2014-2015 Grants to Educators November 18, 2014 Aldridge Elementary School Brenda McElyea $1468 Makerspace Full STEAM Ahead A makerspace is a place to make projects either of one’s own design, to learn how to make new things by trial and error and/or as guided by others. My library's makerspace primarily focuses on student designed projects utilizing problem solving and organizational skills as students think, plan, research, design, create, and showoff their projects. I have applied for this grant so that I can extend the scope of supplies available to students from solely repurposed to reusable electronic and building materials.

Andrews Elementary School Kim Artigues $450 Let's Learn With Logic! The stimulating "Let's Learn With Logic" reasoning games will be utilized for differentiated Math instruction in order to enhance spatial and analytical reasoning; while challenging the student's strategic thinking skills. Students will use mathematical problem solving skills to develop logical thinking and practice rigorous problem solving. This will further enhance our Math instruction by making connections with content and will serve as a great introduction to deductive reasoning while applying mathematics to problems arising in everyday life.

Andrews Elementary School Brooke Bauer $623 M3 (Magnificent Math Maniacs) M3 (Magnificent Math Maniacs) is an after-school program designed for students who desire to delve into higher-level problem solving and strategic thinking while having fun at the same time! Students will conquer mathematical challenges in a fun, exciting, and fast-paced environment with plenty of opportunities to work together in cooperative groups and show their individual expertise in math competitions. The program is offered to all 5th grade students and those 3rd and 4th grade students who are identified by their teachers as high-achievers in math.

Andrews Elementary School Karla Shelby $401 Dealing Number Sense While our students are "Dealing Number Sense" using decks of playing cards and dominoes, they will develop and master, an in-depth understanding of place value: including the concept of ordering, rounding, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. Students will be engaged during the hands-on approach to learning numerical representations and relationships: number sense.

Armstrong Middle School Terry Cavallito $1500 Project 43-George W. Bush Library Students will tour the George W. Bush Library on the campus of SMU. Students will connnect the challenges and precedents set by the first five presidents of the United States, studied in 8th grade Social Studies, with the challenges and precedents set by contemporary presidents. This trip will combine both a tour of the library, and a tour of SMU to motivate students to attend college, as well as understand that history does happen in "your own backyard."

Armstrong Middle School Laura Faber $1500 This Is Your Life! This Is Your Life Program! T.I.Y.L.(Tie-Yul) Program is a middle school skills for life program designed to create experiential learning of specific skills needed in everyday living. The program features learning by design for special education students identified as at-risk, below average to severely delayed cognition, with varying disabilities and/or social deficits identified by the current Full Individual Evaluation (FIE). The program focus is on real-life behaviors that an individual needs to live successfully and independently in a natural community setting.

Armstrong Middle School Kiva Fullmer $1500 College Campus Visit College Campus Visit is geared toward educating students about life at a college campus. Students are provided with knowledge of what life is like on a college campus (dorm life, class sizes, clubs and organizations), benefits of a college education and college entrance requirements. Students will visit a major Texas university where they will tour the campus, receive information about the campus from actual college students and eat lunch in a college cafeteria.

Armstrong Middle School Kimberly Harvey-Jordan $400 Reading is Fundamental Reading Workshop is the name of Plano ISD district selected reading program in the 6th grade. This project is to give students more opportunities to have ownership of their reading by improving the following: reading fluency, reading comprehension, and reading rigor inference skills. This project will enable students to purchase additional content teen choice books for the classroom library.

Armstrong Middle School Claire McGrath $2000 AMS 30 Mile Challenge The AMS 30 Mile Challenge is a year-long program for all Physical Education students in which they must reach 30 miles by May 15, 2014. Students are given one day per week to work toward reaching the goal, and coaches update their progress weekly. Those that reach 30 miles will receive special recognition at an awards ceremony and a t-shirt. The goal of the program is to motivate students to work hard at reaching a goal and choosing a healthy lifestyle.

Armstrong Middle School Karen Wackerow $600 Real Reading “Real Reading” is the name of our student–selected reading (SSR) program in the 8th grade. The purpose is to enable students to have a “Real Reading” experience by choosing books from a current classroom library and engaging in deeper reading activities. This project will allow us to purchase current teen-choice books for our classroom.

Armstrong Middle School Ebony Barnes $1500 It's a ScienceSaurus! Funds from this grant will be used to purchase a class set of ScienceSaurus. This Science resource will provide the necessary tools to bridge the gap between what students experience in hands-on investigations and the conceptual understanding using academic vocabulary.

Barron Elementary School Amanda Bauman $1000 Pawmart Pawmart is just how it sounds; an alternative to Walmart for kids. This "grade level store" is a positive reinforcement tool used to reward the students who earn our grade level "bucks" for displaying responsible, ready and respectful behaviors. In addition, it connects real-life experiences and knowledge of economic choices by encouraging the students to save and look forward to purchasing that extra special item from Pawmart.

Barron Elementary School Matthew Clark $325 Math Can be Fun This grant will buy research based math board games to help bring Math into a real world setting. Allowing students to play games, that will reinforcing their Math Facts, Operations, and Problem Solving skills. The games will help provide learning tools to meet the new standard of personal financial literacy that will tested on STAAR. The money will be used to purchase games targeting deficient skills identified through MAP and STAAR data analysis.

