Grant & New Program Ideas:
1997 Fall Forum Publication
Ada City Schools
Bringing the Desert to Glenwood
Budget: $529
This project involves a hands-on approach to the study of the desert. Students
are involved with the actual construction of a cactus, the study of desert
animals, and the study of desert plant life. Comparisons of different ecosystems,
including that of Oklahoma, are made. An area of the classroom is completely
transformed into a desert, allowing students to be exposed to its characteristics
on a daily basis.
Eat Too, Brute?
Budget: $533
In conjunction with the Julius Caesar unit studied by all sophomore English
students, the Bachelor Living class researches, prepares, and serves a
feast similar to those served in ancient Rome. Following the feast, the
drama class presents the play, Julius Caesar.
Fifth Grade Flying High
Budget: $435
Fifth-grade students study the various types of air travel. They have the
opportunity to visit the airport, sit in an airplane, watch the landing
of a military helicopter, and see a radio-controlled airplane in flight.
In addition, the students study rockets and view a videotape of astronauts
in action. They end their study by building and launching their own rockets,
which they are then allowed to keep.
Poetry Olympics: Let the Games Begin
Budget: $140
This project requires high-school students to act as mentor teachers to
three sixth-grade classes. The high-school students research, prepare,
and present several lessons on various American poets to the sixth-grade
students. The high-school students use costumes, hands-on materials, and
visual aids to present the units of study. At the conclusion of the project,
the elementary students visit the high-school campus, where a Poetry Olympics
is held. Students engage in basketball, track, baseball, and soccer competitions
which require them to answer questions about the poets they have studied.
Ribbons are awarded to the winning teams.
Postcards from the Edge
Budget: $92
During the nineteenth century, postmasters often chose the names of their
post offices. Sometimes the results were surprising. In this unit, students
use zip code books to select the names of unusual towns across the country.
They send postcards to the postmasters of these towns, asking that the
postcards be hand stamped. They also ask for any interesting information
about the history of the town.
Bartlesville Public Schools
Mapping Our Way in the World
Budget: $620
This grant emphasizes geography awareness, map skills, and geography vocabulary.
It funds the purchase of an Averkey—which connects a computer to
a television, allowing the TV screen to be used as a monitor for viewing
for a group—and geography software, such as ZipZap Map USA, ZipZap
Map World, World Maps, USA State by State, and Street Atlas USA. The library/media
specialist works with classroom teachers from grades two through five to
establish map identification skills and geographic vocabulary teaching
units and to identify areas where these new resources can be used in the
classroom. When not in use in the classroom, these resources are housed
in the library and are available for individual research reports.
Monarch Watch
Budget: $2,819
This grant allows students to raise monarch butterflies from larvae, tag
and release them for migration, design their own experiments, and submit
their results to the Monarch Watch researcher at the University of Kansas
and the University of Minnesota. Funds purchase monarch larvae, electronic
balance, butterfly nets, hardware for the building of butterfly cages,
and a computer system.
Strumming for Successful Musical Encounters
Budget: $4,715
Funds are used to provide ten nylon and ten steel guitars, 20 cases, and
one dobro guitar. This project enables all students enrolled in these classes
to develop skills in the history and basics of guitar technique and music
theory. This class incorporates aspects including social studies, English,
history, personal responsibility, self-expression, and self-esteem.
Blackwell Public Schools
God Bless the USA
Budget: $228
Students learn why we observe Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor
Day, Election Day, and discover the history of voting in America. Songs
such as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful,” “This
Land is Your Land,” and “Yankee Doodle” accompany the
study of patriotism. By video, students take tours of the White House,
the US Capitol, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the Supreme Court,
and the Vietnam Memorial. The culmination of the patriotic activities takes
place when the children participate in the Blackwell Veterans’ Day
Parade.
The Kids on the Block
Budget: $962
The Ellen Jane puppet reaches out to children in grades K through four
for understanding and empathy as she explains what it is like to experience
her handicap. The children develop a warmth and sensitivity for peers who
have different rates of learning and for peers who are retarded. Forty-three
million people in the US are disabled to various degrees. This program
helps develop a method for achieving awareness of their plight.
