The Consortium for Public Education

The Consortium For Public Education is a member of the Public Education Network.

The Consortium For Public Education • 410 Ninth Street, McKeesport, PA 15132 • 412-678-9215 (phone) 412-678-1698 (fax)

GRANT AWARDS
Round 32 - Spring, 2003 (Page 1 of 2)

PRIMARY/ELEMENTARY LEVEL AWARDS

Title: Kindergarten Kidz - Amazing Authors
Level: Elementary
School: Marion/Rostraver Elementary Schools
Contact: Roxanne Cheroki-Keffel

This grant project finds children becoming "budding" authors as they use the journaling process to draw and write about their drawings. Then students will write about themselves making a lasting remembrance through their own self-created books.

Title: Frumpled Fairy Tales
Level: Elementary
School: Rostraver Elementary School, Belle Vernon Area School District
Contact: Rebecca Shavel

This great idea finds fourth graders preparing all aspects of three modernized fairy tales and then performing for the rest of the school. The purpose of the project is to integrate the arts into the curriculum. Students will understand the structure of a play and all aspects of production including auditions, set design, costuming and performance.

Title: Gardening: A Labor of Love
Level: Elementary
School: Bentworth Elementary School, Bentworth School District
Contact: Stacy A. Skerbetz, Tim Sheets, Brian Nath, Diane Watson, Judy McCarty, Sharon Szedon

This great idea finds second graders planting and caring for both vegetables (lettuce, spinach, onions, radishes and peas) and flowers (from seeds and bulbs). Students will plant twice a year in three English raised beds. Students will learn the parts and life cycle of plants from seed to fruit. This will be accomplished through a variety of literature-based science lessons coupled with the hands-on experience of working in the garden.

Title: Reading Through the Regions - Connecting Authors to Readers
Level: Elementary
School: Bentworth Elementary School, Bentworth School District
Contact: Virginia Vasko, Kelly Jenkins, Barb Coulson, Chris Bellicini, Cathy Wonsettler, Joy Gazi, Sherri Gilpin

This program finds students touring the regions of the United States through the eyes of some fascinating authors. Authors, such as Jan Brett, Eric Carle, Marcus Pfister, Mary Pope Osborne, Barbara Parks, Theodore Geisel, Robert McClosky, will help students celebrate the diversity of our country but also provide the basis of a cross-curricular study from history and geography to music and math. Community members will also participate in this Reading Across the Regions Campaign.

Title: Creepy, Crawly Creatures
Level: Elementary
School: California K-8, California Area School District
Contact: Vanessa DiCianna, Mr. Spada, Mrs. Zidek, Mrs. DeFlippo, Mrs. Washlack, Mrs. Weaver, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Vitchoff, Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Faieta, Mrs. Shannon, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Kolick, Mrs. Musar

This great idea finds first, second and third graders engaged in a cross-curricular, thematic unit focusing on "Creepy, Crawly Creatures". A bug’s life will be the link in language arts, math, music, art, science and library lessons. The children will then develop projects reflecting their knowledge of insects and their life cycles to be displayed by the school and community during April.

Title: Mathematically Speaking
Level: Elementary
School: Charleroi Elementary School, Charleroi Area School District
Contact: Cathy Hayden, Steve Shields

This project hopes to make math exciting and meaningful to students with supplemental materials that give the students and their families clear explanations of math concepts, procedures and applications. A variety of hands-on activities such as creating three-dimensional shapes to learn about the parts of an object
(face, edge, vertex, base) will be utilized along with the resource books. Engaging the parents successfully in the education of their children is a bonus of this program.

Title: Get Off Your Seat and On Your Feet
Level: Elementary
School: George Washington Elementary School, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Carol McDowell and Karen Bisi

This grant will initiate an after-school program designed to promote a healthy life style by promoting good nutrition and physical fitness. Students will participate in an array of high interest activities and create a collection of recipes that are appealing and nutritionally sound. Students will be challenged to walk the distance from their school to Kennywood Park, measuring their efforts with pedometers. When they achieve their goal, a celebration will be held. Cross-curricular activities focused on a variety of skills will include graphing, journal writing, mapping and compiling a "Good Snacks" cookbook.