Barron Elementary School Courtney Howard $1000 I've Got Spirit, How 'Bout You? Every Friday, our school holds a school spirit day. Teachers and students wear spirit wear, sing the school song, and say cheers throughout the day to spread spirit. It is so wonderful to see everybody sporting their spirit wear; however, many of our student cannot afford to purchase spirit wear and feel left out on this day.

Barron Elementary School Pamela Maltsberger $755 Guidance Books Many of our students at school need bibliotherapy in order to understand and apply lifelong character traits both in school and out of school. As the counselor of our school, I would love more than anything to have a couseling library for students, staff, and community use. This grant will buy books that teach students how to cope with struggles going on in their personal lives and also show that they can relate to others.

Beaty EC - P-K Megan Fogarty $1500 We All Read Together Many of our special education students are not able to enjoy the same books as their general education peers because they are not developmentally or educationally appropriate. When they have to read specially-made teacher books they are missing out on the joy of classic illustrations and are further separated from their peers. I propose to create a true, inclusive library for our self-contained classrooms by adapting classic literature to fit the needs of ALL students.

Beaty EC - P-K Heather Schmitt $1200 Family Visual Supports Training The Family Visual Supports Training Series will be a hands-on experience designed to support parents and caregivers in their ability to enhance their child’s participation and success in school, at home and throughout the community. This series of trainings will provide strategies to help the child communicate more effectively in order to alleviate stress, ease frustration during challenging situations and promote positive behaviors.

Beverly Elementary School Nora Davis $245 Book Lover's Club All Kindergarten and 2nd Grade students will participate each month in an engaging Book Lover's Club that makes reading fun! The Kindergarten and 2nd Grade students will be paired together in order to support literacy acquisition for the younger children and to foster confidence and leadership skills in the older children. At each club meeting, the students will read books, discuss open-ended questions, and cooperate to complete projects in response to the stories.

Beverly Elementary School Laura Schnitzer $725 Literature Throughout the Classroom Second grade students will be immersed in good literature throughout the school year. This literature will include books for read aloud, guided reading and independent reading. There will be a multitude of genres including, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and fables. Both picture books and chapter books will be included.

Bowman Middle School Joan McIntosh $1500 High Five for Character High 5 for Character: Give me a High 5 for Character is a student recognition program created and implemented by the Student Recognition Team at Bowman Middle School. The goal of the program is to acknowledge our students for a job well done! The students are recognized by the faculty and staff members for showing random acts of kindness and for showing RESPECT at school.

Bowman Middle School Stephanie Schinnerer $700 AVID in ACTION (A²) Our school continues to immerse AVID strategies throughout the building to help students prepare for college readiness. Last year, our school created AVID in ACTION (A²) by adding tutorials to 6th grade study skills classes to engage students in higher level questioning and help each other be successful during the school year. This year our goal is to add AVID tutorials to an 8th grade math class before/after school facilitated by eighth grade AVID students to enhance non-AVID students with the benefits of AVID strategies.

Bowman Middle School Kelly Williams $1500 Space Jam The purpose of the Project-Based Learning (PBL) initiative is to begin integrating PBL concepts into the middle school by creating an extracurricular PBL Club. Appropriate training for four core subject teachers has already occurred. Additional faculty will be trained in succeeding years.

Bowman Middle School Erick Andrade $1175 Soccer to Student Success Soccer to Student Success is a continuation and expansion of an extracurricular program comprised of intramural indoor co-ed soccer teams. This after–school program is open to all students at our middle school, attracts students who may not otherwise participate in other extracurricular activities and is of high interest to the large Hispanic student population at our school. Students must have passing grades in order to participate; this motivates them to achieve and connects them to their school in a positive way.

Carpenter Middle School Katherine Webb $1000 Building Classroom Libraries Building Classroom Libraries will ensure students are equipped with the latest titles, so that they will have greater access to literature and be encouraged to read outside of the classroom. This program will provide students with a variety of young adult literature tailored to their interests. This will dramatically shorten the process of getting a book into a student's hands, especially reluctant readers.

Christie Elementary School Belinda Beuerlein $1500 Maker Space Camp Explore, Experience, Design, and Create using various materials, techniques, and technologies throughout the school year. Through this exploration, students will be able to find their strengths in certain areas of STEM and the Arts. The school year will end with an exciting, engaging experience that students will love when they attend our "Maker Space" Camp to design and create projects or activities that showcase their strengths and abilities in the area of their choice!

Christie Elementary School Chloe Bradley $1400 Versatile learning with VersaTiles Students at Christie need to be pushed in math to reach their full potential. Using VersaTiles we will be able to increase the rigor and differentiate during math station time. VersaTiles will be used in the first through third grade classrooms to help students collaborate, reflect on their work, and increase their logic and math skills.

Christie Elementary School Cynthia Brown $1500 Tinkering Exploratorium Recognizing the need for problem solving skills in future careers, this teaching approach will fill gaps in understanding and excite students about the areas of science and math. Students will have opportunities to create, plan and build solutions to challenges which engineers face in the real world. Students who may not have otherwise considered careers in these areas will increase their confidence and interest by improving their engineering knowledge and skills.

