Published on Mon., January 24, 2011

During the 2010-2011 school year, LCS students will become reading detectives, create historic clay animations, build solar power cars, play the stock market and much more!

It is all made possible through business sponsored grants from the Lynchburg City Schools Education Foundation, Inc. In its 19th year of offering scholarships, the Foundation awarded forty-six grants to teachers for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Lynchburg City Schools Education Foundation, Inc. has awarded almost 300 corporate sponsored teacher grants since initiating the program more than nineteen years ago. More than $273,000 in grant funds have allowed teachers, counselors and administrators the opportunity to implement a broad range of creative and innovative ideas into our classrooms and schools. This year the Foundation funded grants totaling more than $50,000.

Sponsoring businesses include: Appalachian Power, AREVA, Bank of the James, Banker Steel Company, Babcock & Wilcox, BB & T Bank, Candler Oil Company, CB Fleet, Central Virginia Federal Credit Union, Colonial Brokerage House, Dodson Pest Control, Dominion Seven Architects, The Education & Research Foundation, Flint Construction, Genworth Financial, The Greater Lynchburg Community Trust, Hurt & Proffitt, Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union, Lynchburg Nissan, Lynchburg Retail Merchants Association Foundation, Moore & Giles, Piedmont Community Health Plan, R.M. Gantt Construction, R.R. Donnelley, Successful Innovations, SunTrust Bank, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Wal-Mart, Wegmann USA, Wiley|Wilson, and WSET.

Below are the projects that received grants for the 2010/2011 school year:

 

Pioneer Pick-me-Up! ($1,000)
Heritage High School
Teachers: Allen Hackmann, Janet Dalton
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

Pioneer Pick-me-Up! is a school based business/work experience model that focuses on math, technology, social skills, and job readiness skills. The program’s flexibility allows participation from multiple levels of cognitive abilities ranging from general education students to students with intellectual disabilities.  Pioneer Pick-me-Up! is a coffee shop run by students with disabilities and is designed to teach the students the daily operating procedures of a service oriented small business. Students will learn an inventory system to control profits and losses, opening and closing procedures, money skills, computer skills, and customer service. The goal is to have the students running the program independently by the end of the school year. From daily procedures to ordering and receiving products the students learn much more than customer service. Pioneer Pick-me-Up! is designed to be a small business, not a mock work experience.

Link Crew ($2,000)
E. C. Glass High School
Administrator: Luke Saechao
Grant Sponsor: Susan Morrison + Greater Lynchburg Community Trust Special Fund

More and more studies show that if students have a positive experience their first year in high school, their chance for success increases dramatically. Link Crew is a high school transition program that welcomes freshmen and makes them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their high school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, Link Crew trains members of the junior and senior classes to be Link Leaders. As positive role models, Link Leaders are motivators, leaders and teachers who guide the freshmen to discover what it takes to be successful during the transition to high school and help facilitate freshman success.

Project Inclusion ($2,000)
Heritage High School
Teacher: Chris Glover
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

Designed for a single school or district, Project Inclusion is a four-day, three-night retreat that brings together up to 40 students and 10 educators for an intensive four-day residential experience. While at Project Inclusion, participants explore issues of diversity and prejudice, gain insight into their own lives and values, and develop action plans to share their learning with their sending school. Administrators have credited Project Inclusion with improving school climates through the reduction of bullying and violent incidents and by building stronger connections between students and educators.

Project Inclusion ($2,000)
E.C. Glass High School
Teacher: Heather McCormick, Rose Flaugher
Grant Sponsor: Babcock & Wilcox

Project Inclusion is a three-night, four-day program designed for 40-60 students of a single high school or locality to experiment with ideas of bias in many different areas: race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and socio-economic status, to name a few. The goal of Project Inclusion is to motivate participants to create change in their school. Throughout the program, interactive dialogue allows for the sharing of personal experience as a process for participants to examine their own effectiveness in creating more equitable communities. The action planning process at the conclusion of the program serves as an impetus for follow-up activities that take place throughout the school year and beyond.

The Write Experience ($500)
Sandusky Elementary School
Teacher: Theresa Farley
Grant Sponsor: Candler Oil Company

“The Write Experience” will give students the opportunity to meet in small groups and improve their writing while addressing topics that are relevant to 5th grade boys and girls. Friendship, decision making, goal setting, social skills, sportsmanship and bullying are among the topics to be addressed. Some specific examples of topics will be; “How to Make/Lose a Friend,” “Fair Fighting with Friends,” “Good Choices/Bad Choices,” “How to Help a Friend Who is Being Bullied,” “Good Sport/Bad Sport," and “Goals for my Future.” The students will meet weekly in small groups of five. Each student will have their own journal and set of gel pens. Boy groups and girl groups will meet separately to address gender specific topics that are more relevant to their gender and age. All writing prompts will be followed by an editing session and discussion. Most of the sessions will involve a creative activity or craft that reinforces the topic. Craft items will be provided as needed for each session. The students will improve their writing skills, improve their quality of friendships, learn specific ways to resolve conflict, and set goals for now and the future.

