At its recently held annual meeting, the Lynchburg City Schools Education Foundation, Inc.’s Board of Directors awarded 53 grants totaling $78,045.60 to Lynchburg City Schools teachers. The Classroom Innovation Grant program, now in its 24th year, provides funds to a wide range of innovative projects and programs. To date, $633,523.61 has been awarded through the program.
This year’s fifty seven corporate sponsors include: Genworth Foundation, BWX Technologies, Lynchburg Economic Development Authority, AREVA, Belvac Production Machinery, Fleet Laboratories, Piedmont Community Health Plan, Appalachian Power, Walmart (Old Forest Road, Timberlake, and Wards Road,) WestRock, Dodson Pest Control, R.R. Donnelley, ABC 13- WSET-TV, BB&T, Carrington Family Foundation, Centra Foundation, First Piedmont, Greater Lynchburg Community Trust- The Catherine Wooldridge Connelly and William Hatcher Connelly Fund, Roger & Winston Green, Harris Corporation, Innovative Wireless Technologies, Sam’s Club, Wegmann USA, Wells Fargo, American National Bank, Bank of the James, Candler Oil, Carolina Connection Dance & Body Wear, Central Virginia Federal Credit Union, Coldwell Banker Commercial Read & Co., Coleman-Adams Construction, Dominion Seven Architects, The Education & Research Foundation Inc., Electronic Design & Manufacturing Company, Generation Solutions, Harrington Corporation, HumanKind, Hurt & Proffitt, Kidds Restoration & Cleaning Services, LG Flint General Contractors, Lynchburg Municipal Employee Federal Credit Union, Lynchburg Nissan, Lynchburg Retail Merchants Foundation, Moore & Giles, The News & Advance, Radiology Consultants of Lynchburg, R.M. Gantt Construction, Successful Innovations, Sylvan Learning/Morgan Family, Kim & Stephen Tibbs, TRAX, LLC., Virginia School Equipment, Westminster Canterbury, Wiley|Wilson, Wooldridge Heating • Air • Electric.
For more information about the Classroom Innovation Grant Program and the LCS Education Foundation, Inc. contact Jodi K. Gillette, Executive Director (515-5081) or [email protected].
Below are the projects that received grants for the 2015-2016 school year:
MASTER CLASSROOM INNOVATION GRANTS
Sandusky Elementary Watch D.O.G.S.
Sandusky Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Amanda Lokar
Grant Sponsor: Piedmont Community Health Plan
The purpose of this program is to provide students with the opportunity to share positive interactions with male role-models. Students will have an opportunity to interact with adult male role-models while enhancing their academic development. Currently, most elementary schools do not have a high number of male personnel working with students. This program works to help students learning and grow with positive male influence. The Watch D.O.G.S. program is a National program that utilizes strong encouraging male father figures to be an extra presence in our school. Watch D.O.G.S. are fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other father figures who volunteer for a day at least once a year. The Watch D.O.G.S. can read, play at recess, eat lunch with students, monitor school grounds, work on flash cards and other activities in which they can engage with all types of students, not just their own. The goal of this program is to add positive male influence to some of our students who lack this positive male influence at home.
How to Grow a Reader
T. C. Miller Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Cathy Webb, Katherine Hudson
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Foundation, First Piedmont Corporation, Westminster Canterbury
The purpose of the program is to provide parents of current kindergartners at T. C. Miller School for Innovation, parents in our feeder preschools (Hutcherson, Elizabeth Early Learning Center, and Head Start) and pregnant/teen mothers with the reason, the know-how and the materials to assist their child on their journey to learn to read. Data shows that low income students arriving at school enter kindergarten 14 months behind their peers, and 61% of low income children are living without books. These statistics from The United way of Central Virginia Readiness Initiative are calling the kindergarten teachers from T. C. Miller School for Innovation to action for our current and future students. Exposure to the public library, appropriate leveled books, materials and the reason and guidance of how to use the materials is our goal. The goal for the families is to grow a reader who has access in their home to books and parental support along their journey.
Building Characters Today to Move Towards Careers Tomorrow
Sandusky Middle School– Teachers: Ms. Miranda Heath, Mr. Leverne Marshall, Ms. Kathleen Perez, Ms. Karen Camden
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Economic Development Authority
The purpose of the program is to provide a canvas of being good citizens today to encourage students to think about careers for their future. The art displayed would include framed art with words and scenes depicting ‘soft skills’ such as Character, Honesty, Integrity, and Respect. Other art pieces could be murals or framed art pieces that would show a variety of professions such as welder, dentist, teacher, nurse, doctor.