Christie Elementary School Carrie Cormack $1500 Recess Grows Brains Our goal in the Recess Grows Brains program is to increase the overall physical activity in all 800 of our students during recess. Currently, it is a struggle for some of our classes to get their students to actively participate during recess. We believe we are missing out on an opportunity to best serve our students by providing them with all of the necessary resources to engage in physical activity through sports and games due to insufficient equipment at recess time. Studies prove that increased physical activity can directly increase brain activity. Through children exerting more energy on the playground, we predict enhanced concentration in the classroom, improved behavior in the class, and less behavior issues during class and recess.

Christie Elementary School Jessica Malloy $1500 The Learning Commons: An Uncommon Learning Experience If you can imagine it, you can create it in the Learning Commons! Exposing students to hands-on, highly engaging STEAM activities will immerse them in exploring, discovering and learning and will help ensure their success in the future. Getting to make and create will transform our students from consumers into makers and give everyone the opportunity to see the world around them differently, to explore and imagine new possibilities for a future they help create.

Christie Elementary School Tiffany Anderson $700 Kindness and Compassion (KC) Club Our campus has accepted Rachel's Challenge and our Kindness and Compassion Club (KC Club) is ready to go out and serve our school as well as the world. Our KC Club is open to all fourth and fifth grade students who exhibit positive character traits and who want to make a difference in the lives of others. The KC Club will organize and implement certain service learning projects to get our campus involved in giving back to our community and demonstrating kindness, compassion, leadership, respect, and inspiration.

Christie Elementary School Linda Higbee $1200 CNN - Campus News Now 2014 "Good Morning -- let's get to the top stories of the day!" Active learning with hands-on experience is paramount to student success. With our campus as the hub of life in our community, students will inform, entertain, and teach one another through the use of technology by broadcasting high interest stories on a daily campus news program. Students will have the expanded opportunity to create segments for STEM related news programs. A variety of literacy skills embedded in authentic experience allows students to hone their speaking, reading,and writing skills in developing stories of interest which have come from active academic learning within the classroom and campus community.

Christie Elementary School Lilly Jensby $1500 Gadget Girls 2.0 Gadget Girls is a collaborative initiative designed to boost achievement in science and mathematics and aimed at inspiring the next generation of innovators. According to Michelle Obama, “If we’re going to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world, we've got to open doors for everyone; we need all hands on deck, and that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.” Through this cooperative learning process girls will develop leadership and creative thinking and problem-solving skills, to foster sustained interest in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, and to empower girls at a young age to pursue related career pathways.

Christie Elementary School Kaya Jones $1000 Designing Mathematicians The sky's the limit, ... or is it? Our Designing Mathematicians are taking math out of this world through inquiry-based projects that challenge students to critically think and problem-solve at the highest levels! Not only will students be able to bring their mathematical ideas to life, they will also be able to share their learning through student-produced digital portfolios, which will deepen their understanding of how math connects us to the real world.

Christie Elementary School Christine Kallman $930 Everyday Science Investigators - ESI Everyday Science Investigators, ESI, is a program that allows 1st and 2nd graders to get dirty and messy while participating in hands-on science. Students will have the opportunity to explore science in their everyday lives while practicing questioning and communication skills.

Christie Elementary School Kristin Ransom $800 Reading Rainbow Reading Rainbow is a book club designed for 5th grade literacy enrichment. Students will come to book club three times each week to engage in captivating and challenging literature. Students will read, discuss, collaborate, and evaluate text while integrating technology in hopes to foster their love of literature.

Clark High School Savannah Deegan $1500 Garold Wayne Foundation Field Trip Agricultural science students will travel to the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park to experience the life of an animal caretaker and learn about the work being completed by Texas A&M's genetics department at the foundation to preserve the gene pool of endangered big cats.

Clark High School Emily Christine Gates $1500 Reading Focus: Engaged! "Reading Focus - ENGAGED!" is the name of our CATS/Special Ed. independent reading program at Clark High School. We believe that when teens who read on lower levels have access to high interest, low reading level books, they are more motivated to pick up and finish reading a book. Our project enables us to purchase more of these high interest, low reading level teen choice books for our campus.

Clark High School Cristine Jordan $1500 AVID 212 At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. One extra degree of effort can yield incredible results. The AVID 212 grant will offer student and teacher recognition for academic success and rigor on our campus. By rewarding students for their individual accomplishments and positive behavior, along with recognizing the teachers who provide support to rigor, they will understand that making one degree of change in their study habits can equal success in high school and acceptance into the college of their choice.

Clark High School Christine Lynd $1500 Marvelous Minds Makerspace A Makerspace in the Clark Library would afford all Clark students a learner-driven space to tinker, question, discover, problem solve, and create. Makerspaces develop perserverance by allowing a safe space for students to "fail" and try again. Makerspaces inspire wonder, celebrate ingenuity and encourage collaboration.

Daffron Elementary School Linda DeSousa $1351 We All Have a Story to Tell We will create confident and engaged readers and writers with the "We All Have a Story to Tell" program. To boost motivation and create strong writers, the LEGO Education Story Starters combined with our curriculum, will encourage the students to use the mechanics of a well composed story and a foundation to build and share their own story using LEGO bricks in their tool box. The students will photograph, write and publish their stories electronically.