Stepping It Up in Math! ($830)
Sandusky Middle School
Teachers: Gessi Childress, Leigh Hensley, Ryan White
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

As math teachers, we often struggle with making math skills concrete for our students and relating math to the "real world." We are also aware of the nation-wide health crisis for our country's youth: childhood obesity. Our initiative, "Stepping It Up in Math" seeks to offer solutions for both of these problems.

Pedometers will be purchased for every seventh grade student at SMS. The children will receive pedometers at the beginning of the school day and turn them in just before leaving. Each student will keep a log of how far he/she has traveled each day. At specified times, students will take the pedometers home to participate in weekend contests to see who can walk the farthest over the course of 24 or 48 hours. Three maps of the United States will be displayed in each social studies classroom and the social studies teachers will help the students track their progress across the United States.

Just Say Yes! ($1,500)
Sandusky Middle School, Dunbar Middle School, Linkhorne Middle School
Principals: Jay Sales, Brian Wray, Robert Kerns
Grant Sponsor: Dodson Pest Control + George Rainsford Grant

In the fall of 2005, Sandusky Middle School piloted a mentoring program for sixth graders called YES. The YES program, using the Phoenix Curriculum, is designed to curb gang exposure and involvement, and to teach positive behaviors and proactive life choices that develop good citizenship. Volunteers from the city's Office of Parks and Recreation work with children to educate them about alternatives to gang exposure, gang-like behavior, and negative life choices in general. 

Twiddle-Robotics ($800)
Dearington School for Innovation
Teacher: Carrie Lewis
Grant Sponsor: Babcock & Wilcox

This STEM idea involves children working step by step through the thinking/planning, design and experimentation processes being implemented currently on the PhD level in UVA's biomechanical m3 labs in their study of batoid fins and motion. The children will work on their own level using math, science, writing, engineering, and technology with Lego Mindstorms software and test their personal designs of aquatic animal morphology and functions. Students will design the ideal fish shape and include their idea of the most effective fins/flippers. They will then use clay and rubber to mold their own model and test its motion in water.  Each team will be making a presentation to display, discuss and picture their progress and results.

So Close, And Yet So Far ($459)
Sandusky Middle School
Teacher: Georgia Jones
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union

The purpose of this program is to provide a hands-on living history experience to our entire sixth grade class. In the course of the tour provided at Popular Forest, students will reinforce reading skills, life science skills, and oral listening skills.  This trip will also provide the opportunity for underprivileged students to experience what many of their more affluent peers have already done, and thus help to narrow the gap in achievement between our rich and poor in Lynchburg.

Hands-On Literacy ($2,000)
R.S. Payne Elementary School
Teachers: Jane Ruehle, Sheron Donigan, Kristin Porterfield
Grant Sponsor: RR Donnelley + LCS Education Foundation

We will create 15 “Hands-On Literacy” boxes for use in the Pre-K classroom. The purpose of these boxes is to give children a close connection with print. The boxes will contain carefully chosen classroom sets of books and specific materials relating to each title allowing for experiences with object exploration, representation, and storytelling that is critical to the development of early literacy. Each box will also contain lesson plans and activities detailing the use of the materials.   At this time Pre-K classrooms do not have classroom sets of books. A classroom sets allows each child to hold the same title of a book at the same time as the teacher. This simple arrangement has a tremendous impact on an early learner's functional literacy.

Putting the ‘E’ in STEM ($500)
Dearington Elementary School for Innovation
Teacher: Tawanda Johnson
Grant Sponsor: Hurt & Proffitt

Putting the "E" is STEM is a project designed to familiarize students in grades K-5 with various types of engineering and the many possible related careers.  Students will also become aware of how science, math and technology come together in engineering. Students at every grade level will meet in small groups once per week (Wonderful STEM Wednesdays) and be given specific design challenges (i.e. Grades K,1-build a home for The Little Pigs that will withstand the wind from a hair dryer/fan, Grades 2-3- build a simple machine such as a lever to make work easier, Grades 3-5 -build a bottle rocket and calculate its speed.) Many of the engineering activities especially in the primary grades will have a literacy connection (i.e. Little Red Riding Hood- students will build a container to get the cookies to grandmother safely.) By the close of the school year, every student will be afforded the opportunity to complete several different engineering challenges. Upon completion of the projects, the students will display their work in the School's Engineering and Science Fair.

