PAFE announces teacher grant awards

SANDPOINT — Teaching hands-on engineering concepts … offering experiential learning which opens up new career paths … designing and building drones … providing stuffed puppy reading buddies to all first graders.

These are just a few of the exciting educational projects that students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District will experience next year thanks to classroom teacher grants awarded by the nonprofit Panhandle Alliance for Education. The 46 winners of the 2016-2017 PAFE teacher grants were revealed and honored at a recent reception and awards ceremony held at the Heartwood Center in Sandpoint.

“The creativity, imaginative thinking, and entrepreneurial spirit that teachers bring to the classrooms is truly remarkable,” says Shawn Woodward, LPOSD superintendent and a member of the PAFE Teacher Grants Committee.

Each year PAFE awards teachers grants in a variety of categories, including but not limited to technology, classroom equipment, special training and enrichment projects. Grants range from projects which support the advancement of STEM curriculum (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to those which enhance students’ understanding of language arts, music and the fine arts.

Some of the new grants received special recognition at the awards ceremony. The Dave and Laurie Wall Award for Math and Science was presented to Dinah Gaddie, Washington Elementary, for “Drone Design and Deployment;” Caitlin Sandell, Sandpoint Middle School, for “CSI Forensic Science Class;” and Emily Norton, Southside Elementary, for “Building Our Future.” The Betty Ann Diehl Award for the Arts was given to Martha Kelley, Hope Elementary, for “Hopeful Clay Art.” The Georgia and Howard Simmons Glass Slipper Award for Innovation was awarded to Jeralyn Mire, Sandpoint High School, for “Community Connections.”

The Panhandle Alliance for Education is a non-profit organization composed of local citizens, businesses, and educators. The organization’s mission is to promote excellence in education and broad-based community support for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Donations are distributed as a working pool of money used to fund local teacher grant, READY! For Kindergarten, an early childhood literacy program for parents of children from birth to age five, a LPOSD-wide writing program and other strategic programs. To learn more about PAFE or to make an on-line donation, visit the website at www.panhandlealliance.org or call Executive Director Marcia Wilson at 208-263-7040.

2016-2017 PAFE

Teacher Grant Awards

• Laurie Tibbs, Pend Oreille Water Festival, DW ($1,600) — The Water Festival will build awareness, knowledge and understanding of the area’s natural resources, as well as promote conservation and stewardship of our most precious resource — water.

• Richard Ross, 3D Printing, SMS ($2,500) — This grant will implement 3-D printing in the Industrial Technology curriculum and help supplement the curriculum in the new Robotics and Technology classes to be offered at SMS.

• Jeralyn Mire, Career Connections, SHS ($1,758) — This grant allows for continuing and refining opportunities for all SHS students through a series of career-related field trips with the goal of exposing students to jobs they could see themselves doing in the future.

• Karin Beno, Artists and Authors, SS ($935) — All Southside students in K-6th grades will have art once a week for an hour. By the end of the year, students will create a writing sample, a piece of art and a book they have designed, written, illustrated and hand-crafted.

• Carolyn Whalen, Learning with Lucky, DW ($9,000) — The Lucky program has proven to be very successful at motivating 1st graders to read. With this grant, we expect 95% of our district’s non-special needs 1st graders will meet or exceed Idaho’s Reading Achievement benchmark goals in May.

• Melissa Baker, Trekking with Thompson, SMS ($1,901) — Examination of the importance of explorer/cartographer David Thompson to Bonner County and the Northwest will be added to the curriculum. Additionally, nationally known Thompson expert, author and speaker Jack Nisbet will be available to speak to our students.

• Dinah Gaddie, Drone Design & Deployment, WA ($1,739) — Students will design, build and fly their own drones. This program incorporates STEM concepts and the application of concept knowledge using 3D printed parts, project management skills and teamwork.

• Nayla Morton, Aerospace Ground School Preparation, SHS ($2,275) — This grant will provide real-life experiences for SHS students which will enhance the academic subject matter covered in the 2nd semester aerospace ground school class.