The Old One-Room School House
Budget: $641
Fourth-grade students travel back in time at the Pleasant Valley School,
near Stillwater. This social studies lesson begins with pen and paper activities
in the present-day classroom and ends with the time-warp travel to the
one-room school, circa 1910. Here, fixing a lunch pail from a coffee can,
as well as practicing the old-fashioned art of quilting, gives children
hands-on experiences from this period.
Sing, Spell, Read, and Write Program
Budget: $776
Winning prizes, running a race, and learning to read are all part of this
exciting reading improvement program. This program enhances the thrill
of reading, writing, spelling, and speaking by allowing students to experience
immediate progress. Each child charts his progress with a magnetic race
car placed on a large oval track. This program encourages students to read
in enjoyable and exciting ways.
Ticket to Tomorrow
Budget: $890
This grant provides a hands-on applied math and science program to middle-school
students through the Oklahoma Aerospace Academy in Norman. The Academy
sets up a portable lab composed of inflatable shuttles and four space labs
in the school gym. Students travel through the program, rotating between
space shuttles and space labs. They learn about reaction time as it relates
to space travel, basic laws of physics, aeronautics, and the aspects of
living and working in space.
Claremore Public Schools
Accelerated Reader
Budget: $3,500
The Accelerated Reader program provides funds for books, computers, test
disks, and motivational awards for students in grades one through four.
Computer Graphics/Illustration
Budget: $1,525
Art and computer lab students use computer software programs to create
anthologies that are then presented to the school library. The grant funds
the purchase of an ink-jet color printer, a scanner, and miscellaneous
computer items.
Great Expectations Summer Institute
Budget: $225
This week-long seminar promotes basic education techniques: setting high
expectations for students, classroom order and respect, student/teacher
respect, and student self-esteem.
Roosa Under the Sea
Budget: $1,200
The entire school is transformed into the ocean. Blue paper-covered walls,
fish, inner tubes with dangling feet, fish nets suspended from the ceiling,
and various forms of underwater plant and animal life adorn the hallways.
Classrooms represent varying depths of the ocean, from the Kindergarten
seashore to the fourth-grade deep, dark abyss. The playground features
sand castles and beach games. The grant funds the purchase of audio/visual
aids, resource books, computer CDs, art supplies, and sand and hermit crabs
for the project.
Edmond Public Schools
Eloise Rodkey Rees Writing Mentorship
Budget: $10,000
Funded by the Rees family and administered through the Edmond Educational
Endowment, this $10,000 award is given to an outstanding secondary level
teacher who has demonstrated exceptional skills in teaching writing. The
mentorship both rewards and encourages retention of outstanding classroom
teachers.
Garage Sale Literature
Budget: $350
Library/media specialists are given funds to purchase books at the Friends
of the Library and Casady School book sales. Books purchased are from the
district’s approved reading lists and are placed in the middle and
high schools.
New Jersey Writing Project in Oklahoma
Budget: $7,900
This three-week teacher training program seeks to improve student writing
and the teaching of writing. Fifty Edmond teachers are immersed in reading
and writing daily, applying the theories, practices, and strategies they
learn to their own writing.
Sciencing on Saturday
Budget: $1,000
This program offers hands-on science activities for students in grades
three through five on two Saturdays each semester. The goal is to develop
enthusiasm, process skills, and a heightened interest in science—both
in daily life and in the lab.
El Reno Public Schools
Hands-On Equations
Budget: $671
This program serves as an introduction to solving linear equations through
the use of manipulatives. Equations are usually taught from an abstract
approach, which is difficult for sixth- and seventh-graders to grasp. Hands-On
Equations provides the concrete foundation to equations that allows for
easier progression into the abstract phase and comprehension. Hands-On
Equations provides a teacher’s set with 30 student sets and an instructional
video. All worksheet material is also provided.
Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen
Budget: $458
The objectives are to improve students’ reading skills, to enhance
their interest in reading, and to encourage reluctant readers. This program
contributes to an enriched reading curriculum for middle-school students
by providing them with excellent aural reading models. Utilizing award-winning
books and literature classics, the program enhances student interest, improves
listening skills, introduces new vocabulary, aids in reading comprehension,
and encourages and motivates reluctant readers. Aural reading has a positive
impact on students’ attitudes toward reading, introduces them to
the world of classic literature, and is a key factor in their developing
a life-long love of reading.
Making Algebra Child’s Play
Budget: $464
This program introduces hands-on algebra to fifth-grade students. It prepares
them for an intuitive, concrete, and pictorial foundation for algebra.
It involves hands-on involvement in learning math concepts, and it meets
the needs of younger students for tactile learning. This program gives
students the firm foundation and self-confidence necessary for success
in later math classes. It is a multi-level program, which meets the needs
of those at all levels of ability.
Web Pen Pals of the World
Budget: $184
Students use Power Translator software to communicate with pen-pals from
other countries. This software translates text to and from English, French,
German, Italian, and Spanish with the touch of a key. This helps in teaching
the writing process. It also gives teachers a method of translation to
and from Spanish-speaking students and their parents. These parents then
have the same opportunity to be informed and to respond as the English-speaking
parents. Parent-Teacher conferences take on a whole new freedom of expression
and understanding. Invitations to school functions, weekly reports home,
and misbehavior are clearly explained in the native language of the parent.
Where in the World Is That?
Budget: $669
The goal of this project is for students to understand geography in a more
tangible way. The 3-D geography terms model illustrates and defines the
earth’s physical features. Students can see and feel each type of
landform and its relative elevation and proportion to other landforms on
the large, colorful, raised relief model which encourages tactile learning.
The chart features more than 100 geographical terms on a markable surface.
The Desk Atlas Program enables students to assess and interpret geographic
information to gain a better understanding of our world. The program contains
a bound teacher’s guide with student activities plus 30 copies of
the Nystrom Desk Atlas. The activities included with the program promote
critical thinking skills while providing practice in the vital skills of
atlas use and basic map reading. The Form-A-Globe kits afford an opportunity
for the students to understand map projection. The students discover how
maps and globes relate to each other as they color, perform activities,
and transform a flat surface into a sphere. Then they have the answers
to “Where in the world is that?”
Hennessey Public Schools
Discovering Science
Budget: $520
With the “Discovering Science” CD-ROM, students gain immediate
access to a database of sights and sounds on all aspects of science. The
disk offers a broad look at the history, people, inventions, discoveries,
theories, life forms, and objects that make up the world of science. There
are 475 illustrations and 2,000 photographs to create interest and promote
understanding of science and related fields.
Dream to Read
Budget: $537
The objective of this unit is to develop competent, confident readers by
tying together the learning in all curricula through focusing on a particular
piece of literature. The eight fairy tale theme packets include the books,
materials, and props so that students can act out these favorite tales.
The packets provide the curriculum in all areas of teaching—math,
literature, reading, writing, science, social studies, dramatics, art,
music, cooking, physical education, games, and field trips. The books have
been carefully selected for their rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and other
predictable language, which provides a perfect introduction to the world
of reading.
Mom, Guess What I Did Today!
Budget: $956
A small group of students chooses a person, event, invention, battle, or
political issue and sets forth to show what they can learn about their
chosen topic. They use historically documented footage from the A/V film
library; they take photographs from historical prints in books; they do
video-taped interviews; they copy posters, maps, charts, and bulletins;
they use library research information and archival information from the
Internet; they edit; they organize; they add sound from speeches, music,
and radio broadcasts; they produce a 70-minute presentation on their subject.
The information they gather is then copied onto a CD-ROM. (There are no
copyright problems as long as no profit is gained from the CD.)
SRA = Super Reading Ability!
Budget: $724
The SRA Reading Laboratory is a developmental reading program designed
for children at all reading levels. Through it, students increase their
awareness of their reading level and develop a sense of responsibility
for their own work. Each reading lab contains twelve levels of high-interest
reading material, ranging from simple to complex. The child who reads below
grade level finds material that he can read without frustration, and the
advanced child finds material that is challenging. Each child progresses
according to his own ability.