Title: Harmony Habitats
Level: Elementary
School: South Allegheny Elementary School, South Allegheny School District
Contact: Joan Adams, Audrey Aubrecht, Michele Finneran, Debra J. Pliska, Patricia Kostik, Tamara A. Nichols, Marijo Lakovic, Jamie Hazen, Wendy Brazill, Jennifer Matyasovsky, Stephen M. Slafka, Julie Ann Callahan, Karen Kadar, Robin Reinhard

This grant will initiate phase one of a three-phase plan to create outdoor classrooms on the grounds of the new school. The goal of the project is to build proficiency in the State’s Environment and Ecology standards, link classroom science to the real world environment and to use the outdoor site as a microcosm of the surrounding community to understand current ecology and environmental issues.

Title: Energetic, Poetic Third Graders!
Level: Elementary
School: Mendon Elementary, Yough School District
Contact: Marcie Yakubisin

This great idea finds students building their vocabulary and improving their written expression by writing poetry in several curricular areas. Students will begin by writing simple rhyming poems then moving on to haiku writing, limericks, etc.

Title: Write On!
Level: Elementary
School: Mendon Elementary, Yough School District
Contact: Elaine Yackovich

Write On will provide budding authors with a haven to sharpen their creative writing skills. Students will participate in a variety of writing center activities and partner with older students to perfect their projects. Students’ stories will be bound and placed in the library for all of the children to enjoy. An Author’s Luncheon will also be a time for the children to share their books.

MIDDLE/INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AWARDS

Title: Math Fair
Level: Middle
School: California Area Middle School, California Area School District
Contact: Renee Hajdu, Mauree Krofina

This grant will underwrite a two-day spring Math Fair for middle school students. During this event, students will participate in a variety of activities to test, reinforce and teach math skills. Activities would find students calculating the circumference of various objects, discovering the best buy on popcorn by determining the volume of various containers, using formulas to build pyramids, playing fraction bingo, etc. During the Math Fair, students will have fun and realize some of the real-world value of mathematics.

Title: This is Jeopardy!
Level: Middle
School: Westinghouse Elementary School, East Allegheny School District
Contact: Lou Gerbi, Jennifer Cahill, Jim Catone, Fred Gleeson, Jennifer Kolodychak, Anissa Thompson

This grant project has students competing in a classroom game of Jeopardy. Teachers can program the game with questions from all subject areas and resources (textbooks, tests, literature, newspapers, etc.). During the game, the questions appear on the TV screen and students use a buzzer that is linked to the scoreboard to signal that they know the answer. Teams accumulate points that are shown on the scoreboard. Questions are changed by the instructors and can be stored on game cartridges. This can be used for classroom level or grade level competitions. This idea creates a fun and exciting way to reinforce weak skills or to motivate students in new areas of study.

Title: Kart-Ala-Carte
Level: Middle
School: Elizabeth Forward Middle School, Elizabeth Forward School District
Contact: Tom Chorba, Joyce Stephens, Kara Stewart, Nancy Huey, Marion Patil

The project finds emotional and life skills support students cooperatively and jointly operating and managing a cuisine cart that offers nutritious snacks and beverages to the staff and faculty. This project will be coordinated with present delivery of supplies and bulletins that these students are responsible for. Students will reinforce their academic skills, polish their social skills and practice occupational skills as they provide this school service.

Title: Picture Book Project
Level: Middle
School: North Hall, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Carianne Bernadowski

In this program, students will participate in the writing process from brainstorming to publication as they write an original children’s story. The experience will build self-esteem as well as reinforcing important writing skills.

Title: Photographing Our World
Level: Middle
School: Francis McClure Middle School, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Jan F. Dunlap, Julie Cooper, Kris Cole, Anthony Lettieri, Mary Jane Keller,
Carol Korinko, Karen Chapman

In this grant, academic projects and enrichment activities will be enhanced through digital photography. Projects to be enhanced will include (but not limited to): "All About Me" poems, the rocketry unit, the embryology study, classroom guests speakers, and a newspaper for fourth graders when they visit the middle school. Pictures of students engaged in various projects will also help promote awareness and understanding of the school to parents and community.

Title: Rockets and More
Level: Middle
School: Francis McClure Middle School, McKeesport Area School District
Contact: Jan F. Dunlap

This grant project will build on the present unit of study entitled "The Moon and Beyond". Students will participate in a supplemental study of rocketry and then a hands-on activity, the launching of model rockets.

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