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 44 - Spring, 2009

Pre-K/PRIMARY/ELEMENTARY LEVEL AWARDS

Title: Don't Stop Learning!
Level: Elementary
School: Rostraver Elementary School, Belle Vernon Area School District
Contact: Jody Grove, Jennifer Godzak, Marsha Ferrara

The purpose of this grant program is to continue reinforcing learning throughout the summer through work packets and teacher contact. Students will leave school with review packets to complete. Then a second packet (flash cards, a book, a spelling list, a journal, etc.) will arrive 6 weeks later with a letter from their teacher. The teacher will follow-up with a call to the home and introduction to the new school year and grade-level. The teachers will host Meet and Greet sessions for their class. The completed learning logs will be turned in to each teacher during the first week of school. The goal is to continue learning beyond the classroom and to give students the advantage of being prepared to begin the new school year.

Title: This is a Bully Free Zone!
Level: Elementary
School: Cardale Elementary Center, Brownsville Area School District
Contact: Brandee Chrobak, Andrea Roebuck, Natalie Zuchelkowski, Suzanne Morris

This program seeks to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for all students by combating bullying through presentations, books, videos, character-education and teacher engagement. The grant program will supplement and enrich the present character education and anti-bullying programs already in place. Learning how to avoid conflicts, methods to deal with a bully and what to do if you are bullied will be part of the lessons incorporated into Language Arts and Social Studies classes. Reading stories, viewing DVDs and journal writings will assist teachers and students in making school a bully-free zone.

Title: Learning and Responding to the World Around Us
Level: Elementary
School: Charleroi Area Elementary Center, Charleroi Area School District
Contact: Cathy Hayden, Jennifer Ewedosh, Linda Filby, Meghan Konsugar, Natalie Destefano, Jamie Pomponio

Springboarding from the excitement of small group reading interactions, students will expand their learning about the world (geography, weather, political units, famous heroes and leaders) with book discussion luncheons with classroom teachers, other district educators, family members, and community experts. The groups will engage in book talks that encourage student discussion and further research into topics of interest. Individual student projects, such as dioramas, models, interviews, letters, etc., will be presented and shared.

Title: Green Valley Citizens Support Our Seniors
Level: Elementary
School: Green Valley Primary School, East Allegheny School District
Contact: Tracy Yusko, Denise Snyder

This program finds students working on a cookbook service project and using the proceeds to purchase a gift for a senior citizen pen pal. Students will read stories that reinforce the theme of helping others. They will be introduced to the cookbook project and assist in collecting recipes. The children will design and color the covers for the cookbooks as well as write the steps to make their favorite recipe. After the cookbooks are sold and proceeds realized, the students will plan their budget and list to get gifts to donate to their senior friend during a visit to the local Assisted Living Facility.

Title: Earning Our Keep - A Financial Experience
Level: Elementary
School: Elizabeth and William Penn Elementary Schools, Elizabeth Forward School District
Contact: Lynann Falosk, Danielle Traeger, Bryan Wieclaw

This program will help students learn the basics of finance as each classroom transforms into a miniature society. Using the existing motivational tool, Warrior Bucks, a new dimension will be added to teach students about personal finances. Students will apply for classroom jobs, keep check registers of their earnings, pay taxes, earn rebates as they learn basic principals of earning their keep and learn to be responsible for their own actions.

Title: PE Performers
Level: Elementary
School: Donora Elementary Center, Ringgold School District
Contact: Rachel Lint, Lacey Malik

This grant will create a team of elementary students who will demonstrate fun and create ways to be engaged in physical activity. Students from each grade level will make up the team and will learn, practice for proficiency, and perform skills using various pieces of equipment (balls, ropes, ribbons, etc.). Skills will be introduced in the physical education classes. The team will enhance their skills and perform for their peers, parents, and community during open house and a spring show. Ball handling, jumping activities, juggling, dance, gymnastics, stunts, cooperation activities and rhythmic activities will be part of this program. The goal is to demonstrate that physical activity is fun and to promote lifelong wellness.

Title: Family Fluency Fun
Level: Elementary
School: South Allegheny Elementary School, South Allegheny School District
Contact: Jennifer Wachs, Robin Reinhard

Family Fluency Fun is a program designed to engage families in supporting the development of reading fluency. Parents/guardians will learn strategies such as echo reading, choral reading and partner reading and practice these techniques in order to help their child at home. Students will orally read to the teacher in the beginning of the week and then repeat the reading with their families in the evenings. At the end of each week, the students are evaluated on their progress. Reading logs will be maintained. By engaging the home in developing reading fluency, the parents will see that they are important to reading success and academic achievement.

Title: Family Book Factory
Level: Elementary
School: South Allegheny Elementary School, South Allegheny School District
Contact: Gail Ungar, Dawna O’Keefe, Carol Rothey

This grant promotes literacy by engaging students and their families in an evening (one in the spring and a second in the fall) of creating handmade books. Participants will view several non-traditional styles of books – flap books, accordion books, flip books, etc. Then using traditional bookmaking tools, families will have guided instruction on writing and making a book together. The family activity will serve as a bridge to what is being taught in the classroom providing skill and knowledge reinforcement for the students.

