 |
 |
|
GRANT
AWARDS
Round 31 - Fall, 2002 (Page 1
of 2)
PRIMARY/ELEMENTARY LEVEL AWARDS
Title: "Book Of The Week" Club
Level: Elementary
School: Marion Elementary School, Belle Vernon Area School District
Contact: Barbara Temoshenka, Jeanine Gregory, Sherry Chernay, Lorraine Povlish,
Linda Huylk, Sylvia Fafalios, Linda Patterson, Beth Caswell
Each week in December, first graders will participate in a Book of the Week
Club. The teachers will read and portray characters in the books using simple
props or costumes. Students will also be treated to refreshments for these
special readings. Books will become part of the library for future use by all.
Title: Multiplication Around the World
Level: Elementary
School: California K-8, California Area School District
Contact: Elaine Shannon
In this grant project, students will be challenged to learn their multiplication
facts to participate in the game "Around the World". In this game,
the student’s quickness in answering multiplication problems helps them
travel around the world and return to their original starting point. A tournament
will be held in each classroom with the winners competing against the other
winners in the third grade. This hopes to be a fun way for students to learn
the basic multiplication facts that are essential to their problem-solving
development and future math success.
Title: Walk Two Moons in a Character's Shoes
Level: Elementary
School: Westinghouse Elementary School, East Allegheny School District
Contact: Kim Sroka, Deb Gutwald, Wendi Weller, Kelly Ference, Tim Hurney, Marty
Casper, Nadine Godlesky, Dwight Hackett
In the novel, Walk Two Moons, the message "never judge a person until
you have walked two moons in their moccasins" prevails. In this project
the students will "walk two moons" in the characters’ shoes
as they dramatize different scenes from the book. Students will also create
advertisements and playbills for their performance for parents and community
members.
Title: For the Love of Birds
Level: Elementary
School: Monessen Elementary School, Monessen School District
Contact: Christine R. Zboyovsky, Thomas Imbrescia, Dianne Salotti, Heather
Lusk
"If you build it…they will come." The purpose of this great idea
grant is to create a bird habitat on school grounds. This project will include
the identification, migration and conservation of Pennsylvania songbirds. This
project will include lessons in science, math, research, social studies, English,
language arts, and computer technology. This project will build on the present
unit on ecology and provide motivation and enrichment for the students.
Title: Home of the Math Champions
Level: Elementary
School: Donora Elementary Center, Ringgold School District
Contact: Kevin D. Alvarez, Eric Kuvinka
The purpose of the grant project is to build and maintain multiplication skills
in fourth and fifth graders. Parents will be introduced to this program and
given suggestions for helping their children learn their multiplication tables.
Each day multiplication tables will be practiced in the classroom and students
will use math games, flash cards and other activities to practice their skills.
Three-minute drills will be given and students will advance when they have
achieved mastery at each level. Students achieving mastery will be rewarded
with a pizza party for the math champions.
Title: Let's Be Art Smart
Level: Elementary
School: Monongahela Elementary Center, Ringgold School District
Contact: Mary J. Brady
This project has two goals: to give students an opportunity to express themselves
in various mediums (paint, crayons, markers) and to introduce the students
to art history viewing the works of notable artists and discussing their lives.
Students will learn more about famed art prints and artists.
Title: Cozy Up to a Good Book
Level: Elementary
School: South Allegheny Elementary School, South Allegheny School District
Contact: Janice Boyko
This project will enhance the physical setting in the Reading Lab of the new
school. Child-size chairs, tables and lamps will create a comfortable environment
to explore the library and read a good book. The area would be used to reward
good class performance, as well as, a great place for small groups to listen
to a storyteller or reader.
Title: "Super Phonic Friends" - Puppets
to Promote Better Articulation
Level: Elementary
School: Port Vue Elementary School, South Allegheny School District
Contact: Amie Lynn Buerkle
"Super Phonic Friends" is designed to motivate and teach children correct
articulation using visual, tactile, and auditory stimuli. Articulation therapy
will be structured to teach students with the use of a hand puppet. Students
will have an interactive and motivating means of experimenting with the production
of phonemic sounds resulting in improved quality of speech.