To Infinity and Beyond
Budget: $111
Cast away the workbooks for the time being and open a child’s imagination
with dramatic play. In this program, students write, produce, and cooperatively
critique plays performed by fellow classmates.
Kingfisher Public Schools
Citizenship and Service
Budget: $400
The goal of this project is to make middle-school students more aware of
the importance of their personal role as a citizen of their community.
This increased sense of citizenship is fostered through learning activities
and community-service projects in an interdisciplinary unit for fifth-grade
students. Students learn about our flag, the Constitution, and the Bill
of Rights. They also participate in community-service projects including
washing the windows of local businesses, helping with Meals on Wheels,
helping out at a local thrift shop, and caretaking at community parks.
Making a Good First Impression
Budget: $350
“
Making a good first impression” is something students should be taught
is very important in the business world. A quality resume for both job
and college scholarship applications can help one achieve the desired results.
Both juniors and seniors are required to write applications for jobs and
scholarships for English class. The use of a laser printer, which this
grant funds, makes the papers look much more professional. The students
are also required to do research papers and the printer is used for this
purpose, also.
Of Mice and Men
Budget: $80
As an experiment for middle-school science students, mice are purchased
for the classroom. Half of the mice are fed a nutritious diet, and the
other half are fed only the equivalent of junk food. The students learn
how eating the wrong foods can contribute to a lack of concentration, hyper-activity,
and tension.
Outdoor Activities
Budget: $2936
This grant, which funds the purchase of four picnic tables and four park
benches, allows students to study, do art projects, socialize, and do sack
lunches outdoors.
Mulhall-Orlando Public Schools
American History Comes Alive
Budget: $362
The video series “American History for Children” makes history
come alive for elementary-school students. It supplements the textbook
and hands-on activities through dramatization of historical events and
figures. The privileges and responsibilities of US citizenship are also
discussed.
Band
Budget: $550
The entire Mulhall-Orlando Band benefits from this grant. Approximately
$3,000 worth of marching percussion equipment is made fully operational
with repairs and replacement parts. Santa Claus presents the band instructor
with the check on-stage during the Christmas program and band concert.
Norman Public Schools
Technology Lab
Budget: N/A
The objective of this Technology Lab is to create a model setting in which
school and university educators collaborate in using technology to improve
instruction and increase student learning. The University of Oklahoma College
of Education and the School of Library and Information Studies are partners
with the Norman Public Schools in this project. The lab is used for scheduled
classes and independent study for teachers and administrators, and a preview
collection of software will be established. The goals of the Technology
Lab are: 1) to develop ideas and provide training in the use of hardware,
software, management strategies, and curriculum design models for the integration
of technology into the curriculum and overall learning environment; 2)
to encourage and provide an environment for collaboration and innovation
in the development of technical skills for research endeavors and for practical
applications in the classroom; and 3) to disseminate information about
products and processes developed or supported by the Technology Lab.
www.celebratingauthors.com
Budget: $665
This project involves two Norman elementary schools doing a joint author-study
in which students converse about the author via E-mail. Each child is assigned
an “E-Pal” from the other school. Together the E-Pals decide
on a book written by that month’s author of focus. After reading
the book, the students send a letter to their E-Pals with discussion questions
about the author and the book they have both read. The objective is both
to motivate students to read more books and to strengthen writing and communication
skills.
Okeene Public Schools
Butterflies and Frogs
Budget: $52
Tiny caterpillars make the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar come alive.
The students watch as the caterpillars eat and grow fatter and fatter,
and soon the caterpillars form chrysalids. Then the students observe the
butterflies in the classroom for several months. Also, students observe
the growth of African water frogs. Some of the frogs may then find permanent
homes with the students.
Math Safari and Geo Safari
Budget: $210
The Math and Geo Safaris are computerized learning systems that cover lessons
on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, geography, US history,
science, and basic Spanish. The safaris are great motivational tools to
encourage completion of daily work. These are non-consumable materials
and can be used for years to come.
