The Fall 2008 Innovative Teaching Grants
The Pflugerville Education Foundation awarded close to $40,000 for innovative grants throughout Pflugerville ISD in October 2008. The following is a list of grant recipients.
Computer Mini-lab in the Intervention Classroom
Wieland Elementary
Tammy Larson,
Amy Raigosa, Sheron Lee, Millette Bomhardt, Diane Rivera
Wieland has a large population of At-Risk and Low Socio-Economic students. Creating a “Mini-Computer Lab” in the intervention classroom would enable us to implement different individualized, self-paced programs to meet the needs of our Tier II/III students. Students would rotate through our “Mini-Computer Lab” throughout the day receiving individualized, leveled instruction. We could serve many more students, as classrooms are equipped with single computers, laptops are designated primarily for technology integration within disciplines, and the major lab serves the entire campus. This “Mini-Computer Lab” will provide a consistent progress monitoring tool for teachers to assess their students’ academic needs.
$2,937
Teacher, I Can’t See the Pictures
Windermere Elementary
Ken Neusaenger, Julia Barbour, Nazia Adam, Anna Rowell, Kathleen Nicholas
Our challenge and our district goal are to have every student reach their potential by providing an equitable education for all. To achieve this goal, our students must be able to read. Project “Teacher, I Can’t See the Pictures!” is one strategy we can implement to help achieve this goal. Our visual learners make up approximately 65% of our student population which includes our at-risk students. We would be able to better serve these students if we could use the Book Cams to increase literacy for all of our students. We would be better equipped to help them.
$2,476
Through the Eyes of a Child
Windermere Elementary
Rachel Hanson
Our district believes that all individuals have worth; and, our children should be given the best equitable education to achieve their potential. Through the Eyes of a Child would help facilitate these goals in our Essential Academics class. We take our students into our community familiarize them and help them to feel that they are an integral part of it. Our end goal is to enable them to function in a “normal” world as they become adults. As most of our students suffer obstacles with written and oral communication, the camera would add dimension and verification of their growth.
$708
Rigor/Relevance – Empowering Girls in Careers
Park Crest Middle
Darlena Walker
8-10 At-Risk-to-Fail girls will produce semi-professional DVD movies of local women in careers after a six-week Empowering Girls Group, taking a local field trip to see women in careers, and then individually shadowing a chosen career (spending time in a woman’s work place). Following the theory that education has to be relevant to the student in order to put forth rigor in passing TAKS and graduating, this experience will reinforce the idea that education is relevant to future careers. Career exposure and self-visualization is important in empowering girls.
$929
Increasing Understanding of Science/Math/Language Arts Concepts Through Science Big Books and Individual Readers
Windermere Primary
Dawn Kennedy, Karen Dowell, Katy Chrzanowski
This year, Windermere Primary has become a Title I school. As the population shifts, the necessity of meeting the individual educational needs of each child becomes more urgent. For those young students in Kindergarten, it is the time that matters most for taking full advantage of the open window of opportunity when a child’s mind is able to capture difficult beginning TEKS science concepts that will set the stage for later success.
Therefore, Dawn Kennedy (Librarian), Karen Dowell (Kinder Team Leader), and Katy Chrzanowski (Kinder Team Leader), are respectfully requesting the amount of $1,438.80 for the purchase of 10 Science Big Books along with 24 little individual readers to go with each of the 10 Big Books. These materials will be shared among 9 kindergarten classes and will benefit 170 students.
$1,439
Is That a Drawing or a Print?
Copperfield Elementary
Megan Burson
The grant requested will help fund the purchase of a printing press and equipment. With this grant we will be able to give the students an experience and opportunity to run their own printing press. The printing press is a tool which promotes interdisciplinary learning. The other disciplines that will be covered are social studies, literature, math and science
$1,500
Competitive Robotics
Dessau Middle School
Molly Kamper, Corky Narramore, Margaret Dominquez
Though we’ve made great strides, our students continue to struggle in science in math. To increase interest we’ve created a competitive robotics elective. Like any great competitive program, practice must occur out side the classroom. Unfortunately, not all students have access to after-school transportation. Additionally, a very important part of actual competition is the ability to modify the robots programming “on the fly.” To do so requires a laptop computer. With PEF support more students will be able to participate and students will be more prepared for competition.
$2,370
GLOBEal Partnerships: Bringing Rigor and Relevance to the Earth Science Classroom
Hendrickson High School
Jeffrey Birchfield
It is the purpose of this grant to supply equipment for support of Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program at Hendrickson High School. This program will be utilized to provide experiences to Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography (GMO) students that are in alignment with district goals of providing rigor and relevance to the curriculum. GMO students traditionally are a mixed bag of students including at risk and advanced populations. It is the aim of GLOBE protocols to engage students in real life relevant research while also affording the chance to contribute to a global online database.