Dooley Elementary School Lauren Shaw $600 Books To Go “Books to Go" is a continuation of a Grant awarded in 2011 to Dooley, Hickey and Hunt Elementary Schools. We have provided books to check out during the summer at a Mobile Home Park where many of the bilingual and ESL students live. We bring the books in a PISD van, set up under the trees in the shade and help families select books to read at home. This coming summer will be our fifth summer to implement the program.

Dooley Elementary School Silvia Thorpe $1500 The Lunch Bunch Book Club The Lunch Bunch Book Club is a program designed to get students interested in reading and discussing books in a social setting. Students will meet during their lunch time in the library. Sets of books in a variety of genres will be purchased for the students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Our objective is to encourage students to read for pleasure and, in the process, boost their academic performance.

Forman Elementary School Tricia Saleh $1500 Growing Connections from Language to Literacy The Growing Connections from Language to Literacy project is a program that will support and build literacy through language using various genres. Readers' Theater will be utilized to support the younger students through the use of language acquisition. The older students will benefit from the use of adapted classical literature which will provide them with the opportunity to increase comprehension and fluency using higher level text.

Forman Elementary School Cassey Scales $1500 Future Engineers Future Engineers will gear up for science through the exciting world of Engineering. Fourth and fifth graders will engage in the exploration of the Engineering Design Process and experience hands on activities that introduce them to the world of Engineering. They will problem solve weekly challenges and activities from various strands of Engineering fields such as Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering and many others.

Frankford Middle School Ranneh Kayfan $1500 STEM Games That Train Your Brain Seventh and eighth grade students will be invited to six, monthly after-school “STEM Games That Train Your Brain” events to collaborate and work through various hands-on brain games which incorporate simple structures and mechanisms. These six events are designed to inspire students to continue to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in school and as possible career choices and will introduce them to Project Lead the Way and other Career and Technical Education courses. Students will also interact with high school, parent, and engineer volunteers who will assist during these once-a-month events.

Frankford Middle School Michele Poovey $1500 Science Club: Compost and Garden Use the Science Club to educate the entire school about composting and flower gardens to increase environmental awareness and knowledge of 7th grade TEKs.

Frankford Middle School Cheryl Wells $700 Chef's Club and Pinterest Club Grant Chef's Club and Pinterest Club is an after school club for developing new skills for students. The clubs reach a group of students who are not usually involved in other after school activities. It gives them a sense of belonging to their school and they take ownership of the clubs. Students will learn to enhance their creativity and build on life skills using a hands on approach.

Frankford Middle School Karyn Wynne $1500 AVID “Study CHATS”- (Collaborate, Help, Ask, Teach, Success) Morning/afterschool Study CHATS are for students to meet and collaborate about what they are learning in their core subjects. Instead of sitting in the cafeteria or gym waiting for school to start, students will come to Study CHATS to stay on top of their grades. Study CHATS will be for group study sessions, group project work, or just to get their homework done. It will be a safe and “cool” place to study with peers.

Haggard Middle School Kaki Bennett $1500 Maker Space Our middle school hopes to establish a maker space where students can explore and create with a variety of materials. Students will use various building elements such as battery packs, circuits, robotics components, LEDs, K’Nex pieces, Lego bricks, conductive and non-conductive dough, and electric motors to discover possibilities within the different combinations of parts. Students will construct their own projects and use problem solving skills to create the result they want.

Haggard Middle School Kimberly Fermaint $1487 Magazines for the Nonfiction Reader Magazines for the nonfiction reader is our school's way of promoting nonfiction reading in the classroom and supporting those students who already enjoy this mode of reading. Knowing that nonfiction text is majority of what our students will encounter in the world in and outside of our classroom walls, it is vital that we foster the reading strategies and skills required to make sense of and enjoy nonfiction texts. Magazines for the nonfiction reader will in turn provide our 8th grade students with engaging classroom magazines on a variety of topics that can be used during instruction or during our daily sustained silent reading time.

Hendrick Middle School Victoria Hines $2500 Food 4 Thought Food 4 Thought is an after-school program geared towards providing academic support for students on a consistent basis, in addition to the regularly scheduled grade level tutorials. All students are eligible to participate in the program, and are given a nutritional snack at the beginning of the Food 4 Thought hour. Subject area teachers are on-hand during the program to provide specific academic assistance with homework and assignments.

Hickey Elementary School Maricela Callan $1475 Periodical…What’s that? The term periodical is completely foreign to this generation of students. By utilizing Time for Kids Magazine and FACES Magazine, students will get to engage in current events, learn about different people, places and culture through a new and different medium to ignite student learning. In addition, with the curriculum changes, we can still keep Texas History alive all year with the Texas Studies Weekly Newspaper!

Hickey Elementary School Angelica Campbell $1470 “Homeruns with Home Team Advantage” Do you have the home field advantage in your class? “Homeruns with Home Team Advantage” is a project that puts students and parents back in our corner! Families will be provided with kits that supply home access to captivating, cross-curricular activities to further increase the effectiveness of classroom instruction while accommodating busy schedules.

Hickey Elementary School Paula Edwards $1070 Moving Minutes Moving Minutes is a collection of brain energizers and instant activities that can be accessed throughout the day or used as needed for indoor recess. The Moving Minutes will be made by students and utilized by students to help energize, activate and invigorate the brain into a state of learning.

