Creative Classroom Grant Awards 2008

2008-2009 School Year

Creative Classroom Grants are designed to place funding directly into the hands of teachers who want to implement innovate teaching strategies in their classrooms. In its inaugural round of grants, the foundation partnered with eight Missoula businesses and several individuals to award seven grants totaling $19,500 for use during the 2008-2009 school year.

Porter Pals
Grant Recipient: C.S. Porter Teacher Tyra McDonald; Students Served: 400; Schools Involved: CS Porter, Lowell, Hawthorne, Franklin

Sponsors: Armor Auto, TSI Health Sciences and Mountain West Bank

Porter Pals is a service project that builds literacy as it fosters student relationships between grade levels and enhances leadership skills. Kindergarten and first grade students at Lowell, Hawthorne and Franklin elementary schools will join eighth grade students from C.S. Porter Middle School for two events during the 2008-2009 school year. The first event will involve carving pumpkins and the second making Valentine boxes. Each event will end with the younger students reading holiday themed books with their Porter Pals; the elementary students will be allowed to take the books home as gifts. The purpose of the project is to help these young students develop a lifelong interest in reading and facilitate literacy in the home environment.

Sport for the Mind

Grant Recipient: Big Sky High School Teacher Benjamin Cummins; Students Served: 14; School Involved: Big Sky High School

Sponsor: Emericamedia

The goal of the inaugural robotics program at Big Sky High School is to create a competitive science and math program for students with an interest in these fields. This project is designed to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in an exciting mentor-based program that fosters self-confidence, communication and leadership. Funding will be used to purchase robotic equipment, software, and other materials needed to establish teams to participate in robotics competitions in Montana and throughout the region. With rapidly changing technology, this is a great way for students to prepare for, work with, and embrace future technologies while having fun.

Engineering Minds

Grant Recipient: Big Sky High School Teacher Brian Hoover; Students Served: 93; School Involved: Big Sky High School

Sponsor: DirecTV, Inc.

This project is designed to increase student achievement by incorporatingstate-of-the-art engineering software into the classroom. Student will increase their technological literacy by designing and testing a product in a virtual environment. The cornerstone of this project is the multidisciplinary collaboration that will be implemented during the design process. Students will create initial designs, virtual prototypes and production plans. They will need to focus on engineering and problem solving, including initial form and design of the product, material properties and strength testing, and technical drawings and manufacturing processes.

Digging Deep and Soaring High with Words

Grant Recipient: Chief Charlo Elementary Teacher Kory Johnston; Students Served: 75; School Involved: Chief Charlo Elementary

Sponsors: Quality Supply and Allegiance Benefit Plan Management

This project will use creative writing as a means of improving students' ability to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively to a wider audience. The program will link 45 fourth grade students at Chief Charlo with a published author from the Missoula Writing Collaborative on a weekly basis. The contact with authors will allow students to expand their creative writing abilities and give them a better understanding of how the creative process works.

Today’s Students; Tomorrow’s Scientists

Grant Recipient: Chief Charlo Elementary School Teacher Heather Roos; Students Served: 50; School Involved: Chief Charlo Elementary

Sponsors: TSI Health Sciences and Oz Archititecture

This grant gives first grade students access to the academic language and concepts of social studies and science through differentiated and engaging activities beyond textbooks. The teaching style of this project differs from the usual classroom approach because it provides a daily exposure and physical interaction with rich academic language through a wide variety of media experiences. The project will involve a curriculum based on state standards using such tools as photographs to represent concepts; large interactive pictorials using drawings, photographs and relevant vocabulary; a variety of literature relevant to the subject matter (leveled readers, big book, mentor texts, multi-cultural authors, magazines); field trips and expert speakers; and real-life representations of concepts (for example, chicken incubators for lifecycles).

Making Scarves for the Scarfless

Grant Recipient: Franklin Elementary School Teacher Angie Palin; Students Served: 25; School Involved: Franklin Elementary

Sponsors: MEF Board of Directors

This project will involve third grade students in making fleece blankets and scarves for children at Watson Children’s Shelter. Students involved in the project will use math skills to determine the amount of fabric they will need as well as writing skills to write letters to a partner school in Seattle to learn about different demographics, climate and economy. Students will benefit by integrating their writing and math skills into a “practical” project that fits well into the third grade curriculum. By working together and giving their final products to Watson Children’s Shelter, the class will continue with the goal of working for our community.

Dramatic Life in the Classroom

Grant Recipient: Hellgate High School Teacher Jean Croxton; Students Served: 1,200; School Involved: Hellgate High School

Sponsor: MCPS employees who give through the District’s Charitable Giving Campaign

This grant will support the purchase of two portable curtains for use in classroom productions at Hellgate High School. The backdrops will create a more authentic stage atmosphere for students. Every English class includes the study of plays, as well as oral presentations such as speeches, debates, and poetry readings. These curtains will enhance these types of events and help engage students as learners.

Above and Beyond: Gifted Education

Grant Recipient: Crystal Thompson; Students Served: about 40; Schools Involved: Franklin and Chief Charlo Elementary schools

Sponsor: Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation

Above and Beyond facilitates experimental learning and promotes the social and emotional growth of gifted-education students in grades 2 through 5 at Franklin and Chief Charlo Elementary schools. This proposal offers gifted children the opportunity both to receive challenging academic opportunities in the Missoula community and to collaborate with like-minded peers. Above and Beyond provides a supplement to the general education curriculum for high ability students and meets district goals and objectives in science, art, history and social-emotional development.

Show me – I Can Do It!

Grant Recipient: Suzanne Bobowiec; Students Served: up to 90; Schools Involved: All MCPS elementary schools

Sponsor: Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation

This program will use video modeling to teach expected classroom behaviors to children in prekindergarten through second grade who have autism spectrum disorders. Video modeling is a strategy that focuses on the visual strengths these children usually demonstrate. Showing appropriate classroom behaviors is often challenging for these same children. Readily available video equipment will allow educators to use an effective means for teaching appropriate classroom behavior that builds on these pupils' visual strengths.