$901
Friendship Games
Wieland Elementary School
Ralph Hoard, Dana Burnett, Sue James
In order to build a positive relationship within our community last year (students, parents, and staff), we created the Wieland Friendship Games. It took place last May at P.H.S., and it included all of our students, participation from the parents and staff, and numerous volunteers from the community (including former UT athletes and Olympians). We’re requesting funds to buy, medals/ribbons for all of the participants, and other miscellaneous supplies that may be needed.
$750
AVID: Making College Dreams a Reality
Pflugerville Middle School
Brandi Gandy
In order to implement the AVID tutorials, whiteboards are needed for each student group. Although there is an AVID budget, the whiteboards will exceed the budget and will take away funds needed to provide the students and class with supplies. A digital camera will greatly add to the program by allowing us to collect evidence that we are meeting the AVID essentials. The students will be able to document events such as projects, field trips, and community service experiences. Not only will these photos serve the certification process, but will allow students to take ownership of AVID and it’s success.
$945
Community of Readers Adding Value to Everyone: CRAVE Reading
Highland Park Elementary School
Kristen Pynes, Stephanie Fletcher, Dede Scott
Highland Park Elementary is a bilingual campus that opened in the Fall of 2006 with 560 students. HPES now has a student population of close to 900. Over fifty percent of our student population is at-risk and economically disadvantaged. HPES is committed to adding value for each student in all content areas through a strong focus on improving reading comprehension. Based on our campus and district goals, as well as the needs of our diverse population, we would like to implement an innovative, systematic and structured reading program that we are calling CRAVE Reading.
$2,841
Sunshine University Parent Academy
Wieland Elementary School
Shawna Eshenbaugh, Starr Burgess, Jennifer Richey, Michelle Powel, Eric Guarjardo
In order to build relationships between the community and school, we must cater to the needs of those being served and think “outside of the box” to ensure that these bonds are formed. Through parent education, teacher awareness, and reaching out to those families in need, Wieland Elementary will be better equipped to strengthen the ties between school and community , therefore raising student achievement and success. “Wieland University” is an innovative new adult education program that would equip parents and teachers with the knowledge that they need to better themselves and assist their students to become successful life long learners.
$1,095
Multi-Cultural Mosaic Mural
Windermere Primary
Cindy Nance
Windermere Primary School is a unique school with regard to our cultural diversity. We encompass 14 different cultures and approximately 33 different languages are spoken within our student body families. Given this wonderful diversity I would like to show our unity with the school wide production of a multicultural mosaic mural. The mural will be a joint effort of students, teachers, parents and staff. Each student will integrate art, social studies, math, and history to create a tile that reflects his or her cultural inheritance.
$1,500
Super Scientist
Murchison Elementary School
Aneesa Thompson
Our campus has over 800 students enrolled, of those students, 112 are economically disadvantaged and 48 are considered at risk. Murchison Elementary wants to begin an after school “Super Scientists” club. The goal is to provide economically disadvantaged/at-risk students with an opportunity to engage in authentic hands-on learning experiences, build vocabulary, and improve CBA and TAKS scores. This program will provide relevant and developmentally appropriate experiences that will lead students to become better problem solvers concerned with scientific inquiry and human needs. Along with scientific inquiry, students will learn the importance of character education and positive life-skills.
$500
Ropes Course Experience (RCE), "Building Relationships to Reach Rigor & Relevance"
Kelly Lane
Amy Houghtaling, Cerita Rowell
Specific campus needs identified on Kelly Lane’s CIP such as develop partnerships with area business and non-profit teams which contribute to campus learning and develop structure and set out of class interventions to address struggling students. These needs can be supported through a Ropes Course Experience used with the high profile needs group in special education PASS program.
$1,240
The Starting Line
Windermere Primary
Janet Hees
Get on your mark, get set, read! The “Starting Line” is a chance for our kindergarten students who arrive at school by 7:30 to read in the hallway while waiting to enter their classrooms. A cart of books is stationed with the teacher on duty to distribute to classes. This encourages students to be early, not tardy, applies the idea that “Any time is book time” to this chunk of unscheduled time to help develop the habit of becoming a lifelong reader, and promotes fluency, which are all goals for Windermere Primary School this year.
$1,189
Reading Up a Storm!
Windermere Primary
Katrina Dunn
Students will use critical problem solving skills and relevant real life situations to experience what it is like to be generous and thoughtful of others. They will be using math, reading, and writing skills as they plan their project. All learners will be using math in everyday situations, reading and re-reading to increase fluency, and writing literature responses for a purpose. These books, when finished, will be delivered to an elementary school in Galveston Independent School District that was flooded and devastated during Hurricane Ike.