Aerodynamics in Design
Linkhorne Middle School – Teacher: Ms. Christina Franklin
Grant Sponsor: BWX Technologies, Lynchburg Nissan, TRAX LLC
The purpose of this project is to provide a visual display of aerodynamics in vehicle design. The Technology Education and engineering students at Linkhorne Middle School will design and build a CO2 dragster in class. We have the ability to test the dragster’s speed but not the aerodynamics. The addition of a wind tunnel will give us the opportunity to compare and evaluate each student’s dragster design beginning with the prototype thus allowing the student to make changes prior to final construction.
Coding for the Future
DEPTH Gifted Program – Teachers: Ms. Gwyneth Tatum, Ms. Carrie Lewis, Ms. Heather Bolling
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Economic Development Authority
The purpose of this project is to provide coding experience for identified gifted students in grades three through five. This year, DEPTH (Developing Expanded Perspectives through Higher-level Thinking) classes will focus on the theme of codes. Through a variety of means, students will learn to write and decode numerous cryptograms. We have found an innovative approach to teaching students about problem solving, computer coding, and robotics. Students will work in pairs to write code to manipulate the actions of an Ozobot robot. We will scaffold the criteria for success to accommodate the needs of all of the DEPTH students in LCS. Additionally, Ozobots can be used in future years for alternative projects.
Strong Fathers/Strong Families
William Marvin Bass Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Samantha Raitter, Ms. Monica Hendricks, Mr. John Babcock, Mr. Joshua Davis
Grant Sponsor: Sam’s Club, Successful Innovations, Greater Lynchburg Community Trust Teacher Grant Fund
The purpose of the program is to provide fathers genuine opportunities to be engaged with their child in academics at school and to provide fathers with resources to engage with their children in meaningful academic experiences at home. The program Strong Fathers, Strong Families is to show dads that they are needed and wanted not only at school, but in the lives of their children. The program features staff training and buy in, facilitator training, resources to send home with students (activity calendars), and four dad and kid activities each year: Bring your dad to school day, Dad and Kid Math night, Dad and Kid Reading Night and Dad and Kid Science Night.
Endstation Theatre Company’s The Whole Bunch
All Elementary: Anne Bond-Gentry
Grant Sponsor: AREVA, WestRock
The purpose of this program is to provide a new theatrical production to be performed for Lynchburg City Schools students. This production will tackle nutrition education and aims to improve the “health literacy” of the children in our community. The play is designed to both delight young audiences and to encourage good nutrition in an age when faster and cheaper processed food dominate the city landscape. The Whole Bunch aims to teach ways that healthy food can benefit everyone.
CLASSROOM INNOVATION GRANTS
Subscription to New York Times' Upfront Magazine
E. C. Glass High School – Teachers: Dr. Sarah Gardner, Mr. Adam Dupere, Ms. Tracy Gonzalez
Grant Sponsor: The News & Advance and the LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide students with a relevant experience with nonfiction and current events. New York Times' Upfront Magazine writes articles that are on grade level and will give the students needed exposure to the writing style they will have to analyze and interpret when they take both the writing and reading SOLs. Author's purpose is one area that the students struggle will. Having weekly or bi-weekly practice with chunks of culturally relevant material will help students with this.
Daily 5 and Cafe at LES
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Kristy Genung
Grant Sponsor: BB&T, Sylvan Learning/Morgan Family, Virginia School Equipment
The purpose of this program is to provide books and comfortable seating areas for students so that they can participate in the Daily 5 and Café program. It will also provide a professional development resource and an online conferring notebook subscription so that the teacher will be able to effectively and efficiently implement the Daily 5 and Café with her students. The Daily 5 is a framework for engaging students in daily reading and writing at their level. Café is the next layer of the Daily 5 program that involves the teacher meeting with small groups and conferring one on one with students to teach and model effective strategies that students learn to use and practice as they read independently. We, as teachers, want to instill a love of reading into our students’ lives and what I currently do does not meet that goal. This program teaching kids how to become better readers and writers and gives them the support they need to gain that love of reading that I desperately want them to achieve.
Cool Down Caddies
T. C. Miller Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Courtney Hudson
Grant Sponsor: Walmart - Timberlake
The purpose of this program is to provide teachers and students with researched based strategies for anger management and self-regulation. Each classroom including resource classes would receive a "Cool Down Caddy". In the cool down caddy would be tools for students to use to calm down before allowing their anger to overcome them. Teachers and students would be explicitly trained on how to use the cool down caddies and their purpose. The goal is to increase students' self-awareness of their anger triggers and signs and increase student abilities to monitor and control their behavior. The overall goal is to keep students in the classroom and reduce referrals.