‘Wonderful, Blunderful Words’ A Word Study Program ($1,500)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers: Linda Wyndham, Emily Laybourne
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Retail Merchants Foundation + LCS Education Foundation

Our proposal is to enhance a new word study program. "Words Their Way" develops phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and spelling through focused instruction. Our proposal is to incorporate these skills into work stations for the students to practice the skills in a fun environment. During word study, words and pictures are sorted in routines that require children to examine, discriminate, and make critical judgments about speech sounds, word structures, spelling patterns, and meaning. It is our hope that this grant will provide our students with centers based solely on word study to reinforce these very important concepts needed to be successful learners. We now have 30 iPods for our third graders and additional applications to use in workstations would further motivate our students.

Bringing Home the Night Sky to Lynchburg City Schools ($1,990)
Sandusky Middle School
Teachers: Brian Jablonski, April Purvis, Erin Davis, Leah Purvis
Grant Sponsor: Babcock & Wilcox Company

This project will introduce middle school students to the science of astronomy. Students will participate in classroom and evening activities to explore the visible planets, constellations, structures of the moon and sun, and some of the brighter Messier objects (e.g. the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy).  We will purchase a classroom set of planispheres (charts used to find the stars in the night sky for a given date and time,) a laser pointer for the teacher to point out visible objects in the night sky, a Sky Scout (a hand held electronic device that identifies stars, constellations and Messier objects) and three telescopes to view the moon and, with appropriate filters, our Sun. Some activities will take place during regular class time; however, others will take place after school hours. Teachers will arrange special evening programs for viewing the night sky. Groups will practice locating stars and constellations using the planispheres. The teacher will point out significant objects visible to the naked eye. The class will then spend time with the telescopes viewing more distant objects and seeing visible objects with more detail.

The Final Frontier ($400)
R. S. Payne Elementary School
Teacher: Lee Ohl
Grant Sponsor: Dominion Seven Architects

My third grade astronomers will be creating a planetarium in our classroom at R. S. Payne. We study the third grade SOL concepts of moon phases, gravity, revolution, rotation, and tides. My GO Center students are capable of going further into the exploration of space. I plan to put the 46 students into small groups and pairs to research the planets, constellations and their stories, and the far reaches of our universe. We will create paper mache planets and Christmas tree light constellations. These will be hung in our black draped classroom. We will create a DVD that illustrates and explains both the SOL concepts and our research. This will be projected onto the ceiling by upending our projector to simulate a planetarium. My students and the R. S. Payne zoned students will lay on the floor to enjoy the presentation.

Fluent Fourth Graders ($500)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers: Wendy Pugh, Sherry Richards
Grant Sponsor: Central Virginia Federal Credit Union

In order to understand what you read, you have to be able to read fluently. Children struggle with understanding what they read when they are unable to read smoothly. Our proposal will have the children using hand held digital recorders to practice reading fluently. They will then be able to listen to themselves. The same passages, stories will be taped several times until the student feels that he/she has done his/her best. These tapes will then be shared with the PreK and K classes for listening centers, buddy reading, or use in classrooms. The fourth graders will practice with short passages and then move into picture books and then easy books.

Leapfrog Literacy ($900)
R. S. Payne Elementary School
Teacher:  Caitlin Pugh
Grant Sponsor: BB&T

Leapfrog Tag, the Amazing Touch Reading System, is a system that is set up for children who are reading 1-2 years behind and those who have trouble with reading skills and comprehension. Each week the children will take home a case that includes a pen, a leveled book, reading skills with each book, and comprehension activities that go with it. They will work all week on the same book, working on fluency and reading skills. At the end of each week they will return the completed case and check out another case.  The pen reinforces fluency through echo reading and repeated reading. This packet will supplement and complement our classroom reading curriculum. It will also help build confidence, and ensure success for everyone.

Read Your Way around the World! ($1,006.95)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers:  Erika Currin, Kathy Latham, Sherry Richards, Patricia McLaughlin
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

With more than 13 different languages represented by our students, past and present, and even more cultural differences within their homes, diversity has become a main focus of Perrymont Elementary School. Literature is a large part of so many cultures and helps to keep their diverse traditions and history alive. A multicultural and multilingual library collection would give our total school population the opportunity to experience all of the great differences among us.

This grant would allow the purchase of approximately 20 bilingual books and 40 multicultural books, which will be integrated into our school library. This new library collection will promote cultural awareness and the appreciation for all people throughout our world.

