILDCAT WALK-N-RUN WARRIORS (Kindergarten through 5th Grade, $944.44)
The Walk-N-Run Warriors Club started in 2018-19 meets weekly after school. Last year 120 students were members of the club. This grant allows for lap tracking technology via QR codes on slap bracelets, incentive mileage charms for every five miles, scholarships for students who do not have the resources to participate in local 5K runs, and end of the year trophies for those with mileage in the Top 10.
CAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CREATIVE CODING FOR THE FUTURE (1st through 5th Grades, $2,970.00)
A Robotics Club is coming your way! You’re getting Dash robots, Dot robots, launchers for dash, building brick connector sets, a bulldozer bar, a set of bunny ears, a bunny tail, and a tow hook. Students will have hands-on robotics experience and learn how to code!
ENGAGING YOUNG SCIENTISTS (1st Grade, $2,615.79)
Everyone (in 1st grade) gets baby chickens! Rather than sharing one incubator for all classes, every first grade classroom will have an incubator and will have the full experience of the lifecycle of the chicken. This creates an equal advantage for all students to make authentic observations and not just those who were housed with the incubator.
LIGHT UP OUR FUTURE (Pre-K, $2,092.71)
Light tables are an excellent way of offering sensory play that facilitates exploration. These 3 light tables will encourage children to play, create, investigate and explore. Important skills that can be taught through a light table are basic visual skills as well as more complex skills such as visual perception skills and visual motor skills.
MARVELOUS MATH ALIVE (Kindergarten, $1,077.00)
Math Alive is a mathematics kit that uses augmented reality and gaming technology to teach math concepts to early learners. Students will learn through numbers, shapes, and picture cards that come to life. This generates excitement and interest in math!
SEE US READ WITH C-PEN READERS! (3rd, 4th, 5th Grades, $1858.56)
The C-Pen Reader is a pen scanner equipped with a dictionary that scans a word and instantly displays the definition, as well as reading it aloud. It allows students to hear words or lines of text, therefore aiding with difficult passages for the user. It can scan, store, and transfer information the student needs as well as voice record.
VERSATILE TEACHING THROUGH VersaTiles (3rd, 4th, 5th Grades, $1858.56)
VersaTiles kits include captivating and challenging puzzle-style activities meant to inspire purposeful learning. The kits have content in an exciting, full color format that encourages students to explore. Each activity has a clearly stated objective, an engaging format for a fun, yet challenging, experience, and provides the students with immediate feedback for self-checking.
HIGGINS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
BUILDING LIFELONG READERS (3rd, 4th Grades, $4,950.00)
Leveled Literacy Intervention (Green System) is already used with great success in 1st and 2nd grades. Now students will be able to continue successful growth with reading! This program provides effective small-group instruction by using engaging leveled books that students truly enjoy! The lessons are fast-paced and systematically designed taking students quickly to the next level. Using this program with our struggling readers will ensure success for them as well as instill a love for reading and becoming lifelong readers.
HANDS-ON SCIENCE FOR CURIOUS MINDS (3rd Grade, $1,500.55)
We’re filling up the 3rd grade science labs with new tools! You’re getting a Friction and Slope Ramp, Thermometers, a Weather Vane, a Layers of the Earth Model, a See-Through Compost Container, a Stream Table, Microscopes and SO MUCH MORE! Students will be actively engaged in lessons while investigating how different things work in the world around them, and they’ll beg to be in the science lab!
HOPPING TO MULTIPLICATION MEMORY (3rd Grade, $1,094.50)
Students are very active and learn best when they are engaged in their learning through hands on activities and movement. Many students also struggle to memorize multiplication facts. These hopscotch-style floor mats allow children to jump and move as they learn multiplication facts, offering many types of learning styles, including visual, auditory, motor, and kinesthetic.
STANTON-SMITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
EVERYONE DESERVES A VOICE (Speech, $1,866.00)
Providing iPads and technology to students who have communication disorders and disabilities gives them the chance to have a voice. Students with access to this technology will be able to convey messages that they haven’t previously. Messages could be sharing that they’re hungry or tired, that something is too loud or too soft. Students will be able to participate in more educational opportunities and have the chance to be heard.
RUGS ALIVE (Kindergarten, $2,184.75)
Rugs Alive not only provides a place to gather as a group but utilizes augmented reality by making the Zoo Crew come to life and help us learn our letters and phonics! Students will be able to view the animal in 3D, hear the sounds it produces, and associate it with a letter and sound from the alphabet!
SET THE STAGE TO ENGAGE (Media Technology, $1,858.83)
Set the Stage to Engage will create four-room transformation kits for teachers to check out, including Surgical Lab, Construction Zone, Restaurant/Bakery, and Mario World. Each kit will contain the tools teachers will need to create rigorous games, an engaging environment, and the materials to allow both students and teachers to get into character as they prepare themselves for high-intensity learning.
SUMBLOX (Kindergarten, $479.96)
Sumblox are shaped like the actual numbers they represent, and they are unlike any other block. Each block’s value is represented by its height. It is as though each block becomes the number it represents in a multi-sensory way! The addition of the SumBlox building blocks to the small group learning structure will help fill gaps in student learning.
zSPACE IN OUR MAKERSPACE (Media Technology, $1,468.00)
zSpace is transforming makerspaces from workspaces for snipping, gluing, plugging together to virtual reality science labs. When students wear the lightweight glasses and use a pen-like digital stylus while using the zSpace laptop, they are able to click on, rotate, take apart and reassemble holographic images. The objects are so life-like it almost seems as if you are holding them in your hands. The images range from anatomically correct illustrations of the human heart and lungs to objects the students have designed for production on 3-D printers.