WECG
E. C. Glass High School – Teachers: Ms. Laura Wise, Mr. Chuck Yarbrough
Grant Sponsor: ABC 13-WSET TV, Wegmann USA Inc.
The purpose of this program is to upgrade the technology used to present WECG, Glass’ morning announcements. The current system is woefully outdated, as the closed circuit cables and TVs no longer provide clear sound or picture. The goal is to present WECG in real time with clear picture and sound. Last year, we experimented with broadcasting the announcements via email to all ECG teachers and staff using Google Hangouts. Although, it was a vast improvement over the cable system, there is still lag time and buffering. We would like to purchase appropriate equipment in order to present the announcements in a professional, state of the art manner.
Project Inclusion
Heritage High School – Teacher: Ms. Kenya Ware
Grant Sponsor: Dodson Brothers Pest Control, LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of the program is to increase high school students’ sensitivity to and awareness of diversity issues so that they can create school and community environments free from the distractions of prejudice, stereotypes, and bigotry. More specifically, the Project Inclusion retreat will give participants the opportunity to work closely with their peers to explore personal experiences with discrimination and develop both individual skills and school-wide action plans that address change in themselves and their schools.
Bringing Wall Street to LMS
Linkhorne Middle School – Teachers: Ms. Brenda Murphy, Samantha Payne
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Foundation
The purpose of this program is to provide students with an authentic experience to learn the function of the American stock market. Starting with a virtual cash account of $100,000.00, students strive to create the best-performing portfolio using a live trading simulation. They work together in teams, practicing leadership, organization, negotiation, and cooperation as they compete for the top spot. The setup is engaging, and the learning is a natural part of the experience. Students use real internet research and news updates, making the simulation an even better mirror of the real marketplace. While the competition creates student excitement, the educational experience delivers the biggest impact. Students who participate in The Stock Market Game program learn more than investing. The program also reinforces the essential skills and concepts of critical thinking, decision-making, cooperation and communication, independent research, and saving and investing. As they progress, they learn core academic concepts and skills that can help them succeed in the classroom and in life.
Letter People Puppets
Heritage Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Dawn Romine
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Retail Merchants Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide a fun way to learn the letters of the alphabet. Letter People puppets will help to keep the Pre-K children's attention when introducing new letters. The letter People puppets will become real to them and they will be interested in each letter person enough to also learn about the letter and the letter sounds. Learning the letters of the alphabet will also interest the children to have a desire to learn to read as they are exposed to each letter person.
Let's Make a Music Video!
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Casey Wood
Grant Sponsor: Bank of the James
The purpose of this program is to provide students with an opportunity to record music in a professional setting. With the help of an industry professional, students will learn the entire recording process including arranging, tracking, overdubbing, mixing, and mastering. The second phase of the project will be shooting a music video. The students will create the concept for the video and work with a professional film crew and video editor to shoot and edit a full-length music video!
Parents Creating Readers
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Kathy Abbott, Ms. Sheila Rudder, Ms. Kay Vankuren
Grant Sponsor: Fleet Laboratories, Wells Fargo
The purpose of this program is to ignite reading interest and accelerate reading development with reluctant and struggling readers. During the 2015-16 school year, a maximum of 40 students and their parent/guardian will be selected to participate in “Parents Creating Readers.” We Both Read books will be purchased to assist in the critical area of involving parents in reading with their children. We Both Read books feature a unique interactive format designed for a child to take turns reading aloud pages with a parent/guardian. The parent's pages feature higher level text (at about a 5th grade reading level), while the child's pages feature text that matches the child's reading level. The parent/guardian models fluency, expression and decoding strategies while they are reading their part. Students then get to practice their own skills while reading their page: improving fluency, students’ attitudes about read ing and reading scores. All resulting in more independent reading time and a significant increase in at-home reading.
Gaming with Science
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teachers: Mr. Ted Finney, Ms. Melissa Hester, Ms. Rachel Espinosa
Grant Sponsor: The Harrington Corporation
The purpose of this program is to provide students with support in science to increase their SOL scores. There is a need to boost students’ knowledge of science because the fifth grade SOL encompasses learned items from third, fourth, and fifth grade. With the addition of science games in the classes students will be able to play and review those skills learned from past grade levels. Our goal is to increase science awareness and with the assistance of the division science coach we have come up with a list of games that will achieve the outcome.