Portable Demonstration Table
Budget: $1500
A portable demonstration table gives students in the foods and nutrition
laboratory the ability to watch demonstrations of food preparation and
equipment use without having to crowd around a small area. It is also used
in the clothing laboratory. Here it enables students to see the parts of
the sewing machine and how they work, and to learn construction techniques,
such as how to lay out a pattern on fabric.
Shurley Method English Program
Budget: $312
The Shurley Method is an innovative English program that has been carefully
designed to meet students’ educational needs by using all the principles
of learning—motivation, retention, transfer, and reinforcement. This
method gives teachers and students a common language to use while working
with sentences and writing. This program never leaves a skill, as chapters
of some textbooks do, but continually builds upon the knowledge that students
have gained with each lesson. Therefore, students retain their understanding
of language skills. The Shurley Method is not only a strong academic program,
but it is also a program that values the students’ self-esteem and
promotes love of learning as one of its most important aims. Students are
excited to find out that learning can be FUN!
Sunshine Books
Budget: $191
Sunshine Books are designed to ensure that children’s first reading
experiences are successful. These books provide the essential ingredients
of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition that help children make predictions and
self-corrections.
Pauls Valley Public Schools
Artist-in-Residence Program
Budget: N/A
Dr. Peter Simon, internationally acclaimed concert pianist, provides arts
experiences for children and instruction for music educators and advanced
music students. A partnership between the Pauls Valley Foundation for Academic
Excellence and the State Arts Council enabled Dr. Simon to visit Pauls
Valley in 1992 and again in 1997. Dr. Simon presented his concert to over
1,200 students, the guests at the Pauls Valley Foundation for Excellence
Banquet, the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, and select piano students.
Missoula Children’s Theatre
Budget: N/A
The Missoula actors arrived in the community a day early to audition students
in the community, from Kindergartners to high-school seniors. About 60
students were selected for rigorous practice with the Missoula actors.
Three performances were scheduled. One was for the student body of 1,200,
and there were Saturday afternoon and evening performances for the public.
The performances were funded by the Pauls Valley Foundation for Academic
Excellence, community donations, and ticket sales.
The Oklahoma Balladeer (Les Gilliam)
Budget: N/A
This successful partnership between Pauls Valley Public Schools, the Pauls
Valley Foundation for Academic Excellence, the Pauls Valley Chamber of
Commerce, and the State Arts Council provided country and western musical
entertainment to students at the elementary school. Teachers were provided
with a list of the selections to be performed prior to the school program.
Students enjoyed singing along to such songs as “Pecos Bill” and “Happy
Trails.” Mr. Gilliam was also the featured artist for the annual
Chamber of Commerce Banquet. This was a western-style casual evening.
Wild About Reading
Budget: N/A
Master storyteller David Titus kicked off National Young Readers’ Day
with two days of storytelling workshops. The children were involved in
listening and interacting with Mr. Titus in small group sessions. The highlight
was an evening with Mr. Titus, the children, and their families. The communication
skills learned in the workshops were demonstrated in the evening session.
Through Mr. Titus’ storytelling, generations were brought together
and an interest in preserving treasured family stories was sparked.
Putnam City Public Schools
Bungee Rockets!
Budget: $914
This is an excellent math/science problem-solving activity for students
at all grade levels. Students are required to design their rockets within
specified parameters. Because the rockets are launched with the release
of energy and stored in surgical tubing, they provide one of the safest
ways to study rocketry, as well as many principles of physics and geometry.
I Can See in the Dark!
Budget: $823
By using white gloves or socks and black lights, students are able to visually
explore the world of rhythm and music. By “blacking out” their
regular environment, students are able to experience music through a highly
visual atmosphere.
My Country, ‘Tis of Thee
Budget: $900
By being a part of the election process, designing their own patriotic
shirts, working with representatives from our government, and formulating
their very own “Constitution,” students reap the rewards of
a real hands-on experience. All specific activities are taped on video
and presented to other teachers at an in-service workshop held in September.