Let’s Move @ FHCS ($1,500)
Fort Hill Community School
Teacher:  Tracie Hayes
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

The Fort Hill Community School has developed a physical education class to help our students understand the four components of physical fitness: cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body composition by exposing them to various types of fitness games/activities. In order for our students to truly understand these components, we are in need of various types of physical education equipment.  In addition, behavior modification rates extremely high in an alternative education program and this equipment will help us encourage positive behavior by offering the opportunity to participate in numerous games/activities.  This class will allow our students to participate in a physical education program similar to those in their base schools. This initiative is so important because it will allow our alternative education students to actively participate in a physical education program and remain connected with their base school courses. It will also meet First Lady Michelle Obama's National goal of helping our children maintain a healthy weight through her "Let's Move" program. 

Reading Detectives – Searching for Clues in the Content Areas ($1,000)
R. S. Payne Elementary School 
Teachers:  Sandy Halpin, Abby Drinkard, Amy James
Grant Sponsor: CB Fleet Company

Some struggling readers will avoid reading non-fiction. They often equate non-fiction with difficult content area reading in their subject area textbooks. Many have difficulty with the skills related to effective comprehension of non-fiction literature.  Adult and young adult readers are faced with non-fiction reading every day on their jobs; therefore, it is important for readers to become proficient in reading and comprehending non-fiction writing.  Through the use of Scholastic's Science News magazine, students will learn and review fourth and fifth grade science concepts while practicing important reading skills for non-fiction reading. Through the use of Virginia Studies Weekly newspaper, students will review fourth grade Virginia history concepts and facts, while learning the new information on fifth grade timelines. “Highlighting Kits” (consisting of post it notes, arrow flags, page flags, colored pens, and highlighters) will provide students with the necessary supplies to highlight and mark on the consumable periodicals. The post it notes, arrows, and flags will give the students the opportunity to harmlessly mark the important information in their school textbooks.

Historic Clay Animation ($249.90)
Linkhorne Middle School
Teacher: Sheri Bosta
Grant Sponsor: LCS Education Foundation

In small groups, sixth grade ‘Great Achievements’ students will identify and research a heroic event/person. They will then create a script which portrays that person's major achievement. Students will create and have clay characters portray that event to the class in the form of a clay animation movie.  Students will be able to recreate and present their clay character movies to show how responsible people act. Students will identify the qualities of a respectable citizen.

StoryWorks Works for Perrymont ($632)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers: Barbara Braun, David Vest, Wendy Pugh, Ruth Anne Oertle
Grant Sponsor: Education & Research Foundation + LCS Education Foundation

StoryWorks is a consumable classroom magazine published by Scholastic, Inc. for grades 3-6 that provides leveled reading and flexible activities that can easily be incorporated into Perrymont Elementary’s Harcourt reading curriculum. Each issue contains original stories, poems, plays and nonfiction articles, along with writing activities, grammar skill pages, monthly contests and access to online extras. The magazine is a high interest reading resource that the students eagerly anticipate every 4 weeks. StoryWorks is unlike other children’s magazines in that it is designed to supplement and complement a classroom reading curriculum. The fiction and nonfiction readings are leveled by the Lexile system, which will provide the teacher the information needed to present the readings to the students as an instructional tool, as an independent reader, or as a peer reading tool.

The Special of the Day! ($408)
Sandusky Middle School
Teacher: Eva Yoder
Grant Sponsor: SunTrust Bank

As teachers, we challenge ourselves to "slip instruction" into every aspect of our children's days. The one spot where we can affect all students during the course of the day is our cafeteria.

I will purchase plastic restaurant placards (9x11) to be displayed on all the tables in our cafeteria so we can run and display the SMS "Special of the Day!" each day. Each Special will reinforce a term, skill, or person from all of our core areas. The specials will be humorous and engaging. The Specials of the Day can be created by every teacher in every core area. Some Specials could apply to all grade levels, and others could be used in a particular grade. Many teachers are already eagerly (and creatively!) thinking of how they can use the Special of the Day to enhance and reinforce instruction.

Let’s Go…SOLAR! ($2,000)
Sandusky Middle School
Teachers: Leah Purvis, Erin Davis
Grant Sponsor: Appalachian Power Company + LCS Education Foundation

We will purchase solar powered car kits for our students to build as part of our science curriculum. We hope that the students we teach will one day be driving solar powered cars, and want to demonstrate to them in a hands-on, interactive manner, just how this source of renewable energy really works.  In building the cars, the students will be using skills learned in their science classes on alternative energy and solutions to the continual use of fossil fuels.  In their English classes, the students further benefit from this grant by researching solar energy and how it is in active use today. In math, students will calculate how much energy could be saved by using solar cars to travel to different destinations as opposed to a gas powered vehicle.