HOLLOWAY 6TH GRADE SCHOOL
HOLLOWAY LIVE BROADCASTING (Media Technology, $734.97)
With a camcorder, tripod, and external microphone to be used in the studio, in conjunction with the green screen, lighting equipment, and laptop to produce live announcements, live announcements are coming your way, Holloway!
WHITEHOUSE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
EXPLORING THE EXPLOROS WAY (8th Grade History, $4,100.00)
Exploros is an educational technology tool that provides live, interactive classroom instruction and real-time feedback to students and teachers. Students engage in exploration about topics using social media skills. It provides data to teachers and tracks progress over time, too. The lessons are student-centered, providing a much-needed platform for increasing student-driven learning.
INSPIRING KIDS TO WRITE--ONE “PEG” AT A TIME (7th Grade English/Language Arts/Reading, $3,500.00)
PEG Writing is a web-based learning environment to help students improve writing through practice, feedback, and individualized support. This program provides interactive lessons, prompts, and practice materials to keep students engaged. Students are provided with immediate, individualized feedback on the writing assignment along with tips for improvement and recommended tutorials specific to their individual needs.
IT’S JUST A PHASE! (8th Grade Science, $213.25)
Students will learn the phases of the moon by building and programming Arduino circuit boards, LED Light strips, buzzers, buttons, LED display, and 3D printer filament. The moon will be 3-D printed on campus and the electronics assembled. By setting the date, the Arduino will calculate what phase the moon should be in and will light up the section of the moon that matches. It will also display time, date, temperature, and humidity.
LIFE SKILLS VOCATIONAL TRAINING (6th, 7th, 8th Grades Life Skills, $1,400.00)
The “Sunshine Cart” is a project that will help Like Skills students learn skills they need to be independent in the “real world.” Students will offer snacks to the teachers and staff at the Junior HIgh School. They’ll shop for groceries, cook, sort and package, deliver, accept money and give change. Additionally, students will learn the process of collecting recycling around campus and delivering it to the Recycling Center.
WHITEHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL
A SMARTER VIEW OF MATH (Math, $495.66)
TI Smartview Emulator software will allow Algebra II students to see the calculator as it is projected by the teacher. Smartview Emulator shows a split-screen. Half of the screen shows the calculator keyboard just as it is on the student calculators. The other half of the screen shows the calculator display as it is on the student calculators. Students will benefit from a clear and easy way to follow the teacher during lessons.
HANDS-ON EXPERIENCES FOR ASTRONOMY (Astronomy, $2,444.54)
We’re stocking the Astronomy Lab with all sorts of innovative tools, including: star charts, spectroscope and telescope kits, sun scale kits, CleverCatch ball, demonstration materials, planetary orbits set.
IF YOU GIVE A GERI A HOME (Health Sciences, $1,691.91)
A geriatric mannequin will be a benefit to the Health Sciences class. This is life-like and lightweight and can be positioned into the many different poses they must learn. Students also learn how to bathe and care for the client which they perform on the manikin before doing this skill on a human. Advanced students will learn placement of EKG leads using the geri mannequin.
LYNXMOTION ROBOTIC ARMS (Engineering, $1,841.25)
Lynxmotion robotic arms and VEX Robotic Kits will be used by engineering students to solve real-world manufacturing problems. Students will learn the proper technique for writing code, sequencing the motion of robotic arms, and setting up two-way communication between different robotic platforms in order to create an efficient and reliable autonomous manufacturing environment.
WHAT’S ALL THE BUZZZZZ ABOUT? (Agriculture, $2,000.00)
The BeePod project is targeted towards urban students to expand their knowledge and understanding of the importance of pollinators in the production of our food. There has been a tremendous increase in agricultural education students joining the Entomology Career Development team in the past two years. Several of them have expressed a desire to help manage the beehive. The BeePod system offers certification in beekeeping and allows students to graduate and potentially start a new career.
DISTRICT-WIDE
COUNSELING OUTSIDE THE BOX (Pre-K through 12th, Counseling Department, $1,679.76)
Sand Tray Therapy is a valuable tool in counseling. All students in the district may encounter a struggle they need to work through. These kits help students who students trying to understand and make sense of life events and changes at home, school or with their peers. Counselors may use them in small groups, or with individual students. Students that need help finding their voice will benefit from using sand trays.
GET A GRIP--INNOVATIVE TEACHING TOOLS (Pre-K through 12th, $1,720.60)
These tools in this grant will make teaching these important basic skills for reading fun and easy for dyslexic students. The twist and write pencils and butterfly grips will make the physical part of writing easier for our students with the challenge of holding a pencil correctly. The syllaboards, monkey noodles, and spelling beads will be great tools to help them solidify phonological skills. Once these tools have been introduced, they will assist our students in becoming more independent, self-directed learners.
READING’S A SNAP WITH SNAP & READ (Dyslexia Department, Pre-K through 12th, $5,000.00)
Snap&Read is an innovative, assistive technology piece that will propel students to become self-directed learners. Snap&Read reads across websites, PDFs, Google Drive. It levels vocabulary and it translates, delivering usable data to teachers who then can more easily assess students’ reading needs individually. With this program, students become more independent and less singled out from their peers.