Traveling Dinosaur Skeleton
Budget: $500
Students from Putnam City High School construct a twelve-foot model of
a brachiosaurus skeleton. The students then transport the skeleton to all
Putnam City elementary schools to share in this project.
Where in Oklahoma Did You Get That Shirt?
Budget: $1,000
One school from each of Oklahoma’s 77 counties has its fourth-grade
classes correspond with another fourth-grade class. Every school is mailed
a printed shirt with the name of the county stenciled on the shirt. Through
this project, students from all schools learn about each county and its
vast culture, businesses, and areas of interest.
Skiatook Public Schools
Bird Sanctuary
Budget: $350
Third-grade students prepare and plant a wildlife habitat on the school
yard adjacent to their classroom windows. They study Oklahoma’s native
plants and wildlife, especially local birds. Funds from this grant are
used to purchase horticultural items. Other habitat items can be donated.
Parent volunteers are involved in the preparation and planting. Students
maintain journals of species observed in the habitat.
Christmas Around the World
Budget: $300
Each second-grade class studies about and decorates rooms for a particular
country during the month of December. A particular second-grade class can
then “travel” to another class for a “visit” to
learn about that country and its customs. Funds are divided among the teachers
to purchase arts and crafts supplies, food, and resources needed to represent
the individual countries. Children are encouraged to share their real life
visits as well.
Consumer Nutrition
Budget: $43
The third-grade class plans a nutritious meal using skills corresponding
with health and literature studies. They then “go shopping” at
a local supermarket, aided by parent volunteers, to do comparative shopping
and to buy the ingredients. Again, aided by volunteers, they prepare and
eat their nutritious and cost-conscious meal.
Elementary Art
Budget: $350
Artist Jerry Yarnell from OETA’s Saturday morning program provides
art instruction for grades one through three. At a large group seminar,
he presents an oil painting lesson. On a later day, he visits selected
classes for individual and group instruction. A true professional, Mr.
Yarnell presents art skills consistently and tailors them to each grade
level.
Stroud Public Schools
Baby, Think It Over
Budget: $231
The Baby Think It Over Doll is a computerized doll that cries every two
to four hours. Students insert a key and hold it in the doll’s back
for about twenty minutes (the length of time it takes to feed an infant)
to stop the crying. The computer inside the doll registers the length of
time the doll was crying and how roughly it has been handled. This is a
new way to show students the responsibilities of caring for an infant.
Each student enrolled in Adult and Family Living is issued the doll for
a 24-hour period. If they have other responsibilities during this time,
they must find appropriate child care. Students are evaluated on how well
they care for the doll.
Watonga Public Schools
Alphabet Carpet Squares
Budget: $164
The Alphabet Carpet Squares are used to teach letter recognition skills
to Kindergarten students. Each square features a different letter of the
alphabet. The children learn to put them in alphabetical order, arrange
them to create simple words, and match them to the beginning sounds of
objects and words. Each carpet square is one foot square, soil-resistant,
and heavy-duty enough to last for years.
Becoming Real Readers
Budget: $872
This project focuses on the need to make life-long readers out of middle-school
students. It supplements the basal reader normally used in sixth grade
with novel studies. The class, as a whole, reads a novel. All reading skills,
spelling, and vocabulary lessons are based on this book. The novels selected
for this class should be especially suited as springboards for research,
writing, and analysis. They should be related to historical events or social
issues.
Money Skills Interviewer
Budget: $315
Money Skills Interviewer is a talking electronic unit with over three million
randomly generated questions. It teaches basic money handling skills, including
counting money, making change, speed and accuracy, cash register entry,
logic, and basic money math. These are important skills that students need
to succeed as they enter the workplace. This innovative talking, testing,
and training tool specializes in reducing cash register errors and in increasing
speed and accuracy. Six testing and training exercises cover money handling
skills. Headphones are provided for privacy when needed.