• Trudie Weiden, Time for Kids, FS ($1,940) - The weekly Time for Kids magazines will be utilized as a resource that allows teachers to teach Idaho Common Core standards in an interesting and effective manner using current and meaningful texts.

• Jackie Crossingham, Mythological Sense, SMS ($2,568) - Students will delve into novels which incorporate Greek/Roman mythology into their plots, read a variety of myths and prepare an interview with a Greek god/goddess/heroine/hero.

• Liz Gollen, Channel 550 News, SA ($2,201) — The goal of this grant is to have all 6th grade students involved in the production of a live newscast, learn to edit, and formulate concise writing and communication skills.

• Erin Roos, Happy on Purpose, SHS ($1,625) — This grant will allow the teacher to complete a five-month training to gain mastery of the Happy on Purpose curriculum and facilitate supporting students in changing their lives for the better.

• Cheryl Werhner, Robotics & Technology, SMS ($7,106) — This project provides students with hands-on experience in a robotics course that will focus on 21st century skills, including collaboration, teamwork, innovation and problem solving.

• Nayla Morton, Career Pathways -Aerospace, SHS ($700) — The SHS aerospace program provides an integrated series of experiences for students to examine careers in aviation, get hands-on training and help with post-secondary school and job planning.

• Caitlin Sandell, CSI Forensic Science Class, SMS ($3,320) — This Forensic Science class is a multi-grade level elective course that will be offered to 7th and 8th grade students. It is designed to introduce the science of forensics and study scientific evidence to solve crimes.

• James Koehler, Buster Bus Safety, DW ($2,375) — The Buster the School Bus program teaches children school bus safety and the importance of staying safe on and off the bus, with a fully animated remote control robot that interacts with students.

• Marcea Marine, Solar Cars Extraordinaire, SMS ($2,058) — Each student will construct a solar car from scratch with this grant. Students will learn the properties of photovoltaic, aerodynamics, drag, gear ratio analysis and dimensional analysis and traction.

• Perky Hagadone, Snow School, DW ($7,500) — Each 5th grade class in the district will be involved in a pre-lesson with SOLE experts, in which children learn about our local watershed and spend a day on the mountain engaging in experiential learning.

• Nancy Williams, Soaring with Science, KT ($2,800) — Hands-on science classes will be taught each week, allowing students to apply their math, art, writing and reading skills in a real world application setting.

• Emily Norton, Building Our Future, SS ($8,050) — This grant will further SS students’ hands-on opportunities in the Engineering is Elementary curriculum (EiE) and will include the materials kits students need for their engineering projects.

• Chantel Casey, Wild Literature, SMS ($1,500) — This unit for 7th graders is composed of literature circles using various survival texts, research on survival techniques, construction of a survival kit, an author visit and survival presentations of short story creations.

• Michelle McNelley, Just Right Books, WA ($1,000) — “Just Right Books” provide books a child can read with 96th accuracy, fluency and strong comprehension to help create confident and proficient young readers.

• Cindy Albertson, Peer Mentor Training, SHS ($1,400) — The Peer Mentor program was designed to help with freshman students’ high school transition as well as develop leadership skills within upper-class mentors. This grant will provide quality training at the crucial mid-year point for our student mentors.

• Debbie Love, POAC Ovations, DW ($1,000) — “Ovations” operates in conjunction with POAC’s annual performance series, providing students the opportunity to experience enriching performances hosted by nationally and internationally renowned performers and artists.

• John Hastings, Hood for Tissue Culture, SHS ($2,500) — This grant will offer a university-level tissue culture laboratory experience for SHS students. With the Laminar Flow Hood we can maintain a biologically sterile work area.

• Karin Beno, Mars Rover, SS ($824) — The Idaho Tech Mars Rover Design Challenge program is a STEM-based competition sponsored by the NASA-Idaho Space Grant Consortium. Students learn to design, build and test robotic Lego models.

• Emily Dalessio, Time for Kids, KT ($1,804) — Time for Kids is a weekly classroom news magazine designed to motivate students to read. Each 8-page issue is full of essential science and social studies concepts, important news items, comprehension questions and standardized test preparation.