Smile! You’re on Candid Camera! ($600)
Sandusky Middle School
Teacher: Judy Worsham
Grant Sponsor: WSET + LCS Education Foundation

I want to purchase eight digital cameras with protective armor for my students with autism. I will teach them to photograph each other using appropriate behaviors in the classroom, school, and community environment for the creation of social stories. I want to motivate and engage the students to learn the much needed life skills through time management and scheduling of classroom activities, based on their needs and abilities. Students will take their cameras on community based instructional trips, and then download their pictures at school to create a digital storybook of their experience.

Bringing the Fight for Freedom Alive ($1,290)
Sandusky Middle School 
Teachers: Susan Cox, Connie Ellison, Ryan White, Calvin Buck
Grant Sponsor: Anonymous + LCS Education Foundation

So many students see their education as a dry page in a dry book. We want to bring learning alive to our students through the unparalleled experience of live theater. So many of Sandusky's students live below the poverty level and have never had the opportunity to attend a live dramatic performance before. We wish to bring the Bright Star Touring Theater to SMS to perform two plays that will reinforce studies in both reading and social studies, as well as provide excellent role models in character and integrity. The performances we want our children to see are "The Struggle for Freedom," which celebrates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and "Heroes of the Underground Railroad, which discusses figures of the Underground Railroad such as Harriet Tubman, Henry "Box" Brown, and Levi Coffin. These plays will bring to life the people and events that students have up until now only read about or heard their teachers discuss in class.

1000 Readers Across the Curriculum ($503.71)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers:  David Vest, Bobbi Braun
Grant Sponsor: Colonial Brokerage House

Students in the 5th grade culminate the 2 year Virginia Studies program with a state-wide Standards of Learning test in the spring of the year. Over the 2 year time period, students study the contributions to state history of approximately 25 historical figures, ranging from John Smith at Jamestown to Arthur Ashe, tennis player and social activist. Students are expected to know the time period in which the historical person lived, their contribution to Virginia’s history, and how their contribution affects Virginians today.  This proposal asks for funds to purchase classroom sets of short biographies of famous Virginians. ‘1,000 Readers’ are 12-page biographies of historical and contemporary people, places, and events. The biographies correlate to state standards and teach the students about important people and events in history. The non-fiction readers are broken into short easy-to-read (4th grade level) sections reinforced by simple activities. Each reader includes a reading selection, glossary, interesting facts, puzzles, highlights of achievements, sequencing of important events, and simple math activities.

A Blast from the Past: Integrating Reading, Writing, & Social Studies ($1,380)
Sandusky Elementary School
Teachers: Gail Waller, Ashley Sebastian
Grant Sponsor: Wal-Mart + LCS Education Foundation

This project will target specific deficits in reading and content area related standard of learning fields. The proposed program will benefit the entire Sandusky Elementary School community through the sharing of student writing and learning via school broadcasts and oral presentations given by fifth graders to students in lower grade levels. Students will be directly involved in reading, collecting information, and assuming the role of historic Virginians. Initially, students will be motivated by selecting a famous Virginian to portray throughout the year. They will be responsible for reading a biography, writing a research report, and gathering information throughout the course of the year. Students will also be guided in a selection of “props” and attire to help them portray their character during oral presentations and school-wide broadcasts. As a culminating activity, fifth grade students dressed in periodic clothing will visit classrooms of grades one through four to share their oral presentations and knowledge.

Oh, The Places We Can Go ($1,200)
Sandusky Elementary School
Teachers: Malinda Morgan, Judy Griffin, Catherine Straw, Staci Treadway
Grant Sponsor: Greater Lynchburg Community Trust + LCS Education Foundation

We want to actively engage students in reading to learn by creating a unit of study to explore the genres of realistic fiction, biography, mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, and informative non-fiction. These materials will be incorporated into our existing reading program to reinforce and enhance student learning, to fill in gaps in background knowledge and motivate students to be lifelong readers. These activities will be incorporated in to a book club format. Materials will be sent home to encourage parental involvement in their students learning. With each selected text an extension project will be created at home and displayed each month at the school.

 ‘Eating Your Way Through 2nd Grade’ ($722)
R. S. Payne Elementary School
Teachers:  Kelli McCrady, Kim Beuerle
Grant Sponsor: Piedmont Community Health Plan

Every time we teach a lesson with food the students are actively engaged in the lesson.  We want to provide SOL activities that make learning fun using food. For example, as we learn about graphing, students will be able to graph fruit loops. When we study matter and the freezing process, we will make ice cream together. To learn about the geographic features of the United States, we would make US cookies and decorate the mountains with chocolate chips, rivers with icing and the Great Lakes out of Fruit Roll-ups. Writing a “How to” paragraph is definitely more fun using real world experiences like making a sandwich or a salad.