Passport to the Future
Budget: $1,140
“
Passport to the Future” provides an outreach program on local campuses
throughout Oklahoma, which will introduce students in grades K through
eight to the exciting world of aerospace and technology education. Each
program offers experiential, developmentally appropriate lessons in which
students and teachers can interact in a unique setting. Four inflatable
space shuttles teach students about living and working in space. Passports
for each class are supplied and can be used throughout the year to record
class progress as students continue to investigate aerospace. The program
gives participants an overview of a space shuttle mission, hands-on experiments,
problem solving exercises, aerospace history, and satellite communications.
Salt Water Marine Aquarium
Budget: $600
This program offers a first-hand look at a habitat with which most Oklahoma
students are unfamiliar—the sea. This aquarium allows students to
observe coral, starfish, sea horses, and anemones as they are raised in
the classroom.
Woodward Public Schools
Books That Keep on Giving
Budget: $199
This grant provides money for a bookstore run by students of the middle
school. A bookstore package of 150 books is purchased. The books are sold
to students for $1.00, with the profit used to buy additional books. The
students gain business experience and also have the opportunity to buy
reasonably priced books.
Experiencing Spanish Culture Through Your Senses
Budget: $477
This project for fifth- and sixth-grade students is designed to present
celebrations in Hispanic culture through all of the five senses. To experience
Christmas, for example, the students watch a video, make a Christmas star
piñata, and taste and smell the candy of the season. This grant
money funds the purchase of items such as videos, books, and Spanish culture
activity books.
Gallerie Extraordinaire
Budget: $681
Prints of paintings from around the world are purchased. Sixth-grade students
research the paintings and their artists, write poetry about the paintings,
and conduct tours for students in grades five through eight, as well as
for the high-school humanities classes, parents, and community patrons.
The only obstacle for a successful project has been a lack of adequate
easels for displaying the large prints.
Have Fairy Tales, Will Travel
Budget: $82
In this project, high-school foreign-language students read a variety of
fairy tales in their original (foreign-language) form, re-write them into
script form, and create puppets for the different characters. Then, with
the use of a portable puppet theater, the students present the stories
to groups such as elementary-school students. They also use the puppet
show in foreign language competitions.
Wynnewood Public Schools
The Earth Bus
Budget: $266
The Earth Bus is a natural gas-powered bus that the Omniplex brings to
the middle school each April. The bus has twelve hands-on exhibits that
the students use to increase their understanding of the environment.
Eggstra! Eggstra! Learn All About Them!
Budget: $118
This equipment—an incubator, an egg turner, and a chicken brooder—help
the students at the early childhood center with basics such as counting,
as well as learning about responsibility.
Life with Math
Budget: $184
Through visual aids and working together to solve on-the-job problems,
students gain an understanding of how math is applied to real-life situations.
This project is designed for all middle-school math classes.
Living History Program
Budget: $300
This program, by F.D. “Sky” Shivers, the cowboy-poet and storyteller,
uses hands-on experiences with toys, tools, and clothing from the 1800s
to increase students’ knowledge of that era. This program is presented
to all students at the early childhood center and elementary school.
Multicultural and Ethnic Family Puppets
Budget: $106
This grant centers on today’s problems of cultural differences by
allowing children to role play, using puppets of different backgrounds
and races. These puppets are also designed to promote career awareness
with such activities as those of firemen, farmers, and postal workers.
These materials can be used at all grade levels.
Summer Enrichment Program
Budget: $125
This grant helps fund the summer enrichment program’s archeological
dig by providing a speaker from the University of Oklahoma for the project.
Yukon Public Schools
Arts-Centered Learning
Budget: $445
Fourth-grade students are involved in hands-on learning experiences through
a nine-month program using a variety of art forms. Through this exposure,
their skills in language arts will be strengthened by concentrating on
vocabulary and improved usage. Artists (painters, storytellers, potters,
dancers, musicians, wood carvers, poets, and performing artists) come to
the classroom to demonstrate these talents and to allow student participation.
Students then write stories based on their experiences.
Arts Connection
Budget: $174
This grant helps sixth-grade students see connections between major art
forms. The students create their own drama, music, art, and dance experiences.
