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Blue Grass Community Foundation rewards creative teaching ideas

All teachers in Fayette County Public Schools were invited to apply

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 1, 2014) — Blue Grass Community Foundation has awarded nearly $10,000 to eight schools through its Teacher Mini-Grants Program, which supports educators’ ideas for creative and interesting programs, projects and events that foster learning through special materials or additional classroom resources.

Bluegrass community foundationAll teachers in Fayette County Public Schools were invited to apply. A committee of community volunteers considered each proposal’s potential to improve student achievement, number of students who would benefit, creativity of the project, potential for continuation and replication, and cost-effectiveness.

For instance, a grant enables Jennifer Nagle of Mary Todd Elementary to schedule an early childhood music teacher who is bilingual in English and Spanish to present music/reading programs for preschoolers who otherwise would not have access to music education.

“Through this program, children will gain valuable pre-literacy skills. It will also help my Spanish-speaking children learn English and vice versa,” Nagle said.

The following schools received mini grants for 2014-2015:

  • Bryan Station Middle School: $800 for an iPad and other technology for students with cognitive and communication challenges;
  • James Lane Allen Elementary: $994.59 for drums and other percussion instruments for music instruction;
  • Julius Marks Elementary: $423.95 to encourage oral expression through storytelling;
  • Mary Todd Elementary: $1,000 for the “Music and Literacy in the Preschool Classroom” project;
  • Meadowthorpe Elementary: $977 for the “Learning through Literacy” project, in which second-graders show preschoolers how to use technology to enhance reading;
  • Sandersville Elementary: $1,000 for the “Engineering is Elementary” project, using STEM principles to solve real-world problems;
  • Sandersville Elementary: $949.70 for LEGO robotics to provide hands-on instruction for engineering projects;
  • Sandersville Elementary: $750 for the 4th Grade Gazette, through which students write, edit and publish a grade-level newspaper;
  • Sandersville Elementary: $664.95 for the Quirkles, a program to develop science and literacy skills in second-graders;
  • Southern Elementary: $910.80 for “Economics and English,” which presents practical living and financial literacy to fifth-graders;
  • Southern Elementary: $725.20 to purchase award-winning literature for fifth-graders; and
  • Squires Elementary: $444.96 to partner with parents to promote reading in kindergartners’ homes.