I am requesting funding for a large magnetic white board and additional manipulatives for the media center at Harvest. The board will be the home to many experiences in the media center for all of the learners, including makerspace activities, supporting literacy skills and enhancing our ability to engage in all of the four c’s that we focus on throughout the media curriculum. Through the sharing of ideas, collaboration while in the process of completing a task, and critically thinking about the most innovative ways to work through a problem, the learners at Harvest will be allowed to grow and develop in many ways.
Engaging All Communicators
The goal of this project is to increase staff and peers to feel comfortable communicating and engaging with a student who utilizes an Augmentative Assistive Communication (AAC) device.
a.) Grant funds will be used to purchase 3 IPads and an iPod. Proloquo2Go will be placed on the devices. The iPod will also have music on it so that students can practice commenting about music and youtube videos.
b)Monthly mini-presentations (10-15 minutes) will be held in 6th-grade homerooms/7th/8th-grade science/social studies room with AAC users to provide staff/students strategies/visuals/activities to engage. The IPads will be used to provide general education students to practice using the communication devices prior to engaging with the AAC students so that communication interactions will be more natural and engaging. Afterschool, monthly mini-presentation (10-15 minutes)will also be held for interested staff. Mini-presentations will contain information about strategies/activities including modeling, aided language stimulation, extension/expansion, utilizing visual supports, and recasts which are evidence-based strategies that facilitate learning for AAC learners.
The Impressionable Brain of the Developing Child
The Brain Architecture activity will be used as an introductory lesson to engage students in the intellectual development of children. This simulation experience was created by Harvard University Center on the Developing Child to cultivate a hands on, visually engaging lesson for students to understand how early experiences are built into our brains and bodies. This activity teaches students the science of early brain development and the importance of a positive, safe environment for children to develop to their fullest potential.
Making the Carbon Cycle Visible
I am requesting the funds to obtain 7 carbon dioxide sensors for the purpose of hands-on, NGSS-based labs. These will allow students to “watch” the carbon cycle in action in both cellular respiration and photosynthesis—two of the most complicated things that we discuss in Biology A. This also links directly to the idea of global warming, and allows students to investigate human impact, while practicing using graphs and numerical data… and it is engaging!
Community Based Experiences
The Young Adult Program focuses on providing students with these opportunities to fulfill a healthy and independent lifestyle in the community upon graduation at 26 years of age.. Instruction is focused on a more functional approach to provide students with the skills necessary to build their level of independence to the greatest extent possible. Students are given real life experiences that they can apply in their daily lives outside of the classroom walls. With the help of this grant, students will be given new experiences in their community that do not put the financial burden on parents.
Finding Financial Peace
Dave Ramsey is a financial guru in the industry. He created a curriculum targeted towards high school students, which teaches them financial literacy in an interactive, applicable format using real life examples.
KEVA Planks
I would like to obtain an educators set of KEVA planks to benefit student learning in several academic content areas as well as student attributes highlighted in our districts Learner Profile. Students will be presented with challenges and activities that will fit the needs and varying abilities of all. KEVA planks will serve to enhance educational and social/ emotional concepts through hands-on, authentic, and student led innovations, which also lends itself to kinesthetics and visual concepts of varying levels of complexity.
SSWCA: Student Leadership
10 SHS Writing Center students collaborated on an evaluation and overall progress of our center activities over the past year. They identified 2 main areas of improvement and innovation: Intergenerational/Community Partnerships and our Online and Asynchronous Feedback Process. The research and findings of both groups will be presented at the annual Secondary Schools Writing Center Association conference in Virginia in March 2020.
Tutoring Accessibility
Students from financially challenged homes need tutoring help that their families’ budgets cannot support. With these funds and in collaboration with Saline Area Social Service, we will arrange for them to be tutored twice weekly by professional tutors from Great Lakes Educational Group in the subject or subjects where they are struggling. Since some students may also lack transportation beyond the school bus, we will also arrange for transportation home if tutoring takes place after school hours.
Red Glasses Movement 2.0
The Red Glasses Movement moved Woodland Meadows and the Saline community big time last year, and I would like to continue the momentum by purchasing more glasses for our school community. My goal this year is for these glasses to be passed on by our students and shared with someone else who is demonstrating Living Boldly and Loving Big. This year, I want the focus to be on Passing It On! I want to encourage the students to continue wearing their glasses and be inspired to do acts of kindness for others, and then to observe what others are doing to spread kindness regardless of typical boundaries.