$1,000
The Green Classroom and Market Garden
Rowe Lane Elementary School
Jennifer Peterson, Landria Ratliff, Wyndie Wingate
Based on data gained from our Science CBA testing for 1st – 5th grade Science TAKS scores, a need is shown for a stronger focus on Earth Science objectives school wide. We are asking for funds to purchase and set up an outside science lab in the form of a greenhouse and garden to give students hands on experience with concrete and abstract Earth Science concepts such as cycles, greenhouse effect, and conservation.
$3,000
Growing Green Citizens
Provan Opportunity Center
Cindy Russell, Dave Clark, Erica Mason, Markii Brown, Erin McDonald
It will be a catalyst to immerse integrated studies on our expanding diverse campus. It is our belief this project while integrating numerous core subject objectives will be used as a practical behavior tool as well. We strive to help produce proactive and capable citizens and as such view this project as an integral means to our goal. It is our belief that the green house will function as a mechanism for real world learning.
$2,997
Field Equipment for the AP Science Classroom
Pflugerville High School
Rhonda Harmond, Amy Daniel
Through this grant we are requesting to purchase a set of the Vernier Lab Quest, a handheld data collection interface, to facilitate field investigations. Science field equipment is an essential need to fulfill required TEKS for a high school science course especially in AP Biology and AP Environmental Science. This field equipment would provide students with the opportunity to utilize modern field data collection technology, also fulfilling the district’s new focus on rigor and relevance. The current science budget doe not provide sufficient funds for the purchase of this equipment.
$2,996
Team P.L.A.Y.S. (Practice Leadership At Your Schoool)
Murchison Elementary School
Docia Craft, Melissa Malinowski, Cindy Wright
Research suggests that coordinating school health positively impacts the wellness culture in schools which in turn impacts student health. Research also shows that student learning improves with a healthy lifestyle. At MES, the TEAM P.L.A.Y.S. (Practice Leadership At Your School) initiative will center around an extracurricular wellness initiative. TEAM P.L.A.Y.S. will improve student health by boosting leadership skills, inspiring local solutions for responsible stewardship of our environment, impacting nutrition education, and engaging students in moderate to vigorous physical activity in an after school setting. All of these goals will impact the wellness culture in and around Murchison Elementary School. The award utilizes technology to improve levels of personal and family fitness, and provide incentives for participants who will model healthy lifestyle choices for peers and families.
$1,835
Forensics in the Science Classroom
Pflugerville High School
Brandi Page-Smith, Lisa Zaccaro
Biology I and Chemistry I at PHS are trying to integrate forensics into our classrooms. There is so much student interest in the popular television programs, such as CSI and Forensic Files; we would like to have this same curiosity in our science classrooms. We can achieve this by integrating forensics into the regular science classes.
$965
Steel Drums in Pflugerville, Texas
Pflugerville Middle School
Mandi McCasland, Jeff Owen, Damian Gonzales
The band directors at Pflugerville Middle School would like the opportunity to bring a new set of instruments to the students at our school. We as a staff are requesting a grant to start a new musical program, and provide our students with an opportunity to experience different cultures from around the world. By utilizing these innovative instruments we will be able to open our student’s mind to a world of new musical styles and performance opportunities.
$3,000
The Fall 2007 Innovative Teaching Grants
Grants were awarded in January 2008 to the following recipients:
Stimulation Sensation
Delco Primary
Erin Cutts, Lindsay Campbell
The purpose of this grant is to provide Delco Primary with a sensory motor integration room, referred to as the stimulation sensation room, for students who have autism and developmental disabilities.
$2645.00
Walk for Life!
Dessau Elementary
Cris Bleich
Students and teachers will work together to learn that pedometers are powerful motivators for personal achievement in everyday life.
$1473.91
Students as Teachers: A New Look at Math
Kelly Lane Middle School
Jerry Karacz, Melanie Burgess
This proposal requests a document camera and projector for use in the Kelly Lane Middle School Math Department. These instructional tools would provide a crucial missing link within the new Math curriculum.
$2,901.53
Traveling Robotics Circus
Gifted and Talented Program for all elementary schools
Mickey Kohler
The Traveling Robotics Circus offers cutting-edge technology, creativity, and innovative problem-solving while addressing TEKS in math, science, technology, and language arts.