Hickey Elementary School Melissa Patton $1400 Logic in Learning VersaTiles combines the captivating challenge of a puzzle with the purposeful practice of academic thinking skills. Student led, engaging and motivating activities that appeal to various learning styles make lessons more interesting and meaningful for the students. VersaTiles is based on research linking conceptual understanding, practice of skills and concepts, and problem solving.

Hickey Elementary School Lisa Saldana $688 Tools for Tackling the TEKS in Math Intervention documentation shows that tier 2 and 3 students struggle with math TEKS/concepts for reasons which include difficulty in problem solving/internalization of mathematical concepts as well as distractibility/inability to attend to lessons appropriately. This grant provides materials and tools that will address these issues and assist struggling students with development of math concepts and mastery of math TEKS.

Hickey Elementary School Dung Tran $1485 The Lost Art of Telling Time Telling time, really? Do we still need to tell time, or why not just read a number off of a digital clock? "The Lost Art of Telling Time" will put the love back into reading an analog clock by providing students with analog watches during a two week long project. Students will build an understanding of time, understanding passage of time, understanding the units time is measured and what each unit of measure means, and relating all of this to their everyday life.

Huffman Elementary School Hoda Abdel-Ghani $1216 Ready-Set-Learn Materials needed for classroom to increase the attention of students for on-task behavior. These materials include various items such as adaptive seating options and movement activities. Research supports heavy work activities to increase students attention and on-task behavior.

Huffman Elementary School Rita Wallace $500 Kids Inquiry Conference: Learning By Design Kids Inquiry Conference is an event that uses the foundation ideas of the typical science fair and "KIC"s it into high gear. The students will work in teams to choose a topic, design a science investigation, execute the scientific process, reflect on the results and write a research article to be published in a yearly KIC book. Groups will then have the opportunity to share their findings with younger students, peers, teachers, parents and community members through engaging presentations in a conference like setting.

Huffman Elementary School Courtney West $1210 History is Our Heritage "History is our Heritage" would serve as a culminating activity to our ongoing lessons of the history of Plano, Texas. Our third grade students would like to travel "back in time" and visit the Heritage Farmstead Museum, as we feel this would be a beneficial experience that would connect and link our lessons on local, state, and national governments. Finally, the Heritage Farmstead Museum is a member of the Plano Landmark Assoication, State of Texas historical Marker, and National Register of Historic Places.

Hunt Elementary School Candy Kern $901 Read Recycled Readers We will be recycling 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade out of adoption literature anthologies (grade level Basal Readers) to create 960 individual classroom readers. Each anthology contains 30 stories, so with 4 grade levels we will have 120 different titles to select from. We will be creating 8 copies of each story for small group instruction.

Jackson Elementary School Mercedes Tran $1440 Concrete Reading Project English Language Learners sometimes lack background knowledge of real life experiences, which is an essential element in developing vocabulary and reading comprehension. The "Concrete Reading Project" utilizes jumbo sized expository books to spark their appetite for reading by appealing to their personal interests and visual curiosity. Big books captivate and draw students' minds into the informational text, helping them connect personally with the rest of the world.

Meadows Elementary School Ellyn Reese-Fautsch $800 Smooth Sailing/Synergy for Student Success Whether or not eligible for Special Education services, so very many students at our Title One school have special needs that must be appropriately addressed. When Special Education and General Education teachers cooperate and discuss facilitation of the learning process for students such as these, students will benefit! The goal of this Grant Proposal is to promote smooth sailing through the learning process through teacher synergy, plus tools and materials to support our students' progress in any educational setting, whether resource or inclusion, General Education or Special Education .

Memorial Elementary School Betty W. Koonce $1500 iDEAS--iDesignEngineerAssembleShare iDEAS is both an after- and in-school program offering students the opportunity to use and expand their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, math, music, art, dance, writing, and/or literature to design and make whatever they can imagine. Squishy circuits, catapult components, origami and kite paper, Little Bits, duct tape, Legos, and recyclables are some of the mediums students use in their own unique, innovative ways during weekly sessions. By participating in iDEAS, students will become lifelong creative, critical thinkers.

Memorial Elementary School Christy Pine $1145 #KidsRunThisSchool #KidsRunThisSchool is an after school running club designed to reach students grades 3-5 to reach their potential beyond their physical needs. The basis of each student's training plan will be individualized physical, social/emotional, and academic goals supported by the running coaches through conferencing, guest speakers, reading selections, and activities that keep running fun and foster perseverance. Our participation in the Thrill of the Grill 5K will be our culminating activity, a celebration of their nine-week journey.

Mendenhall Elementary School Christine Barrantes $1495 Interactive S.T.E.M. Lab Our Interactive S.T.E.M. Lab is designed to expose students to science, technology, engineering and math so they can have experiences that teach students how these four strands interact to solve problems and develop new ideas. The materials from the grant in our lab are used by students, teachers, mentors and families to enhance student’s S.T.E.M. experiences and increase their vocabulary. The high interest activities, specimens and hands-on-materials will raise the interest and excitement level of everyone that uses them.