• Jeralyn Mire, Community Connections, SHS/DW ($2,400) — This program connects students with our area’s employers by providing a 2-day field trip to visit local businesses. This grant funds the field trips, which will be open to any teacher in the LPOSD.

Alan Larsen, Animal Allies/First Lego League, KT ($965) — First Lego League (FLL) provides opportunities for students to think like scientists and engineers and is designed to get them excited about STEM subjects.

• Joy Jansen, BrainWare Safari, KT ($2,000) — The goal of this grant is to expand the use of BrainWare Safari — a program proven to increase cognitive skills — to specific students identified as having significant cognitive deficits.

• Mike Turnlund, Experiential Learning Track Program, CF ($9,850) — By offering four educational “tracks,” students will be given meaningful exposure to four different career areas, including art, culinary arts, technology and outdoor education.

• LeeAnn Kopsa, Summer Reading, KT ($2,250) — Summer Reading at Kootenai Elementary Library will provide a fun atmosphere that encourages students to read over the summer months.

• Renee Lorden, Stand Up for Learning, FS ($670) — Alternative seating provides a wide variety of positions other than traditional desks and chairs from which a student may receive instruction or perform in-class work.

• Mike McNelley, Hands on Science, NS ($700) — This grant ensures students will receive at least one hour per week in the Science Lab with additional center time during the week.

• Alex Gray, Cyber Patriot, SHS ($785) — The Cyber Patriot program, established by the Air Force Association, was created to excite, educate and motivate students toward careers in computer science through the adventures of cyber security and other STEM disciplines critical to our nation’s future.

• Patrick Lynch, Applied Math & Writing, SMS ($2,500) — The goal of this project is to have students apply concepts of the algebra, geometry and writing learned in 8th grade math to a proven year-end summative project by producing high-quality wind chimes.

• Debbie Love, POAC Kaleidoscope, DW ($1,000) — Through the “Kaleidoscope” outreach program, POAC will provide visual arts education to our mostly rural and underserved elementary students in grades 3-6 in LPOSD #84 and West Bonner School District #83.

• Jamie Parnell, Summer Reading, NS ($800) — With this grant, we can give Northside students access to reading materials over the summer months by opening our school library one day a week to support and encourage reading.

• Martha Kelley, Hopeful Clay Art, HP ($1,000) — This project will allow students to continue to experience art with different materials, including clay, and learn new techniques and processes which increase right and left brain connectivity and crossover for enhanced learning.

• Jeanne Warwick, Piano Dolly, WA ($537) — A piano dolly will allow a heavy piano to be easily moved from one performance venue to another, allowing students to exhibit and practice note reading skills, harmonizing, sigh reading, fluency and pitch.

• Ray Bird, Mars Rover, SA ($1,000) — Mars Rover is an advanced program designed to enhance STEM concepts through participation in structured, hands-on activities and team-building exercises.

• Sarah Evans, Kinesthetic Learning, Forrest Bird Charter School ($2,000) — This grant will integrate standing desks, desk peddlers and balance boards to allow students to move comfortably so they stay engaged, focused and on-task.

• Jeannie Hunter, Build the Future, SHS ($645) — Stagecraft class is dedicated to teaching students how to use tools — purchased by this grant — needed for set building, make-up, prop construction, publicity, costuming, hair design, lighting and sound design.

• Deanna Giard, Guided Reading/Literature Circle Library, Sagle ($1,000) — The use of exemplary literature will create confident, curious, life-long readers who excel at comprehension and fluency. Books provided by this grant will extend and enrich resources with the themes and unit.

• Jeanne Warwick, WES Explore Arts, Washington ($2,000) — “Explore Arts” is an art history and skill development curriculum which will enrich our students’ learning by providing the opportunity to have access to age appropriate art education.

• Sean Lyon, Forestry & Environmental Science, SMS ($900) — This Outdoor Education course will take a broad look at world biomes and then narrow its view to our local ecosystems, providing students with an increased knowledge of our local forests.