Photo by Jon Anderson
Gwin Elementary School students — from left: Brianna McCauley, Kayla Eanes and Parker Voytanovski — demonstrate how to use Rekenreks, racks with beads that help teach numeracy, number combinations, addition and subtraction strategies and other math concepts.
The Hoover City Schools Foundation this year awarded about $35,000 worth of grants to teachers to help with innovative projects.
The foundation gave out 16 grants totaling more than $22,000 in its regular grant program, which usually is used to buy equipment and/or materials for special projects, said Janet Turner, executive director of the foundation.
The foundation also gave out $12,500 in the second year of a SeedLAB program designed to help teachers tackle challenges they face.
The foundation pays for teachers in the SeedLAB program to attend a two-day design-thinking workshop during the summer and then pays for substitutes on at least two days during the school year, to free them up for collaborative work. They also receive up to $3,000 to develop and implement their ideas.
Five new teams, with 20 teachers from six schools, received SeedLAB grants this year, Turner said. Plus, three teams chosen a year ago are returning to continue work on their challenge for a second year, she said. The foundation this year is putting a total of about $30,000 into the SeedLAB program, Turner said.
Here’s a look at the projects that received regular grant money this year:
SPRING 2018 GRANTS
► Let’s Wake Up Your Brain: Led by Amanda Walker at Bluff Park Elementary; to promote student choice and encourage students in developing a strong growth mindset using STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) materials — $800
► Venier Labquest Mini: Led by Stan Doran at Bumpus Middle; using motion sensors to help in the physics portion of the eighth-grade science curriculum where speed and acceleration are taught — $2,000
► Gator Creator STEAM Lab Enhancements: Led by Melissa Hitt at Green Valley Elementary; improving the Maker Space for students to use for collaboration and innovation — $1,200
► Listen Up!: Led by Becky Edwards at Gwin Elementary; using audio books paired with printed copies of texts to increase reading achievement, challenge higher students, assist lower readers and provide accessibility for special needs students and students learning English as a second language — $2,000
► Get in Step with Rekenreks: Led by Jill Foshee at Gwin Elementary; Using arithmetic racks with beads to build a strong foundation for numeracy, number combinations, number fluency, addition and subtraction strategies, and a strong concept of place value and the base ten number system — $975
► Watch Engagement Come Alive with Letters Alive: Led by Stephanie Williams at Gwin Elementary; using a multisensory platform to increase letter sound mastery and learner engagement, and decrease behavior management issues due to reading frustrations — $1,990
► Rotating Primary STEM Bin Station Project: Led by Whitney Battle at Gwin Elementary; using STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) rotations to improve engaged learning experiences through a more hands-on approach to teaching standards involving matter and its interactions with ecosystems, Earth’s systems and technology — $1,000
► Coding With Kibo: Led by LaRue Frederick at Riverchase Elementary; using Kibo 21 robots to allow students to build a strong foundation for coding — $2,000
► Lighting the Way with Circuits: Led by Sara Carpenter at Shades Mountain Elementary; using electronic invention tools to teach fourth-graders about electrical circuits but also to introduce problem solving, coding and design — $799
► 23andMe Genetics Discovery Lab: Led by Robert Abernathy at Simmons Middle; to bring the genetics unit to life by discovering details about people that only DNA can show — $2,000
► Sight Reading Factory: Independently Impressive, Better Together: Led by Jim Schaeffer at Spain Park High; to improve individual sight-singing performance and confidence — $235
► Connecting Concepts in Biology Through Data Analysis: Led by Kristin Bundren at Spain Park High; to develop a lesson to connect cellular respiration and homeostasis— $2,000
► SNATOMS: Snapable Atoms: Led by Kristie Cannon at Spain Park High; to help students visualize and manipulate models of the biochemical reactions taking place in the body on the atomic level — $600
► Access for all Through Assistive Technology: Led by Linda Pearson for special education students at Greystone Elementary, Brock’s Gap Intermediate and Berry Middle; to purchase a switch “tool kit” to customize switches and mount hardware to meet the unique learning needs of students — $1,620
► Get to the ROOT of Coding: Led by Jodi Tofani at Trace Crossings Elementary; using ROOT robotics to increase computational and sequential thinking and increase curiosity in the why and how things work — $1,050
► Girls Engaged in Math and Science: Led by Geri Evans for all elementary schools; to increase interest in math and science among girls — $2,000