Daily 5 Scholars
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Madeline Reed, Ms. Brooke Andrews, Ms. Julie Ayers
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Foundation
The purpose of this program is to provide cross-curricular enrichment and remediation opportunities to students during the Daily 5 component of the language arts block. In order to successfully implement Daily 5, students need to have access to a variety of texts. The purchase of Scholastic Magazines will be used to supplement the materials available in our classroom libraries. Students will be exposed not only to current events, but also up-to-date information related to science, social studies, and math standards. This information will be used to enhance the “Read to Self”, “Read to Someone”, and “Listen to Reading” stations during Daily 5. The magazine subscriptions are targeted to grades 3-6 allowing us to differentiate the needs of our readers. Students will use the Scholastic Magazines by themselves or with a partner during the “Read to Self” and “Read to Someone” station. Using headphones and the online component of Scholastic, students will use technology to actively participate in the “Listen to Reading” station. All stations will allow students to work on reading fluency and comprehension.
Empowering and Connecting Third Graders through Blogging
Sandusky Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Cindi Bowen, Ms. McKinley Tucker, Ms. Addie Smulik, Ms. Nancy Hunt
Grant Sponsor: Belvac Production Machinery
The purpose of this program is to provide an innovative venue for teaching students writing while developing crucial language skills and giving voice to their passions. Daily access to a Chromebook for blogging will provide students an authentic audience to develop literacy with a different medium other than pen and paper. Kidblog will connect students to others in their classroom and grade level. Students can post personal, reflective and exploratory topics, as well as reading and commenting on peer posts. Blogs begin as a conversational stance, with students looking forward to hearing from their readers. They will begin to see blogging as a way to gain valuable feedback and information from their teachers and peers. Teachers can use the Kidblog to communicate with the class using generated prompts. This is a way to build community within individual classrooms and across the entire grade level. When writing matters to students, the quality of their work matters as well. Students will raise the bar for their own learning and begin to leave a positive digital footprint.
Classroom Community Connections
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Emily Morris, Ms. Linda Wyndham, Ms. Allison West, Ms. Katelyn Little
Grant Sponsor: Electronic Design & Manufacturing, Wooldridge Heating · Air · Electric
The purpose of this program is to provide supportive materials for morning meetings. Morning meetings are one of the essential components of Responsive Classroom. Students need to feel emotionally safe and accepted within the classroom to progress and reach their full potential. It is a teacher’s responsibility to create a supportive environment in which students are shown they are valued and respected in the classroom. The classroom should be a safe haven where students explore, learn, and work through life’s tough issues. Morning meetings build a strong sense of community and set children up for success, both socially and academically. Parental involvement is key to our student’s success. Through this project, we want to include parents in our classroom community.
Author Visit for Accelerated Reader Incentive
Perrymont Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Shannon Richardson
Grant Sponsor: Candler Oil Company, Central Virginia Federal Credit Union
The purpose of this program is to provide an incentive for students to read independently and demonstrate comprehension of their independent reading by taking Accelerated Reader (AR) tests. Ginjer Clarke is a best-selling author of nonfiction children’s books about animals. She visited our school two years ago, and every student in the school attended her presentations. The students loved her dynamic presentations and talked about Ms. Clarke’s visit for months afterward. I still have students asking if she is coming to visit again. Ginjer Clarke has written a new series of nonfiction books about animals, and her presentations are different from the ones she gave two years ago. Students will be highly motivated to read independently and take AR tests to reach their goals if they know that achieving their AR goal is the only way they will be invited to attend Ginjer Clarke’s presentations this year.
Julius Caesar Comes to Lynchburg
E. C. Glass and Heritage High Schools – Teachers: Ms. Patricia Worsham, Mr. Casey Wood, Ms. Sharon Wright, Ms. Robin Wood
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Foundation
The purpose of this program is to provide Literature students with the opportunity to study a Shakespeare play and see it as it was meant to be seen: a live performance by a world class Shakespeare Company at the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Lynchburg.
Two Monitors for Music Studio
Heritage High School – Teacher: Ms. Tina Smith
Grant Sponsor: LG Flint General Contractors
The purpose of this program is for the Heritage High School Media Center to promote and enhance students with a diverse form of completing assignments through a Music Recording Studio. The music recording studio was put into the media center as a technology component for students to use to do projects or other assignments for SOL and academic needs. The monitors are a vital component to this recording studio.
