The Mount Airy City Schools Board of Education recently awarded 19 grants to school staff.
“Grants awarded will be used for the 2022-2023 school year to foster innovation and creativity in classrooms,” school officials said in announcing the award. “Through these grants, the district’s innovative efforts and student-centered classrooms will be enhanced and expanded to provide greater opportunities. The board strives to foster innovation in classrooms, empower ideas that Mount Airy City Schools educators have, and promote creative student involvement in their learning.”
With a record-breaking 41 proposals submitted, 19 grants were awarded. Seventeen of those are being fully funded with two receiving partial funding. The total amount of grants funded is $14,720.
“We are extremely excited and grateful to have dedicated educators that strive to advocate for our students and schools,” said Director of Innovative Programming Penny Willard. “These innovative projects will enhance the high-quality education our teachers aim to provide for all learners every day.”
Among the grants and what they will be used for are:
– At Jones Intermediate School, Ben Pendleton will develop a transformative garden with the implementation of an indoor greenhouse to support the sensory needs of the exceptional children population. This initiative will support hands-on learning to build learning connections to math, science, art, and the community;
– Candice Haynes, a fifth-grade teacher, will help her students dig deeper into the novel, “Blue.” “They will gain a better understanding of the author’s perspective by having a virtual author visit with Joyce Moyer Hostetter,” the school board officials said;
– At Mount Airy High School, New Beginnings, The Blooming Bear project will be fully funded to help teacher Ashley Pyles expand the already successful Blue Bear Cafe. This project will provide students with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals required to start a small business. In addition, students will gain workforce readiness skills through real-time work experiences in the newly developed mini-florist shop.
– The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program will provide students with new arts-based experiences by exposing them to the Hip Hop Nutcracker. This trip will be integrated into a college visit at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Krystal Tyndall, assistant principal, proposed this project, which will have widespread reach across the AVID cohort of Mount Airy High School;
– At Tharrington Primary School, teaching assistant Caitlin Edwards and the pre-kindergarten team will engage the district’s youngest learners through the Diverse Intelligent Achieving Leaders (DIAL) project. “Through high-quality literacy experiences, students will be exposed to stories that help them develop empathy as compassionate individuals who utilize their personal leadership skills to support a kinder world;”
– At Mount Airy Middle School, Amanda Sechrist will utilize hands-on resources to enhance student learning outcomes through co-teaching experiences within the seventh grade science classes. She has proposed “The Doctor is In!” as a way to expose students to tactile experiences while supporting the need to increase their academic vocabulary. “Through rich conversations and hands-on investigations, students will have a better opportunity to build learning connections around the human body system;”
– Also at Mount Airy Middle School, Brandy Hale will be utilizing graphic novels to explore historical fiction and help students relate to the learning material. Through the use of literature circles, learners will develop vocabulary, build reading stamina, and engage in literary analysis. “This project is a great example of a teacher’s advocacy to provide reading materials that make reading fun and engaging for all levels of readers;”.
The full list of BOE teacher grants are:
– BH Tharrington Primary School
• Caitlin Edwards — Pre-kindergarten — Diverse Intelligent Achieving Leaders (DIAL)- $1,000
• Beth Martin — First grade — Science of Reading Stresses the Importance of Teaching Vocabulary- $330
• Second grade teaching team — Math Toolkits for All- $600
• Ashley Crouse — first grade teacher — Full STEAM Ahead- $360
• Elizabeth Barrios and Cindy Gil — kindergarten DLI teachers — Centros de Ciencias: A STEAM center for kindergarten DLI- $850
JJ Jones Intermediate School:
• Gina Tompkins — interventionist — Building Bridges with Books- $1,000
• Ben Pendleton — exceptional children teacher — Transformative Garden – $800
• Ginnie Deaton — fifth grade teacher — IXL for Science $500
• Michele Wertman — fourth grade teacher — IXL for Science — $500
• Beth Bohart — exceptional children teacher —Beary Good Books — $1,000
• Candice Haynes — fifth grade teacher — Digging Deeper into Blue “Author’s Purpose and Perspective” — $600
• Christin Moreno — fourth grade DLI teacher — Celebrando el Mundo: A diverse classroom library in Spanish — $700
Mount Airy City Schools Micro-School:
• Catherine Dollyhite, micro-school facilitator and Brittany Branch, digital learning coach — Design Thinking With STEM Project — $650
Mount Airy Middle School:
• Brandy Hale — seventh grade teacher — Historical Fiction Graphic Novels Literature Circles- $980
• Amanda Sechrist — exceptional children teacher — The Doctor is In!- $550
• Penny Willard, director of innovative programming — submitted on behalf of Mount Airy Middle School — Bringing Back the Books for the Bears! $900
Mount Airy High School:
• Krystal Tyndall- assistant principal — AVID 4 Possibility — $1,800
• Ashley Pyles — exceptional children’s teacher — New Beginnings-The Bloomin’ Bear — $1,000
• Jennifer Jones — English teacher — Meta Magic — $600
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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