Title: Picture This!
Level: Elementary
School: Jefferson, McClellan and Gill Hall Elementary Schools, West Jefferson Hills School District
Contact: Adam Gebhardt, Dennis Petersen, Connie Kocis, Megan Bigham, Dan Owen

This grant will initiate a photography component to several areas of the curriculum and also establish community education classes. Photography can be used to enhance learning, illustrate ideas, and enrich activities in science, math, social studies, and language arts. Initially, photography will be utilized in art class with students learning the technical aspects of using a digital camera. The students will view the work of famous photographers exploring composition, the elements of art, and the principals of design. Upper-level grades will take photographs of clay sculptures and make them come to life through animation. Outside of the art class, students will be able to document plant growth or illustrate chemical changes in science classes. They could create animations of famous explorers or document local historic landmarks in Social Studies class. In language arts, students could make picture journals or illustrate parts of speech. Each academic discipline can be enhanced with the addition of photography. In addition to the possibilities within each school day, photography is an ideal way to engage the community through the district’s adult education classes to promote life-long learning.

MIDDLE/INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AWARDS

Title: Medieval Times in 2009
Level: Intermediate/Middle
School: Brownsville Area Middle School, Brownsville Area School District
Contact: Patricia Knisley, Mary Seelye, Martha Davis, David Higinbotham, Frank Morgan

This program will use literature to teach math, art and physical education concepts in an engaging and fun way. Using the theme of medieval times, students will read stories and solve riddles in the stories using math. In addition, they will create stained glass windows (and other art projects) and compete in traditional medieval games. The program will braid together language, math and higher level thinking with shared strategies of making connections, asking questions, predicting, inferring, visualizing and summarizing for each discipline.

Title: Can You Dig It? (A hands-on unit to merge students and the Natural World)
Level: Intermediate/Middle
School: Steel Valley Middle School, Steel Valley School District
Contact: Beth McCallister, Steve Large, Sara Bouton, Mike Hofbauer, Nicole Goga

Can You Dig It? will give students the opportunity to create an outdoor classroom – planning, designing and blueprinting to create a bird and butterfly garden surrounding an existing pond. Once completed, students and teachers will use the outdoor classroom for various educational learning experiences including the study of migrating birds and butterflies, learning about plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, reading and writing poetry about nature, in addition to lessons related to the designing and building of the renovated area.

Title: Game Night with Classroom Play
Level: Intermediate/Middle
School: Steel Valley Middle School, Steel Valley School District
Contact: Heather Huber, Steve Singer

This grant program promotes learning in the classroom and with families during monthly family game nights. Utilizing educational games or games that promote math and reading skills, strategic thinking, problem solving or real life applications, students and their families will have fun while reinforcing academic lessons. The goal is to engage families in the learning as well as giving the students an opportunity to improve their skills in a fun, interactive and social way.

Title: Pleasant Hills Productions: A Middle School TV Studio
Level: Intermediate/Middle
School: Pleasant Hills Middle School, West Jefferson Hills School District
Contact: Jennifer Cramer, Sarah Zabielski, Danna Corsini, Adam Zunic, Matt Betlar

This grant will create a middle school TV studio with students scripting and producing various segments to air to the school network. Interviewing, researching, writing and oral presentation skills will be developed and enhanced through this project. Initially the students will research an unsolved mystery from history (such as Amelia Earhart, Bermuda Triangle, Area 51) and script a plausible ending to the mystery to be developed into a video segment. Students will serve as stage crew, actors, and producers for fellow students. The final productions will be aired on the school network. Future on-going uses of the studio include, weekly student-produced segments that would include announcements, service project updates, etc.

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL AWARDS

Title: My Robotics - The "Boe Bot"
Level: High School
School: Central Westmoreland CTC
Contact: James Broker, Colleen Conko, Al Simmons (WCCC)

This grant project will introduce robotics to Electronic Technology students. Students will build a task-oriented robot to perform various activities while learning about the components, wiring, and programming. Physics and math concepts will be utilized as well as many technical skills. Using robots as the hook, students will gain a foundation in technology, programming, and engineering career paths.

Title: History Day
Level: High School
School: Forbes Road CTC
Contact: Wendy Moore, Paula MacArthur

This program will initiate a year-long project with students researching about their current area of study (example: dental or HVAC) as it relates to the theme, Innovations in History. Students will create displays to exhibit their findings. The exhibits will compete in a district judging with the winners to continue in competition at the Heinz History Center. The project integrates History, English, and Technical classes.

Title: Soft Skills
Level: High School
School: Forbes Road CTC
Contact: Wendy Moore, Dee Dee Ciccarelli, Janel Peretta, Diana Baldridge

This project hopes to improve students’ time management skills and ultimately their employability by aiding their organizational, prioritizing and independent work habits. Through lessons and the use of a specially designed planner, students will employ these skills in every class, all year long. Soft Skills will enhance the students’ skills and deepen their understanding of how to be a better student and worker.

Title: "Sew" Business
Level: High School
School: Thomas Jefferson High School, West Jefferson Hills School District
Contact: Michele Stoicovy, Christine Bacola, Georgia Hurlston, Sherry Meucci

This grant helps launch a student-run small business that will sell its products at the school store and on-line. Students in Business and the Family Consumer Science classes will work together. Students will need to purchase the materials to start an embroidery business and apply that to the production of a school spirit clothing line. Students will handle the finances of the company by monitoring spending, inventory, and profit margins. Students will also create and maintain a website for community sales. All aspects of the business will allow students an authentic, real life application of the business principles (finances, manufacturing, marketing) that they have learned.