Stop the Summer Slide
Fort Hill Community School – Teachers: Ms. Greer Harris, Ms. Elizabeth Bonheim
Grant Sponsor: Walmart – Old Forest Road, Dominion Seven Architects
The purpose of this program is to provide students with the books they need to continue good reading habits established during the school year. The more you read, the smarter you are! At Fort Hill, our students read self-selected books on a daily basis. For some students, this is their first positive reading experience. Students come to us saying they have never completed a book, yet our Reading Program turns them on to reading for pleasure and knowledge. According to research, middle class children read during the summer, but children from low-income families do not. This lends itself to what is known as summer reading loss: reading development regression over the summer months. Our goal is to work with selected middle and high school students to select books to take home over the summer to continue the reading habits established in school. With the guidance of Sarah Marano, buyer at Givens Bookstore, students will have the opportunity in the spring to participate in Book Chats where they select books to read based on their interests.
If You Give a Second Grader Headphones…
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Kirsten Filiberto, Ms. Terrell Midkiff, Ms. Melissa Schools, Ms. Meghan Grant
Grant Sponsor: Carrington Family Foundation, Walmart – Wards Road, LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide 2nd grade students with resources to use during Daily 5. Daily 5 is implemented in every classroom during the language arts period at Perrymont Elementary School. One of the Daily 5 stations is Listen to Reading, where students listen to books that are read aloud to them. The grant funding will be used to purchase 23 Playaway Bookpacks. A Playaway Bookpack has 2-5 books and an MP3 player that has the audio version of those books. Students are able to listen to the story read aloud to them while following along in the book. Each 2nd grade teacher will keep at least 5 Playaway Bookpacks in their classroom and will rotate the Bookpacks each quarter so the students are exposed to different books. The importance of Listen to Reading is that students can hear fluent reading while tracking the words in the book. By hearing and seeing the words, they are expanding their vocabulary skills, building phonemic awareness and fluency, and benefiting from exposure to good literature.
Cross the Scholastic Divide
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Wendy Pugh, Ms. Brittany Dray, Ms. Sydney Wood
Grant Sponsor: Wiley|Wilson
The purpose of this program is to provide all students the opportunity to increase motivation for learning and their level of engagement through interdisciplinary/cross curriculum work. This proposal addresses the needs of all children who learn differently and at a different rate. Using cross curricular activities throughout each subject during the day, research shows how students participate more and can understand and see the value of what they are learning as opposed to learning each skill in isolation.
Little People Becoming BIG Thinkers!
Perrymont Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Annemarie Clingenpeel, Ms. Robin Einreinhof, Ms. Page Miller, and Ms. Lisa Smith
Grant Sponsor: Innovative Wireless
The purpose of this program is to provide access to STEM materials to enhance our students’ critical thinking skills and ability to collaborate. It will help them to work together to solve real-world problems or to learn more about the world around them. This project also connects language, math and science in a way that will help all three come to life for our students.
Eva Kor: Lessons in Forgiveness
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Ms. Patricia Worsham
Grant Sponsor: LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide E. C. Glass students an opportunity for a lesson in living history. Ms. Kor not only shares her story as one of Dr. Mengele's twins, but also provides a powerful message of survival and forgiveness.
Tradebook Table Talk
Dearington Elementary School for Innovation – Teachers: Ms. Anne Mabry, Ms. Jennifer Mariner
Grant Sponsor: American National Bank
The purpose of this program is to provide additional reading material for second graders. We would like to use tradebooks for extra reading opportunities. Many second graders at Dearington are reading at 4th-6th grade levels. The purchased tradebook sets will be all levels. Our advanced reading groups will be able to use them in addition to LCS resources. We would also like to include parents in the reading selections and have a "table talk" three times a year in the evening. These book discussions will promote the parental responsibility and relationship needed in our school. We hope to accomplish a lifetime love of reading at this early age.
Making Life Long Readers
Bedford Hills Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Gilda Reichert
Grant Sponsor: RR Donnelley, Generation Solutions
The purpose of this project is to expose students to a wide range of literature genres, to offer students choice in what they read independently, to allow students to report out on what they read, and to generate enthusiasm for reading. This approach to reading instruction leans on the concept of allowing students to have choice and voice in learning about literature. After reading “The Book Whisper,” by Donalyn Miller, my eyes were opened to the importance of independent reading and generating enthusiasm for reading. After years of trial and error, Miller developed a program for her Language Arts classes that incorporated learning all the genres with reading independently. Miller’s results from her curriculum have been amazing. Her students read a relatively large number of books in a year, and they also earn high scores on their state’s reading assessment. She has not had one student fail the state assessment in four years. An average of 85% of her students scored in the 90th percentile. This includes students from all backgrounds and socio-economic levels.