Title: Pin the State on the USA
Level: Elementary
School: Barrett Elementary, Steel Valley School District
Contact: Judith K. Stokes, Karen Catterall
This grant project finds children using tourist packets from each of the states
to learn about their country, its regions and the individual states. Informative
paragraphs will be written about the states and placed on the wall map. In
addition to the social studies lessons, letter writing, informative writing
and oral presentations will be part of this project.
Title: Strolling Through the Standards
Level: Elementary
School: Park Elementary School, Steel Valley School District
Contact: Beth Tully, Kathleen Ligeros, Audrey Hinkle
In this grant project, Pennsylvania’s academic standards in reading, writing
and math will be displayed (in kid-friendly language) throughout the school.
Students’ work demonstrating their progress in each academic area will
be displayed with the corresponding standard. Several grade-appropriate strategies
will be used to educate students and their families about the state’s
academic standards. Students and their parents will be keenly aware of the
academic goals and the efforts to promote student learning in those areas.
Title: Book Cook - Literature-Based
Classroom Cooking
Level: Elementary
School: Homeville Elementary School, West Mifflin School District
Contact: Heather Vidic
In this project students will read a book each month that has a food theme
related to it (i.e.: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, The Gingerbread Man). In addition to
reading, each book will provide opportunities for the children to practice
math skills and learn science concepts as they prepare a treat from their literature-related
cookbook. Appropriate manners and social skills will also be reinforced when
the students get to eat their cookbook treat.
Title: Ready, Set, Take Me Home
Level: Elementary
School: West Newton Elementary, Yough School District
Contact: Nancy Holliday
This project creates Ready, Set, Take Me Home kits that are designed to give
practical and easy-to-do activities for students and parents. The kits will
include a "MathStart" book (Read-along stories that demonstrate math
in everyday activities), manipulatives and math games, and activity sheets
that will reinforce the math concepts introduced in the story. The kits will
combine reading and math with hands-on activities and provide a wonderful way
for parents to be active participants in their child’s learning. These
activities parallel classroom lessons and skills will be reinforced in the
classroom and at home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: Our
Year in a Flash
Level: Elementary
School: H.W. Good
Elementary School, Yough School District
Contact: Dawn Hildenbrand
This project hopes to provide encouragement and motivation to learning support
students to improve their self-esteem by creating scrapbooks. Students will chronicle
their academic year as well as special events such as field trips and Special
Olympics. The book will include photographs, student-written captions, activities,
symbols, programs, etc. The students’ stories can be shared with friends
and family through their scrapbooks. The project will provide a creative and
fun method of students to view themselves.
Title: Mendon
After-School Center For The Arts
Level: Elementary
School: H.W.
Good Elementary School, Yough School District
Contact: Joan
Fogg, James Lishego, Llinda Ulander, Karen Ruddon,
Mrs. Hesson, John Savinski
In this project, students who live and attend school in a semi-rural area would
be able to attend a weekly after-school program that would focus on the arts.
Children will have the opportunity to create an impressionistic artwork, to learn
both creative and structured dance, to learn beginning piano and have other musical
enrichment, and to try their hand at winter gardening. Research shows that extra-curricular
activities (even at the elementary level) is linked to student motivation and
this program seeks to give students an enriching, motivating experience.
MIDDLE/INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL AWARDS
Title: Making Sense of the Great Depression: A
Teenaged View of Hobos and Transients
Level: Middle
School: Bellmar Middle School, Belle Vernon Area School District
Contact: Ross Farmer, Carol Aten
The purpose of this great idea project is to personalize history by immersing
the students into a study of their historic peers as they traveled the railways
during the trying times of the Great Depression. Through videos, music and
poetry, students will experience first-hand accounts of the hobo life of the
depression. Also, students will write their own versions of hobo poetry, which
will be published in the school’s literary magazine.
Title: Learning Through the Senses
Level: Middle
School: Redstone Middle School, Brownsville Area School District
Contact: Mary Seelye
In this grant activity, special-needs students will practice basic academic
skills as they toss a ball, hit a buzzer, or shout "Bingo". Addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division drills will be practiced as a ball
is tossed from student to student. Spelling and English questions will be answered
in game show format and board games will be used to reinforce life skills.
In addition, seasonal art projects will be used to practice reading and listening
skills.