Puppets made by students demonstrate fairy tales. Masks and backdrops are
created and used during plays from Aesop’s fables. Original songs
and dances accompany each of these plays.
Classy Quilts
Budget: $300
Sixth-grade students research the history and cultural traditions of this
art form. Students do traditional research, as well as reading stories
centered around quilting. Students then give an oral report and make a
quilt square. The squares are quilted together and the finished quilt is
on permanent display at the school.
Hydroponics Module
Budget: $836
A hydroponics system is constructed in the school. This module allows middle-school
students to grow plants in a complete hydroponics gardening system, where
plants grow in something other than soil. Observations focus on how by-products
introduced into the environment affect the ability of plants to reproduce
and grow. Students collect, organize, and graph data in this new area of
bio-related technology.
Super Kids’ Day
Budget: $350
High-school age academic tutors develop and produce new and improved long-lasting
games that will be used for Super Kids’ Day. This enhances the learning
skills, the higher-level thinking skills, and the hands-on approach for
the tutors. All Kindergarten students are involved in this exciting way
to practice basic concepts.
New Program Ideas
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Great Idea Grants
The Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation awards $40,000 each year for
grants that add books, science equipment, math aids, art materials, and
other teaching tools to more than 100 classrooms to make learning come
alive for thousands of students.
Oklahoma City Scholars
Volunteers are recruited to act as “living textbooks” to encourage
high-school students to stay in school and take more rigorous courses in
order to expand their opportunities after graduation.
Partners in Education
Through this program, individuals are recruited as mentors and tutors for
students in Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Principal for a Day
Business and community leaders are recruited to serve as “Principal
for a Day” to experience the challenges and rewards of running a
public school.
SchoolScapes
The “curb appeal” of Oklahoma City Public Schools is improved
through this fix-up, clean-up, and landscaping beautification project.
Super Support Staff Program
This program recognizes and awards the often-neglected but important role
models for students—bus drivers, cafeteria workers, school secretaries,
media assistants, and custodians.
Wall of Fame Dinner
At this black-tie event, outstanding alumni of the Oklahoma City Public
Schools are honored and the district’s accomplishments are showcased.
Stroud Public Schools
Back to School Brunch
The day before school begins, all teachers are welcomed back by the Stroud
Public Schools Foundation board. Board members provide the food and serve
the brunch. At the brunch, the Grants to Teachers and Professional Development
Grants application processes are explained. Past grant recipients are
also recognized, and three teachers are selected to attend the Oklahoma
Foundation for Excellence’s Fall Forum. There is usually a speaker
from outside the Stroud Public School Foundation to present a topic of
interest.
National Honor Society Banquet
Student excellence is recognized annually at the National Honor Society
Banquet. Each National Honor Society member and his family are invited
to a dinner served by members of the Stroud Public Schools Foundation
board. Each Honor Society member is presented with his certificate, and
there is an address by an Oklahoma leader. Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
Marian Opala and former Governor George Nigh have both been speakers
at this function.
Professional Development Grants
Teachers requesting Professional Development Grants must have the approval
of the administration prior to submitting their request. Grants may be
awarded for programs which provide training that cannot be funded by
the school district, but which both the teacher and the administration
agree will be beneficial to students. The Board of Trustees of the Stroud
Public Schools Foundation reviews requests at each of their meetings,
and teachers may receive reimbursement of costs for a conference attended
which did not have the prior approval of the board.
Teacher of the Month/Teacher of the Year
The Stroud Public Schools Foundation honors teaching excellence through
this medium. Each Teacher of the Month receives a certificate, $100,
and dinner for two at a local restaurant. The Teacher of the Year is
chosen from the Teacher of the Month winners and receives a plaque and
$500.
Woodward Public Schools
Experts-in-Residence Program
This grant program provides funds that allow experts from various disciplines—such
as renowned artists, historians, or scientists—to come to Woodward
to work directly with the students for a period of time.
Staff Development Program
This grant program helps provide funding to defray the cost of teachers
attending conferences, seminars, and workshops.