Prize Patrol
Dearington Elementary School for Innovation – Teacher: Ms. Laurel Raymond
Grant Sponsor: Appalachian Power, The Education & Research Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this activity is to increase student achievement and parent involvement in both math and reading. During the Month of October we will send home "pledge cards" with all Dearington students. Students that "pledge" to either work on math an ADDITIONAL 15 minutes per night during the month of October or read an ADDITIONAL 15 minutes per night during the month of March, could receive a home visit from the Prize Patrol.
Let the Show Begin! Acting out stories from the leveled reading series
Paul Munro Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Elizabeth Rinckel, Ms. Cynthia Sheldrake
Grant Sponsor: Carolina Connection Dance & Body Wear
The purpose of the program is to provide hands-on materials to enable students to act out the stories that accompany the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) program on the Orange (beginning) level. These materials or “props” will be packaged in kits (gallon baggies), stored in plastic containers, and labeled for each lesson. There are 70 stories in the LLI Orange level. Some kits will have teacher-made construction paper/cardboard laminated materials and others will have small items such as plastic animals, play food, and transportation toys.
If They Cut, Slice, Grate, Mix, and/or Cook It – They Will Eat It
Paul Munro Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Pamela Levinson, Ms. Kirstin Eubank
Grant Sponsor: Centra Foundation
The purpose of this program is to provide students with experiences through cooking, and comparing familiar and unfamiliar fruits and vegetables using their five senses. This will increase their understanding of and appreciation for healthy foods, their vocabulary, language and math (comparison, sorting, classifying, graphing) skills, and their observational skills. The goal of these experiences is to encourage the students to try new foods and to improve their food choices at school and at home, thus decreasing their choice of high-calorie, prepackaged and processed foods, decreasing obesity, and improving health.
Stock Market Game
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School – Teacher: Mr. Jerry Miller
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union
The purpose of this program is to provide an online simulation of the global capital markets for students in the world of economics, investing and personal finance that helps prepare them for financially independent futures, and to help teach how the stock market works using virtual money and real stock market statistics.
Author and Illustrator Visits
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Mary Jo Krufka
Grant Sponsor: Kim & Stephen Tibbs, LCS Education Foundation, Inc. George Rainsford and Rev. Haywood Robinson Funds
The purpose of this program is to provide students with the experience of hearing from a published author and/or illustrator. I plan to have 2 different people visit the school with the picture book illustrator doing sessions for grades 1 & 2 and the second author/illustrator doing sessions for grades 3-5.
Rain and Snow – We Still Go!
Hutcherson Early Learning Center– Teacher: Ms. Jane Ruehle
Grant Sponsor: Coldwell Banker Commercial Read & Company, HumanKind, LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide opportunity for 144 prekindergarten children to be able to be outside during regularly scheduled outdoor learning time during rainy and snowy weather. Outdoor learning is a critical element of our prekindergarten program. A wide variety of life experiences provide preschoolers with the opportunity to develop new vocabulary, become more flexible, and broaden their understanding of the wider world around them.
Journaling Our Way to Visual Literacy
Sandusky Middle School – Teacher: Ms. Karen Camden
Grant Sponsor: Moore & Giles, LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide not just a sketchbook for my students but the opportunity to develop their talents in a personal journal. These artists will have a treasure that they will be proud of and I know they will continue using the journals for artistic drawings and creative writing. We will develop drawing skills and use those skills to practice visual note taking that will help in core subject classes. Sandusky students will be creative artists, writers, and thinkers ready for the 21st century.
Talking Notebook
All Middle and High Schools – Teachers: Ms. Michelle Quarantotto, Ms. Meredith Gardner, Ms. Diana Thompson, Ms. Donna Sloman
Grant Sponsor: LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this program is to provide additional language support in the form of guided conversations and guided reading. Students will have "talking notebooks" with scripted conversations they will use to talk about content level vocabulary. The dialogues are scaffold by language proficiency levels and are designed to encourage conversation and promote self esteem. The conversations will model correct grammar usage and will also reinforce their English reading skills. Each level of the notebook will have more words and phrases removed from the dialogue allowing students to input their knowledge of English usage. This program will allow students to participate with language in a safe and engaging manner that will result in rapid language acquisition.