Mendenhall Elementary School Alexandria Droogsma $700 Biz Kidz Biz Kidz is an interactive and engaging personal financial literacy project. It is designed to challenge students to apply mathematical and monetary skills in a real world setting. In this project, students will learn about financial literacy, engage in product creation, and participate in the Biz Kidz convention to buy and sell their products.

Mendenhall Elementary School Maria Gallastegui $1500 Linking LEGOS 4Learning Linking LEGOS 4Learning will provide students in grades 2 through 5 with hands-on engaging materials to transform them into confident and engaged readers and writers! Linking LEGOS 4Learning will increase students’ motivation and build strong writers while teaching literacy, communication, collaboration, and teamwork skills. Linking LEGOS 4Learning will encourage students to work together to create and build stories with LEGO bricks and figures as their toolbox and then share, write and publish their stories.

Mendenhall Elementary School Shannon Gauger $1235 Fidgets For Fidgety Friends Fidgets for Fidgety Friends is a program designed to benefit and meet specific needs of the special education students on our campus. Students will be allowed to move within their space in an appropriate manner with the use of "fidgets" which will benefit them by allowing them to better focus, attend, and learn.

Mendenhall Elementary School Cherrie Kilby $803 Science Across the Curriculum Our Special Education Team plans to use leveled reading activities combined with hands on activities to teach reading and support what students are learning in science. Using science across the curriculum will help reinforce academic vocabulary that is so difficult for our students. The hands on activities keep students engaged and make learning more relevant.

Mendenhall Elementary School Cynthia Overturf $200 Meet the Maestro Meet the Maestro would provide 4th and 5th grade students the opportunity to meet Maestro Hector Guzman, conductor of the Plano Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Guzman would speak to the students about his career in music. The maestro would also give a brief performance on the piano.

Mendenhall Elementary School Shannon Sparks $995 Liven Up Science “Liven Up Science” is our goal for science this year to make science even more interesting and fun for our students. We plan to use a life size skeleton to reinforce each unit with costumes for role playing and for modeling to help students better understand science. The interactive games with high level questions will be played on our white board each morning as well as to review for unit tests and for tutoring.

Mendenhall Elementary School Renee Tobias $700 Reading for Success Reading for Success will provide a variety of books to allow students to self-select reading material to significantly improve their reading and comprehension. By providing a wide variety of books and other reading material, Reading for Success will promote a love of reading and learning to assist students in becoming lifelong learners.

Murphy Middle School Stacey Blaylock $258 Enhancing Student Learning of the Visual Arts Enhancing student learning of the visual arts through real life experiences through observing and creating art at the Dallas Museum of Art. While most students get to experience the art museum, many students with special needs have not had this privilege due to the lack of opportunity in which they can engage in an environment that accomodates their needs. Through a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art, where they created a structured environment to meet the physical and sensory needs to accomodate students in the special education program, the students will be able to experience an art museum.

Murphy Middle School Katherine DelBosque $1500 Raising the Bar Through Quality Instruments As our school orchestra program has grown, the number of students unable to afford an instrument and/or supplies has increased due to a change in school demographics. This project is designed to help provide students that cannot afford to rent an instrument through a music store with a school instrument. By providing access to quality instruments students are more likely to join and continue on their instrument throughout all of their middle school years.

Murphy Middle School Elizabeth Jones $1200 STAARburst Science STAARburst is an eight week after-school science program targeting eighth grade students who need additional assistance with STAAR success through supplemental instruction. Students will experience engaging hands-on activities, reinforcing curricula to enhance learning and strengthen metacognition. Instructional leadership will be provided by the science department.

Outdoor Learning Center / Holifield Science Learning Center and Plano ISD Academy High School Ginger Nelson $1500 Power Partners with Nature! "Power Partners with Nature" is the opportunity for high school students to research, configure, test, and construct solar and wind power units for electrical energy. Their constructed efforts will then transfer learning opportunities to all PISD elementary students to see alternative energy in action. Using solar power for one building and wind with the other will allow students firsthand experience with nature's ability to provide energy alternatively for light and fans that will brighten and cool these two places.

Otto Middle School Kathy Boudreaux $1500 For the Love of Reading For The Love of Reading is aimed at motivating and engaging striving readers. This program will provide high interest reading materials for students who are approaching grade level to read independently. This project focuses on finding “the right book” to build confidence and increase reading proficiency; student successes will be recognized with the intent of creating lifelong readers.

Otto Middle School Shelly Furlong $1200 Tutorials for Success Our school is preparing to permeate AVID strategies throughout the building to help students be more academically adept. This year, our school is concentrating on providing Socratic style tutorials in Math. This will allow students to engage in higher level questioning while learning through collaboration.

Otto Middle School Molly McCreary $1500 Book Club Collection 2014-2015 The Book Club Collection is a continuation of the development of a special collection of novel sets containing multiple copies (8-10) of the same title for use in student and/or teacher led small groups holding after school book clubs. Book clubs at school provide students from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status, with opportunities to read for pleasure and personal growth in a nurturing environment, making connections with each other through conversations about literature, while developing literacy skills. The Book Club Collection offers opportunities for all schools, district wide, to borrow from the collection through interlibrary loan.