Through using food, we also want to teach our students about healthy eating and snacks in moderation. Most of our students are on free/reduced lunches and do not eat nutritious meals.  To reinforce nutritious eating habits, we will also be growing vegetables and herbs at our school and partnering with the Virginia Extension Office Healthy Eating Program.

Reading Improvement in the Middle School ($651.95)
Linkhorne Middle School
Teacher: Sheri Bosta
Grant Sponsor: Lynchburg Nissan + LCS Education Foundation

Students must be able to read and comprehend text in all classes across the curriculum in order to improve learning. To do so, English teachers must be able to more effectively teach students how to read. The proposed process will allow teachers to accurately assess students to see where they are struggling and then remediate them in those areas.   With materials such as the Burns & Roe Informal Reading Inventory 8, the Qualitative Reading Inventory 5, Words Their Way, Vocabulary Their Way, and current Scholastic Scope magazines, teachers will be able to more accurately teach their students the skills necessary to greatly improve reading abilities.  These materials and techniques will be shared and used year after year benefiting our entire school population for years to come.

Yum Yum Fractions ($430)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teachers: Chris Smith, Terrell Midkiff, Donna Ingram
Grant Sponsor: Bank of the James

"Yum Yum Fractions" is a hands-on learning tool used for teaching second grade students the concept of representing fractional parts of a whole using sets of objects. “Yum Yum Fractions” will provide students with a consistent and reliable model to represent factions of a group. Each student will have their own magnetic pan, and magnetic “cookies” (sponges with magnets) to manipulate. This will allow for teachers to watch each student work through the process of grouping objects into fractional sets. It will also serve as a consistent quick check as students can hold up pans for teacher to see.  The Accelerated Math class will be able to use “Yum Yum Fractions” as a tool to introduce the concept of division and relate it to multiplication.  The “Yum Yum Fractions” will serve as an attention getting, hands on teaching tool for each classroom teacher, as well as an enrichment tool for the Accelerated Math class.

Project Textbooks! ($1,200)
E. C. Glass High School
Teacher: Jessica Bibb
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

We have a wonderful opportunity to build a strong economics program at E. C. Glass. Mr. Latham and the Lynchburg City School board have been incredibly supportive about incorporating this class into our curriculum. Even in the face of severe budget cuts, AP Economics was approved to be an official course at E. C. Glass High School. Unfortunately, there was no money for appropriate resource materials. This grant will provide the needed resource materials for this program.

Pollution Solutions ($1,300)
Sandusky Middle School
Teacher: Leah Purvis
Grant Sponsor: AREVA + LCS Education Foundation

This grant will allow us to purchase A Watershed/Nonpoint Source kit that our students can build and use in the classroom. Through the use of this kit, students will explore the effects of human wastes, industrial wastes, and chemical run-off on our local water supplies.

The Watershed kit includes a topographical map with a storm drain pipe, a clear base, houses, barns, factories, treatment plants, trees, cows, and cars. The water management part of the kit contains buffer strips, grass strips, a manure container, soil, oils, cocoa, drink mixes, a water catcher, rainmaker, bridges, and a user's guide. Storm water pollution becomes visibly apparent to the children as they see rain carrying soil, (cocoa) chemicals, (powdered drink mix) and oil through a watershed to a body of water. Pollution is tracked not only from major sources, such as factories, but also from non-point sources, such as residential areas, forestry areas, and recreational facilities.

Closing the Literacy Gap Using ‘High Interest Low Level’ Books  ($1,426)
Linkhorne Middle School
Librarian:  Peter Sengenberger
Grant Sponsor: Piedmont Community Health Plan

High Interest Low Level books are written specifically for students who are below grade level. These books address modern topics and issues that are relevant and interesting to the students, yet are written at a lower grade level. Simply using lower reading level books does not work because they are often seen as too elementary among the students and are not about topics that interest them. In a recent survey administered to Linkhorne Middle School staff by the LMS library, English and special education teachers consistently stated that “High Interest Low Level” books would be a huge asset when trying to close the literacy gap. This grant is requested to specifically address this issue by increasing the number of HILL books in our library collection on a variety of topics, including those that specifically support English, math, social studies, and science curricular needs. Grant funding would enable us to purchase approximately 100 books that would specifically help these students close the gap between their reading level and grade level. Beyond library availability, these titles would also be used by English and special education teachers who are working on-on-one with these students.

Bringing Wall Street to LMS ($500)
Linkhorne Middle School
Teachers: Brenda Murphy, Edward Donigan, Rhonda Miller
Grant Sponsor: Genworth Financial

This program provides students with an authentic experience to learn the function of the American stock market. Starting with a virtual cash account of $100,000, 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 teaches and 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.