$1,480.00
We're UPTO Science
Windermere Primary
Genia Klein
Using paired reading selections, parents and their children will explore 2nd grade science concepts through a literature based, hands-on, integrated homework bag. Each of the 30 bags will include two literature selections (fiction and non-fiction), a pre-reading organizer, vocabulary words, a TAKS formatted comprehension test, a journal, a logic puzzle and 2-3 hands on science experiments with materials included.
$1,403.67
Can We Talk?
Pflugerville Elementary and Hendrickson High School
Mayra Perez, Trish Clifford
We would like to provide each non-verbal child with the opportunity to have continual access to “Social Scripts”, a peer-reviewed method which greatly increases quality and quantity of communication. As a team comprised of a teacher and a speech pathologist, we will provide training to parents and all staff who work with these students so that they will be able to generate effective, authentic Social Scripts and program them into individual sequenced voice output devices. Having 24/7 access to a device (and people trained to use it) will also facilitate independence and self-esteem for these students.
$2,912.70
Technology Based Learning
Connally High School
Mary Jane Roberts, Ann Lang
Grant funding will provide the necessary technology, SOLO reading and writing software and associated texts to teach reading and writing strategies to all learners. All learners will be able to increase independence and interaction with the text, comprehend the nuances of different genres, and write short essays using note-taking, graphic organizers, and group discussion.
$2,541.00
Students Save by Applying Values in Education (SSAVE)
Pflugerville Elementary
Rose Rolater, Benny Matus, Betty Shackelford
Students Save by Applying Values in Education, or SSAVE, is a banking program where students practice and apply money management skills in cooperation with the Six-Pillars of Character. When students make positive choices, a monetary reward allows students to set goals and make purchases from the school’s catalog.
$1,281.72
Mindstorms: Students Solving the Problems of Tomorrow Today
Timmerman Elementary
Kathleen Crowe, Angela Etheridge
Mindstorms will enable students to solve engineering design problems by building and programming robotic devices using LEGO MINDSTORMS construction kits and software. Students will be required to apply and integrate math, science, and technology to solve real-world problems.
$2,984.80
Leading Them Into Leadership
Windermere Primary
Raylene Woodall, Genia Klein
Using the YMCA Camp Twin Lakes iCARE program, the identified AdA students from Windermere Primary will spend a day at Camp Twin Lakes exploring science using an interactive, outdoor education program in environmental sciences, team building exercises and leadership skills. Upon their return from Camp Twin Lakes with a backpack of supplies to recreate the scientific experiments, they will share their experiences with their peers.
2007-08 Awardees- Innovative Teacher Grants
The Foundation awarded close to $25,000 in the first round of PEF grants awarded in March 2007 to the following recipients:
Handwriting Help: Fun Foundations for Fine Motor Skills
Northwest Elementary School
Lee LaValle
$1300
After School Sports/Wellness Program
Parmer Lane Elementary
Kara Langley, Mario Acosta
$1000
Spatial Temporal Music
Copperfield Elementary School
Julianne Knott
$2567
Welcome to the Wild- Dessau Elementary School
Kelly Mullin, Danielle Zibilski, Keith Mallow, Lisa Sparkman, Sharla Wilkinson
$1500
Have Wheels Will Garden, Cultivating Plants and Minds
Timmerman Elementary School
Cheryl White
$384
Increased Communication Through Pictures for PreK and PPCD
Timmerman Elementary School
Felicia Robertson, Linda Scruggs
$209
Ambassadors for Reading
Windemere Elementary School
Kimberly Brown, Diane Barton
$981
CHESS-Chess Helping Everyday Students Succeed
Windemere Elementary School
Huff
$759
Tech Trek - Windemere Elementary School
Mary Nelson, Sally Devoust
$1175
Robotics Builds Problem Solvers and Confident Critical Thinkers
Murchison Elementary School
Sandra Davis, Kim Combs
$1600
Every Day Counts
Delco Primary School
Shawna Eshenbaugh
$820
Integration of English Language Arts, Technology and Social Studies
Caldwell Elementary School
Neda Callia
$1,492
Visual Algebra
Pflugerville High School
Jake Young
$1415
Physics Lab Computer Interface
Pflugerville High School
Frank Holder, Kirke Mechem, Jeremy Smith
$2988
Tonkawa Vocational Adjustment Project
Connally High School
Kathleen Brough
$1500
Using Simulation in the Communications Applications Classroom
Connally High School
Dr. Jan Seiter
$245
Picture Your World-Developing Digital Media Literacy
Dessau Middle School
Molly Kamper, Bessie Lynch
$2675
Vision into the Future
Park Crest Middle School
Christina Hernandez, Emily Roth, Joleen Freres, Davella Person
$1567
Gone Fishin’ Service Learning Project
Opportunity Center
Orangerine Barrs, Mike Harvey, Jacques Gordon
$455