Plano East Senior High School Tommy Guynes $1500 Built for Success Built for Success sponsors professional luncheons, student college visits and classroom presentations by local business leaders related to specific careers and Applied Science degrees located at Collin College and Dallas County Community Colleges. The three methods of career exploration will target at-risk students with the aspiration of sparking interests toward specific in-demand employment areas. Built for Success will connect students with members of the Plano Rotary, community colleges and employers with career fields of student interest. We build successful and motivated students!

Plano East Senior High School Katherine Ruzycki $1500 Soccer Success A co-ed intramural soccer league within Plano East Senior High school in order to build community and provide incentives for at-risk students. The program will be open to any student group that wishes to play, providing they have enough players that do not have attendance or academic performance issues. By including all students, we build community, and we build an opportunity for at-risk and low socioeconomic students to participate in extracurricular activities without excessive time commitment or financial burden.

Plano West Senior High School Chris Ostertag $1500 All Access One goal of the students in the Plano West Structured Classrooms is to be able to be a contributing member of the community after graduation. This can be achieved by learning independence and life skills. This will give the students not only the tools to be effective, but will also educate and involve community members in the ongoing learning of our students.

Shepard Elementary School Staci Mendelsohn $900 Fifth Grade Book Club Our Book Club is a continuous event for our fifth graders each year to enhance in the reading program and build the love for reading. The students will be reading and be engaged with different genres that align with our fifth grade curriculum in reading, science, and/or social studies. Each reading group will be allowed to select from a list of novels to read, discuss, and analyze with their peers twice a week to further their comprehension and analitical thinking of the novels.

Shepard Elementary School Jonelle Peters $800 A Day at the DMA Transportation costs needed for 3rd and 5th graders to be taken to Dallas art museums. The field trip aligns with state standards across disciplines and would provide our students with an authentic multicultural, crosscurricular experience. Our students would benefit from seeing the connections art creates with social studies and language arts.

Shepton High School Craig McKinney $1345 Global Humanities Immersion Day On the ultimate field trip, Humanities students studying art,architecture and AP World History will discover the rich collections of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Arts District of Downtown Dallas in a round-robin rotation of arts experiences. With a focus on non-Western arts and their connection to world history, this day of exploration will acquaint students with artworks and movements that will improve their scores on the AP World History exam and will enhance their enjoyment and appreciation of the humanities. A walking tour through the Arts District (using 21st century technology) will showcase the growing cultural scene in Dallas and the works of architecture and public art in one of the most vibrant artistic centers in the nation.

Sigler Elementary School Kari Tolle $918 Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Through non-fiction periodicals such as Scholastic News and Science Spin, students build prior knowledge, increase fluency, and strengthen reading comprehension strategies. These high-interest publications offer students a glimpse at the world beyond the boundaries of their homes, neighborhood, and schools. Engaging materials will encourage discussion that will motivate younger students to explore the world beyond their life experiences.

Sp Prog K-8 Ashley Brown $1500 When I Grow Up... "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We will be providing students with the tools necessary to better answer that question by offering students the opportunity to learn about a variety of careers through guest speakers, hands on demonstrations, and group presentations. Members of the community will come in at least once a month to talk about, model, and answer questions about jobs of which some students may have limited exposure.

Sp Prog K-8 William Dixon $1000 'H.A.L.O" Helping Achieve Leadership Opportunities Leadership potential is in every child, how they use that leadership is something that needs to be guided and nurtured. H.A.L.O will take boys and girls from grades K-8 and give them the opportunities to achieve their leadership potential through guided lessons and real life situations. The members of H.A.L.O will learn social skills, creative problem solving, and out of the box thinking that will help them achieve success at their home campus.

Stinson Elementary School Lara Mercer $1500 Galaxy Press The introduction of a student led and operated news magazine gives the students the opportunity to experience the news publishing concept. It is our hope that the excitement from this first taste of the journalism process will lead them to explore other Plano ISD journalism programs in our feeder pattern. The early training will also afford them the opportunity to become leaders on our campus and their feeder programs as well.

Stinson Elementary School Christina Prenzi $803 It's all in the Connection! The proposed program would allow an opportunity to have students on the Autism Spectrum interact with scientific concepts in a very hands-on way. This multi-sensory experience, with access to a variety of scientific topics, will reinforce and allow generalization of many Science concepts that the students are learning in the classroom. The Perot Museum provides a content rich environment, chock-full of relevant subject matter, as well so many possibilities to meet students where they each are individually in Science!

Stinson Elementary School Shelly Bedard $1500 Learning English through Experiences! Students with limited English proficiency often lack the experiences and background knowledge that native English speakers already have. This grant would allow the ESL teacher to take our beginning and intermediate LEP students on field trips to places in the community and the Dallas Metroplex. These outings would create new knowledge and understanding of common places that many native English speaking children have already experienced.

  Williams High School Sarah Carter $713 Reading Rocks Reading Rocks is a program I have with my students who are multiple grades behind their peers in their reading skills to help them learn to enjoy books. Students are required to read 30 minutes a night, and it is often hard to find books at their reading level and enjoyment level at the library. This grant is to help build the classroom library with books that are both age appropriate and enjoyable.

