LPOSD receives science grant

SANDPOINT — Lake Pend Oreille School District will launch a new science program in its elementary schools this fall.

The district has received a three-year $300,000 science grant through the Idaho Department of Education that will be used to train elementary school teachers how to improve student achievement in science.

LPOSD and the University of Idaho applied for the grant to integrate science and literacy in fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, according to LPOSD curriculum director Judy Hull.

The grant kicks off this summer when 20 teachers will spend a week in a workshop that will focus on inquiry-based science and literacy.

Many elementary classroom teachers are not comfortable teaching science and the grant is designed to help improve their comfort level, said Supt. Dick Cvitanich.

“Teachers are not as confident in that subject matter,” he said.

Science curriculum also has a difficult time keeping toward the front of the line when it comes to instruction.

So much focus has been placed on reading and language arts through the No Child Left Behind Act that science curriculum as been “pushed to the sides in some classrooms,” Cvitanich said.

The program also will include three follow-up workshops to be held throughout the school year.

U of I staff will visit classrooms and lend support. The program also will include peer observations of science instruction and Web-based support, resources and on-line peer discussions.

Each summer a new cohort of 20 teachers will be trained through the grant.

The first workshop takes place June 16-20. Teachers who participate in the project will each receive a $1,000 stipend.

Washington Elementary School upper quartile teacher Rod Swerin said he is excited about the hands-on focus of the project. It is the same approach that he is using and seeing success with at Washington.

The goal is to teach children the same “love of science” as other subjects like reading, Cvitanich said.