MEF Round 34 Grants – May, 2019

Round 34 Grants – May, 2019

  1. From Carton to Garden
    The Carton to Garden project will teach students to take pride, ownership, and responsibility in planting, nurturing, and harvesting a vegetable garden. Growing a garden will help promote healthy eating habits and a love for the gardening experience. With the collaboration of the Environmental Club from Merrillville High School, students will learn the importance of developing life skills and increasing environmental awareness.
    Jennifer Griffin, Miller School, Grades K-4, 500 students, $347.03

  2. Raise the Score in Reading
    The fourth-grade teachers at Miller Elementary are requesting funds to purchase materials to supplement English and Language Arts curriculum through educational, non-fiction magazines. Scholastic News is a nonfiction magazine designed to enhance language art skills by building knowledge across several content areas. Articles in the magazine include current and past events as well as personal narratives and persuasive articles. Storyworks is a 32-page print magazine with extensive digital resources. The students would receive six magazines. The magazine contains nonfiction, fiction, debates, poetry, paired texts and drama. It is designed to support our challenging standards with authentic text.
    Heather Barsich, Miller School, Grade 4, 100 students, $933.90 (for the Storyworks Program)


  3. Movers and Shakers – Steady Beat Makers
    Movers and Shakers – Steady Beat Makers is a project to help students better feel and move to the steady beat in music. Students will play the beat on small percussion instruments. They will also use scarves and a stretchy band to move their bodies to the beat. The ability to keep a steady beat is not only a fundamental musical skill, it also has been shown to relate to cognitive development and development in areas such as reading, coordination, and attention. The purpose of this project is to use engaging musical activities to help children become “beatful” for life.
    Barb Timmerman, Wood & Salk Schools, Grades K-4, 422 students, $513.65


  4. Simulating the Industrial Revolution with Tinker Toys
    This project will allow students to draw their own conclusions about the Industrial Revolution. In this hands-on, high energy, student centered simulation, students will work in small collaborative groups and independently to learn the function of interchangeable parts. As Confucius once said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” The hands-on learning experience funded by this grant Simulating the Industrial Revolution with Tinker Toys, will help history come alive and create a memorable experience that students will not forget. Since one of our goals is to help students be college and career ready, the funding of this grant will allow all students to use higher order thinking skills while also directly learning Social Studies content.
    Heather Walker, Pierce Middle School, Grade 8, 550 students, $81.70


  5. Manipulatives in the Mathematics Classroom
    Mathematical instruction can be a daunting task for students struggling to grasp content that is often presented using auditory or pictorial explanations. Students who learn from actual hands-on experiences are often lost in a lesson when the only thing they actually have in hand is their writing utensil and a notebook or textbook. Any time there is a possibility to explore student mathematical growth outside of the historic lecture style instruction method, it should be tried. Classrooms serve students ranging from gifted to special needs and not all students learn the same. We cannot continue to teach all of the students in the same manner hoping to obtain different results.
    Zella Garron, Merrillville Intermediate School, Grade 6, 75-96 students, $275.00


  6. Literacy Proficiency: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
    The creative non-fiction book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, aligns with the MHS Literacy Goal for 2018-2019, in addition to the high school Biology curriculum and Study Circles (diversity training) goals. By purchasing 20 additional books to supplement what is currently on hand, there will be enough books for all biology students. Reading this book will increase proficiency in literacy as measured by SRI, increase their awareness of the significant scientific contributions made by African Americans, and increase student knowledge of the impact of cancer on families.
    Cheryl Austin, Merrillville High School, Grades 9-10, 80 students, $191.80

  7. MIS Coffee Cart
    The Autism and Intense classrooms would like to begin a coffee cart at MIS to help the students develop and continue to work on their social, functional, and academic skills. The students, staff and school climate will greatly benefit from this real-world opportunity. Our hope is to utilize the funds from this grant to begin our coffee cart program. Funds earned from this program will be used to reinvest and continue our coffee cart program for future students and staff.
    Harmony Hofstra & Jeanine Harley, Merrillville Intermediate School, Grades 5-6, 20 students, $600.00

  8. From Consumers to Creators
    Taking my students from consumers to creators will help me improve the way I teach by bringing my lessons into the 21st century. Through the use of headphones with microphones, my students will be able to not only listen to podcasts, texts, and stories, but create them. The student created book review podcasts will also be added to the Pierce and Merrillville websites as well as my Google classroom for parents and more students to be able to listen. These headphones can engage my students with their assignments and the world around them.
    Jennifer Markovich, Pierce Middle School, Grade 7, 250 students, $199.96

  9. Engaging 21st Century Learners
    The goal with Engagement for 21st Century Learners is to increase our students understanding of geometry and measurement concepts while simultaneously increasing aptitude in reading, science, and social studies. Bee-bots, Blue-bots, and Pro-bots are robots that help students with engaging problem-solving tasks while helping them develop mathematical and metacognitive skills. The increased rigor on the new assessment, ILEARN, with the inclusion of performance tasks, makes it necessary to supply the students with the foundation necessary to be successful when taking state mandated assessments. With early exposure and superior resources, we will be providing students with the appropriate skills necessary to be a successful student.
    Jennifer Pozdzal, Iddings Elementary School, Grades K-4, 580 students, $1,399.90

  10. Impairment Goggles
    Our students deserve to receive instruction that leads to a clear understanding of the effects that controlled substances have on their bodies. The funding for this grant would allow us to purchase necessary materials to help students engage in the curriculum beyond the textbook. This grant will fund the purchase of 2 pairs of Impairment Goggles that will be incorporated into lessons that will give our students a hands-on experience that readings cannot. It is our goal to enhance our students understanding, awaken the learner, and improve our community.
    Kimberly Hurysz, Pierce Middle School, Grade 8, 500 students, $230.00

  11. Robotics Club
    The Robotics Club will again have two teams for next year. They work with Cero, a program donated to all FIRST teams to develop their robot in virtual reality before the students start building their project. This program gives our students a chance to work with real objects as they solve real-life problems of the robot. We have acquired thousands of parts over the last three years, and are in desperate need of organizing the pieces into one large storage cabinet. Each year we acquire a few new technology pieces in order to stay competitive in the robotic games. We would like to purchase a cabinet that is big enough, mobile enough, and safe enough to store the robot materials. We have seven competitions throughout the year, and the experiences that the students gain are priceless.
    Charles Seligman, Merrillville High School/Pierce Middle School, Grades 7-12, 50 students, $2,000.00 (through the John Anderson Foundation Grant awarded to the MEF)


 

TOTAL ROUND 34 GRANTS:  $6,772.94

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