More Books for the Fort Hill Community School ($1,822.64)
Fort Hill Community School
Teacher: Cathy Viar
Grant Sponsor: Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation

The students at the new Fort Hill Community School are in need of Accelerated Reader books that they will be allowed to read and take home. They need an expanded library. The students who attend FHCS are working diligently to be able to return to their base schools. Improving reading abilities is one of the key factors for students to be successful. We have a very limited number of books and students who have read some of them want more books by the same authors and with the same interest level. Students beg to be able to take books home because they want more time to read. It is very important that students be able to continue the good habit of reading beyond the school day.

All Aboard the Letterland Express! ($1,964.31)
Bedford Hills Elementary School
Teachers: Sarah Snow, Cheryl Hughes, Emilie West
Grant Sponsor: Babcock & Wilcox

When most children look at a book, all they see are ordinary, black letters. That's because they haven't been to Letterland! Letterland is a unique, phonics-based method that teaches reading, spelling, and writing. The characters in Letterland transform plain letter shapes into friendly pictogram characters. Each Letterland character has a personality and lives in a realistic place filled with alliterative objects. By combining phonics with life experience, Letterland provides children with a motivating environment to learn all 44 phonic sounds and their spellings. Letterland characters help children easily learn even the most challenging and misleading letter sounds.  Letterland will be implemented in first grade at Bedford Hills Elementary to teach phonic facts with engaging stories that will motivate the children to listen, think and learn.

Art + Math = LEARNING ($900)
Heritage Elementary School
Teacher: Karen Camden
Grant Sponsor: Babcock & Wilcox

Heritage Elementary School artists will combine art and math for a creative approach to learning about Greek, Roman, and African Art. We will also study artists from throughout history like, Mondrian, Calder, Litchenstein, and Williard Wigan. Pioneer artists have created portfolios that will hold projects throughout the year, called our Math Kits, and the projects inside will be helpful when SOL review time comes.  Addition, multiplication, time, place value, symmetry, fractions, map scale, geometric shapes and figures, and angles will also be included. Everyone will have a journal to reflect on his or her experiences through both writing and drawing. Integration of art into traditional subject matter can improve academic achievement while simultaneously making a pleasant environment to both teach and learn.

Taking Science Home ($2,000)
Sheffield Elementary School
Teacher: Amy Myers
Grant Sponsor: Successful Innovations + LCS Education Foundation

The project will involve creating backpacks that contain science activities for students to complete with their parents/families at home. The backpacks will be designed at three learning levels: remedial, on-level, and accelerated. Students will be assigned backpacks according to their individual needs. The backpacks will cover the essential knowledge of science SOL's for each six weeks, but the activities will be tiered to better match student's learning levels. The backpacks will include activities for hands-on discovery, reading and comprehension, practicing the steps of the scientific method, and playing games. All materials needed for the activities will be included in the backpack (except in cases where water is used). These materials will include content-specific science equipment, samples, books, and dry erase activities based on the 5th grade science SOL's. All activities and materials will be designed to be reused, therefore minimizing future costs of replacing them.

Stock Market Game ($500)
Dunbar Middle School
Teacher: Jerry Miller
Grant Sponsor: Banker Steel

The Stock Market Game enables students to learn real-life applications involving the buying and selling of stocks, including researching companies, and setting criteria for making decisions involving economics. The Stock Market Game addresses much needed research skills, decision-making skills, and the ability to apply skills learned in class to real life situations. Personal finance skills are also addressed during this adventure.

Kindergarten Goes to Letterland ($2,000)
Bedford Hills Elementary School
Teachers: Soraya McKinney, Melinda Brubaker
Grant Sponsor: Moore & Giles + LCS Education Foundation

Letterland is a phonics program which focuses on letter sounds rather than letter identification. The idea is that when we begin to introduce letter names and then letter sounds, we confuse students as some letters are also words (like a), some letters have completely different sounds than their name may suggest (like /w/), or the sound changes depending on the other letters around it as with sh. To a kindergartener, there is very little rhyme or reason to the English alphabet. Letterland sets out to clarify the English alphabet in the mind of a five or six year old. Letterland focuses on letter sound because reading is based on sounds not letter names. Letterland is fun, innovative, interactive, and engaging. This program offers a 180 day curriculum with character stories, interactive Smartboard programs, costumes, movement and song to help address and meet various learning styles, as well as promote the processing of information. It provides assessments with daily, small group intervention lessons.

Bouncing for Brain Power II ($800)
Bedford Hills Elementary School
Teacher: Gwyneth Tatum
Grant Sponsor: Piedmont Community Health Plan

Studies have proven that the use of stability balls improves concentration and overall academic performance in children. I have also had first hand experience with adaptive seating and have seen the impact it can have on my students.  We know that students cannot concentrate for more than seven minutes without kinesthetic stimulation. It is imperative that we include these "movement" breaks in our classroom instruction time. However, given the demands of curriculum timelines, SOLs, and other instructional constraints, this time is often hard to find. It takes very little time from instruction to have "bounce" breaks. During these, children are asked to gently bounce, "hula," or otherwise wiggle on their balls for a count of 30 seconds. These time-efficient breaks give students the necessary kinesthetic breaks without a negative impact on instruction and wasting time on transitioning between activities.