Boys To Men
E. C. Glass High school – Teacher: Ms. Bridget Mathwin
Grant Sponsor: Anonymous
The purpose of this program is to provide both academic and socio/emotional support to black male students through the use of auto-biographies and biographies. Students will be selected based on academic achievement on previous SOL tests, behavior records and attendance records. Students will meet at least once a week for 10 weeks. Each week a chapter of a book will be required by each student. A short quiz/test will be given each session. The grades on these can be used to boost a grade within English classes. Students will discuss the resilience shown throughout the many struggles presented. During each session, students will also be taught a study skill, including time management, note taking, learning styles, use of agendas, etc.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Fort Hill Community School– Teachers: Ms. Alexix Harlan, Ms. Katherine Baker
Grant Sponsor: Centra Foundation
The purpose of this program is to provide education, support, and relationship building for young mothers and fathers by providing a support system to learn about pregnancy, birth, and child care. It is also a chance to provide the structure and encouragement for young parents to continue their education and earn their high school diploma.
Learning Science hAll the Time
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Melissa Hester, Ms. Lauri Harwood
Grant Sponsor: Radiology Consultants of Lynchburg
The purpose of this program is to provide an opportunity for students to review science skills and concepts in a way that will build excitement and long term retention. Science Hallways will provide a way for students to be engaged in learning during times such as waiting for the bathroom or classes to exit and enter high traffic areas. The program will provided riddles, challenges, interactive signs, and visual aids that illustrate and clarify science concepts. Teachers will lead classes in reading and discussing these signs while waiting in the halls.
Problem Solving and Critical Thinking through Board Games
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Ms. Sarah Mabery
Grant Sponsor: Belvac Production Machinery
The purpose of this program is to provide students who do not need remediation the opportunity to develop and/or practice problem solving and critical thinking skills during our RAM period.
Baby Chicks in the Classroom
Hutcherson Early Learning Center – Teachers: Mr. Bert Mueller, Ms. Polly Smith, Ms. Laurie Squier, Ms. Kristen Porterfield
Grant Sponsor: Coleman-Adams Construction
The purpose of this program is to provide preschool students in Hutcherson Early Learning Center’s Pre-K classrooms with experiences and exposure to raising baby chicks in their classrooms. Hutcherson is home to 9 Pre-K classrooms. Each classroom will receive all of the equipment to keep chicks (3 chicks for each classroom, 1 to 2 days old) for one week, providing them with the opportunity to feed, water, care for, and generally observe the chicks’ development and growth over the first week of their lives.
Snow Day Surprise
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Claire Ickes, Ms. Karen Mason, Ms. Lauri Harwood, Mr. William Maurice
Grant Sponsor: Kidds Restoration & Cleaning Services, Hurt & Proffitt
The purpose of this program is to provide leveled reading materials, a map or chart and a grade level activity to each student who is enrolled in special education or who is an English Language Learner to use at home on a snow day. A “Snow Day Surprise” bag enables each child to anticipate and have academic materials to enliven a snowed-in day at home. Just keeping up with day-to-day academics is challenging for unique learners and so encouragement to make the most of found time at home to practice and enjoy learning activities is a gift. Snuggled up, reading and learning or reviewing school subjects with a family member or caregiver offers our students the chance to be excited by new school materials specially chosen for each of them to improve their skills.
Location & Environmental Photography
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Ms. Kimberly Gibson-McDonald
Grant Sponsor: Harris Corporation
The purpose of this program is to provide 75 photography students the opportunity to explore and become intimate with the architecture and the landscape of downtown Lynchburg, City Cemetery, and Sweet Briar College and to learn about photography from Douglas Hunter, an award winning documentary filmmaker and photographer. They will learn about location and environmental photography before the trip and practice and apply their skills using the beautiful landscape of Lynchburg and Sweet Briar College as their subject. Photographer Douglas Hunter will be present to share his experience and expertise in the professional world of photography.
Four Great Experiments
P. L. Dunbar Middle School – Teachers: Ms. Barbara Braun, Ms. Gail Waller
Grant Sponsor: BWX Technologies
The purpose of this program, Four Great Experiments, is to provide hands-on experiences and inquiry-based learning for approximately 225 sixth grade science students at P.L. Dunbar School of Innovation through funding assistance for the laboratory equipment needed to conduct 4 meaningful science activities recommended by the Virginia Department of Education for 6th grade science. The four activities are: The Ocean’s Effect on Climate, Atmospheric Pressure, Weather Forecasting, and Photosynthesizing with Elodea. With the necessary equipment, students will be able to conduct the investigations themselves, instead of relying on just a teacher demonstration.