Williams High School Chris Coats $1500 Page Turners for Lifelong Learners This grant provides below grade level students with popular award winning young adult literature to use in their Academic Literacy classes. Students will use these books to practice reading strategies provided through Note and Notices, part of the reading curriculum. This will allow below grade level students to level the playing field with their peers and not be ostracized because they are reading literature geared towards a younger audience.

Williams High School Robyn Delahunt $1430 My Barbaric YAWP--The Traveling Learning Lab "My Barbaric YAWP" Club is a traveling learning lab for kids who access the Special Education Resource program so that they have opportunities to experience multisensory educational programming offered throughout the metroplex and the state. The most powerful and meaningful learning takes place in the real world environment and the traveling learning lab gives our non-typical learners in special education an opportunity to learn on their terms and plays to their learning strengths. Being non-typical learners, our SpEd students need a more hands-on learning setting than what the traditional classroom is capable of providing and the field trips taken as part of the traveling learning lab program opens up those more kinesthetic teaching moments.

Williams High School Andrea Doerr $1500 I Need a Hero (Superhero That Is) By embracing graphic novels and manga to reach the reluctant reader, we will encourage a love of reading and help increase literacy scores. Graphic novels and manga support the literary elements and student choice giving struggling students opportunities for an active role in their own reading recovery. These superheroes could be the heroic bridge needed to overcome a student's past reading failures and take them to the next level.

Williams High School Tiffany Lang $1500 Pass the Scalpel! Our goal as science educators is to develop in our students a passion for science and learning, but that cannot be done through lecture or worksheets. Instead, it is nurtured through hands-on experience and nowhere is that more evident than through the process of dissection! Our hope is to back this highly valuable and otherwise rarely-experienced process that can help revitalize a true passion and appreciation for all life and science!

William High School Ramy Mahmoud $1491 CSI Plano! To develop a true passion and appreciation for science, students need to experience real-world, relevant, and practical applications of the material we teach through lecture. In the world of microbiology, nowhere is that application more engaging than within the world of forensics! With your help, we'll create "CSI Plano," where students will run a real DNA fingerprint through gel electrophoresis using simulated "DNA" from teacher suspects across campus to solve the crime!

Williams High School Kay Neuse $1132 Fun in Algebra Who thought it was a good idea to put letters in mathematics? Algebra teachers everywhere look for ways to engage students and capture their attention during class as well as get them motivated to learn. Using nontraditional methods, such as games and puzzles, is an effective strategy that works for students of all ages.

Wilson Middle School Tiffany Johnstone $400 Skills for Life Skills for Life will enable students to use functional skills they work on throughout the year in class, in realworld situations. By creating a grocery list and shopping from it or ordering from a menu at a food establishment, the students are able to implement a wide range of life skills including making choices, using and counting money, reading a list or menu, and communication skills.

Wilson Middle School Erin McClintick $500 "R2W4S" (Read to Write for Success) The Reading Workshop component of 7th grade English curriculum is meant to promote students using selfselected reading as a means of improving vocabulary, comprehension, sentence and text structures, as well as writing as a craft. This program would allow students greater access to titles they are interested in reading, as well as those that will challenge them and influence them as both writers and readers. We are requesting funds to enrich our 7th grade classroom libraries to support our student's reading and writing development.

Wilson Middle School Jennifer Ramby $600 Project "Read MORE" (reMoving Obstacles for Reading Excellence) Consistent reading helps students to improve vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing skills. When students are allowed to select high-interest novels, they are more likely to not only finish the novel but also develop a life-long reading habit. Our project will allow us to purchase the most current and trending novels for our 8th grade classroom libraries.

Wilson Middle School Sharon Russell $1500 Edible Education Garden The Edible Education Garden teaches students how to live greener, healthier lives through organic gardening. The garden is a continous project that produces food most of the year. Students from the Skills for Living classes and a Garden Advisory class maintains the 4000 square foot garden, along with parents and community gardeners.

Wilson Middle School Candice Bolding $1500 The Joy of Running Through the Physical Education classes, the school will be offering a running club available to all willing and eager students. The club will focus on enabling students to develop a positive attitude towards lifelong physical fitness, while helping combat childhood diseases linked to sedentary lifestyles. The ultimate goal of the running club will be completion of the "Thrill of the Grill 5K" supported by Plano Education Foundation, thus creating self esteem and team camaraderie.

Wilson Middle School Jennifer Denton $500 That's the F.A.C.T, Jack!!! (Fluency, Accuracy, Comprehension, Teaching!) I am seeking to expand my classroom library with class sets of books and audiobooks with reading levels ranging from 2nd grade to 8th grade, for students in the Take Flight program and for students needing Tier III interventions in reading. Take Flight is a multisensory reading program designed to help students who have been identified with dyslexia. Because these students are in middle school, access to these books to help improve and build their fluency, accuracy and comprehension is limited, but needed in order for them to utilize the strategies taught in the Take Flight program. Having these books is also needed for those students receiving Tier III interventions for reading at the middle school level.

Wilson Middle School Lisa Scott $800 Ram Reader's Book Club Ram Readers’ Book Club uses a book club model to promote and enhance the school’s culture of readers. Ram Reader’s Book Club is a reading program designed to give an opportunity for both struggling and skilled readers to show growth in their reading skills in a no-pressure, fun reading environment. Ram Reader’s Book Club provides high-interest novels for use in book clubs that meet after school.