In addition, students who struggle with attention deficits and engage in fidget behavior are directly and positively impacted by stability balls. These students have the opportunity to wiggle as needed instead of being forced to sit rigidly in an uncomfortable plastic chair. Many students are not identified as having an attention deficit disorder but still have trouble maintaining composure and concentration especially during testing preparation. These stability balls give all children a chance to get their fidgets out in a healthy and socially acceptable manner.

Catch the Reading Bug! ($1,500)
Linkhorne Elementary School
Teachers: Karen Kohuth, Jennifer Lovett, Kelly Good
Grant Sponsor:  Flint Construction + Rev. Haywood Robinson + LCS Ed. Foundation

With the generosity of McBride Signs, we now have two magnetic signs with the logo “Catch the Reading Bug.” My vehicle was decorated with “Lynchburg Students Love to Read,”  “We Love to Read!,” and “Let’s Read.” Baskets of books were in the back with balloons and other trinkets. Beeping the horn, we approached the apartments and homes of some of our Title 1 students. Books and trinkets are given away as the children lit up with surprise!
The problem that we have now is that we are in need of more books. We want to continue visiting the homes of our children with books ready to read! The continuation of “Catch the Reading Bug” is an integral element in meeting the needs of our children. The three week holiday break and spring break is a concern because our students need to continue reading so they do not regress during breaks. We plan to visit our students during the breaks as part of our personal and professional goals to motivate and promote literacy in our community. Not only do the visits promote reading, but also a positive relationship with the families. We all know how crucial the relationship is between teacher, parent, and student.  A Reading Bug Mascot costume will promote awareness and reading, in an inviting way, as we hand out free books to the children! The Reading Bug mascot can also be present during Linkhorne Elementary’s McDonald’s night, Applebee’s night, Accelerated Reading events, Math/Science/Reading Night, and other fun and inviting events to hand out books and literature to promote reading at home.

A Rock in the Hand Beats Two in the Book ($500)
Linkhorne Middle School
Teacher: Michael Mattox
Grant Sponsor: Wiley|Wilson

The study of Earth Science consists of units in meteorology, astronomy, oceanography and geology. Some of the terminology and concepts related to these units my students cannot physically observe therefore we must model or study in the abstract form. This is not the case for the study of geology.  The ability to categorize and name rock types and their associated minerals is a fundamental skill needed to gain an understanding of the rock cycle. This knowledge can be applied as a basis for higher level learning for additional planetary processes such as plate tectonics and its effects on Earth’s surface. The purpose of this grant proposal is to put rock and mineral samples into the hands of my students instead of presenting them in a PowerPoint or by pictures in a book. This is important! Mineral properties such as hardness, luster, fracture, cleavage and streak can truly only be demonstrated with actual samples. Rock identification is dependent on grain size and shape, texture, mineral content and color, again can be best learned by having actual samples in the student’s hands. A rock in the hand beats two in a book (or PowerPoint) every time!

Image Inspiration Books-The Art of Book Making ($482.30)
Perrymont Elementary School
Teacher: Lisa Crawford
Grant Sponsor: RM Gantt

The purpose of the program is to provide the students with a positive and creative means to express their writing. Students will make books using different materials and collage techniques, illustrate them.  The students will create short poems or stories and then make their own inspiration books to publish the stories and/or poems. The students will become the authors, illustrators, and book makers. Enhanced skill levels will provide the students with a deeper appreciation of writing, literature, and art, and the ability to communicate and express themselves. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a beautiful image has the potential to inspire great writing.

Rotary Fixture for Laser Engraver/Cutter ($1,250)
E. C. Glass High School
Teacher: Kimberley Hansen
Grant Sponsor: Wegmann USA, Inc.

A Universal Laser System is currently being used by Basic Technical, Engineering and Architectural drawing students. The piece of equipment has brought life to the drawings created by the students. This machine has provided the ability to challenge the students to complete more complex designs in the classroom. Utilizing inexpensive heavy paper stock, the students are able to produce models of their designs and are provided with a representative part of the work completed on the computer. The excitement for this piece of equipment has been very positive in the classroom.  Adding a rotary fixture will offer the students a broader range of projects that they will be able to complete. In addition to curriculum design and engineering projects, the students will have a means to support their school club projects and competition expenses by fundraiser projects.

See Related Content