Document Camera Focus
William Marvin Bass Elementary – Teachers: Ms. Veroncia Wayne, Ms. Shana West, Ms. Elisa Quackenbos Grant Sponsor: BWX Technologies
The purpose of this program is to provide purposeful, instruction for students using the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s) and the Lynchburg City PAR guides to improve classroom teaching strategies. Meaningful classroom instruction practices have been shown in numerous educational studies to be the key component in improving student learning. A document camera is an excellent teaching tool that will provide improved learning outcomes of all students. There are endless possibilities of innovative classroom learning activities with a document camera.
Tell me a Story
Linkhorne Elementary School – Teachers: Ms. Barbara Reid, Ms. Claire Ickes
Grant Sponsor: RM Gantt Construction
The purpose of this program is to provide wordless picture books for students in Kindergarten to use to learn and practice the art of narrative language. Narratives, or oral stories, are a bridge from oral language to written language. Learning the organization of a coherent narrative which is: characters, setting, problem, characters’ feelings about the problem, resolution of the problem, and characters’ feelings after the problem is resolved, facilitates the organizational process required for writing. Engaging wordless picture books enjoyed with a caring adult can provide the foundation for that bridge.
VEX Robot Playing Field
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Ms. Kim Hansen
Grant Sponsor: BWX Technologies
The purpose of this program is to give students within E. C. Glass the opportunity to build and program VEX robots to compete in a robotic competition each school year. The money will be spent on a playing field, game pieces and registration dues. With a playing field, student will be able to design and test their robots to a higher level of accuracy than in the past. Students in the past have mocked up small portions of the field to prepare for competition but never got a true sense of the field. It wasn’t until the day of competition that students were able to drive their robot on a playing field for the first time.
Author Sharon V. Flake Visits Dunbar Middle School
P. L. Dunbar Middle School – Teachers: Ms. Carrie Dodge, Ms. Jennie Howell, Ms. Maria Galeone, Ms. Brittany Clark-Slaughter
Grant Sponsor: Greater Lynchburg Community Trust - The Catherine Wooldridge Connelly and William Hatcher Connelly Fund, LCS Education Foundation, Inc.
The purpose of this grant is to provide students with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet their favorite author, Sharon Flake. The students throughout P. L. Dunbar Middle School for Innovation have read The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake in sixth grade English Class. When asked by their teachers what their favorite novel is, the majority of them enthusiastically respond with this title. Sharon Flake visits middle schools not only to speak with students, but to interact with them both through question and answer sessions and writing workshops. Ms. Flake is a positive role model students can relate to. The students in our school are working hard to meet Virginia’s state standards for reading and writing, and meeting Ms. Flake would inspire them toward becoming better readers and writers.
Project Inclusion
E. C. Glass High School – Teacher: Ms. Heather McCormick
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Foundation
The purpose of this program is to increase high school students’ sensitivity to and awareness of diversity issues so that they can create school and community environments free from the distractions of prejudice, stereotypes, and bigotry. More specifically, the Project Inclusion retreat will give participants the opportunity to work closely with their peers to explore personal experiences with discrimination and develop both individual skills and school-wide action plans that address change in themselves and their schools.
The Art in Reading
Perrymont Elementary School – Teacher: Ms. Lisa Crawford
Grant Sponsor: Roger & Winston Green
The purpose of this program is to create an art library for the art room and to use literature based art projects as a tool in teaching my students. There is currently no book nook in the art room. There are an abundance of books that are available that teach art history, art concepts, art skills, and inspire and encourage young artists. I would like to give my students access to some of these books. I would like to have a large and varied collection of materials about art. My students own artistic creations could be stimulated and enhanced by the rich resources (books) that would be available to them. Books in the art room enhance literacy, vocabulary and language skills.
Paludarium
P. L. Dunbar Middle School – Teachers: Mr. Thomas Foster, Ms. Jacqueline Pinn
Grant Sponsor: BWX Technologies
The purpose of this project is to provide students with a hands-on/practical study of various species living within a specific environment. The aforementioned topics (biomes, energy flow, food chains, evolution, natural selection), are all essential to the understanding of various science disciplines, mainly Earth, Life, and General Science. Through various kinesthetic activities, the students will be able to witness hunting techniques of various animals, specific adaptations that allow animals to live in a specific environment, and energy transfer within a closed system.