Title: Study Smart, Test Smart
Level: Middle
School: Redstone Middle School, Brownsville Area School District
Contact: Patricia Knisley, Mary Seelye
Through this project, students will learn study skills beyond memorization.
Study strategies and tips for success in all subject areas will be examined.
Organization skills, time management, goal setting, effective note taking,
testing skills and self-assessments will be part of this effort. The purpose
of the grant is to reinforce and teach new study skills that will enable students
to improve their achievement levels.
Title: Mysteries and Magic
Level: Middle
School: Redstone Middle School, Brownsville Area School District
Contact: Mary Seelye
Building on the interest created by the Harry Potter books, this grant provides
students with more opportunities to read about the unknown and unexplained.
These high interest books will be added to the accelerated reading program
at the school and motivate students with the desire to read and achieve.
Title: Appreciating Our Environment
Level: Middle
School: Duquesne Middle School, Duquesne City School District
Contact: Kyoko Henson, Rachel Fields, Karol Horvatin
In this project, students will become aware of environmental issues and agencies.
Students will gather information by writing to environmental agencies and organizations.
They will also correspond with pen pals in Japan and Texas exchanging information
about environmental issues. This project will strengthen writing skills while
learning about the effect of environmental issues on social norms, economics
and culture.
Title: Reading For Life
Level: Middle (Across Two School Districts)
School: Duquesne Middle School, Duquesne City School District
Contact: Madalen Minydzak, Marlo Drake, Virginia
Bradley, Blaise Balta, Susan Sherman, Denise Bekavac, Mike Ivanusic
And
School: West Mifflin Middle School, West Mifflin Area School District
Contact: Judith Pankuch, Kelly Hilligsberg, Cheryl White, Jennifer Shields,
Brian Plichta, Adele Eley, Theresa Kunak, Debbie Boughner
This project will engage middle school students in Duquesne City and West Mifflin
Area in reading and sharing books. Students will read three book selections.
They will write summaries and critiques about each book and also compile a
survey about the books. A book review newsletter will be traded between the
students of the two schools. Student ambassadors will meet to compare and discuss
the books while building camaraderie between the area students and promoting
the life-long benefit of reading. In addition, the best book summaries and
critiques will be used to make a reference for the library book that can be
added to in the future.
Title: Welcome To EFMS
Level: Middle
School: Elizabeth Forward Middle School, Elizabeth Forward School District
Contact: Jennifer Meliton, Shawna Boden, Robyn Bryce, Jeennie Nickolls, Sue
Ellen Nangle
In this project, students, teachers, administrators, parents and community
members will join forces to change the entrance lobby of the school to a welcoming
and motivating entrance to our learning environment. Each homeroom will leave
their mark in the building by creating a quilting square that will be put together
by community volunteers. Students of the month will be displayed in a creative
manner capturing the uniqueness of the individual honored. Students in exploratory
classes will research motivational and educational quotes and choose their
favorites to be lettered permanently on the upper walls of the lobby by parent-volunteers.
A former student, now artist, will airbrush the school mascot in the entrance
to complete the effect. In this inclusive effort, students will feel great
about their environment where they will want to come and learn. And they will
have had a permanent impact on their school.
Title: Scrapbooking
Level: Middle
School: North Hall, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Jeannie Gallo
This project hopes to provide encouragement to seventh graders to improve reading
and writing skills. Using scrapbooking as a type of portfolio, students will
chronicle their day to day journey through seventh grade. The book will include
student writings, activities, symbols, photographs, programs, tickets, current
events, etc. Work will be shared through monthly oral presentations. The students
will create a detailed, personal work that will capture their memories of their
school year and develop their academic skills along the way.
Title: Grammar Games
Level: Middle
School: North Hall, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Carianne Bernadowski, Dana Dubyak
Grammar Games is a year-long project that will serve to reinforce vital language
arts and reading skills as students create original board games based on those
skills. Students will examine various games and use them as models for making
their games. They will apply grammar skills and/or literature facts in their
game. In addition, students will have to write detailed directions to play
the game that will give them practice in explanatory writing. Parents will
act as mentors/advisors in this project. Finally, students will again practice
important academic skills as they play the games they have created.
|
|
|
|
|
