2012 Excellence Fund Grants
$77,500 Awarded
(Awarded April 2012)

The following innovative educational opportunities will be available during the 2012-2013 school year thanks to many our generous donors to the Excellence Fund. Over $234,044 in requests for funding were received this Spring and the following is a list of the programs and projects awarded funding.

APPLE Grants (Annually Providing a Positive Learning Environment)
Five schools with 50% or greater free and reduced lunch eligible students will each receive $1,000.  These funds are used to supplement projects normally supported through PTO/PTA/PSTO fundraising efforts. Each building will determine how to use these funds depending on the needs of their students.

Election Literacy Program
All elementary school teachers will receive materials to teach students about the 2012 presidential election including a variety of books for students to check-out. The U.S. Presidential election provides an excellent opportunity for students to connect classroom learning with real life experiences.

Families as Storytellers
This writing initiative serves to inspire families to write with their elementary school children - to positively shape home literacy practices.  Family workshops will be held to model and springboard ideas for the initiative - to learn more about families’ daily lives and homes, to use this information to motivate students to write and to build literary confidence.

Farm to School – Farmer Fairs
Also called an “in-school field trip”, Farmer Fairs bring farmers, nutritionists and local foods into the elementary schools. Students learn about how food is grown and why fresh food is healthy to eat. Lessons about composting and growing food introduce students to topics about the environment and science.

iPads – Integrating Technology into Modified Classrooms
Junior High students in special education and gifted education will use iPads to work on core curricular areas as well as social skills, recreation and leisure, communication skills, vocational skills, etc. By using technology instead of paper, teachers can modify activities quickly to meet individual needs.

iPads and Formative Assessment in the ELL Classroom
The unique, multi-faceted nature of an iPad permits K–6 teachers to easily collect data via audio, visual or written while using one accessible device. In addition, instructors who teach English as a secondary language will have the potential to easily collect snapshot samples of individual student’s learning during the course of any lesson.

iPads in the Curriculum
Putting iPad technology in the hands of high school students who are struggling readers engages them and offers new ways of interacting with text. iPads provide a novel incentive to draw in reluctant readers as well as providing opportunities for on-the-fly research of discussion questions and topics.

iPads Initiative
Sr. High students will use iPads in science and language arts classes. Teachers and students will become proficient in online tools such as moodle and google docs as well as specific curricular applications. The ProjectRED report on technology states that classrooms with an iPad for each student show improved test scores, reduced need for discipline and reduction in dropout rates.

Project Lead the Way
Jr. High and Sr. High students are educated in this Pre-Engineering program to expose them to career engineering. Performance indicators such as test scores for reading and math are used to evaluate the success of this initiative.

Reading in the Content Area
Teachers understand the need to incorporate literature into social studies courses. This grant funds books for Jr. High and High School literary collections for increased reading comprehension in this core curriculum requirement.

School of the Wild
All 5th and 6th graders in the district attend multiple-day outdoor enrichment activities at MacBride Nature Center to learn about nature and conservation issues.

Smart Response Clickers for SMARTboards
Clickers are an interactive hardware used with SMARTboards that will allow high school math students to answer questions immediately - subsequently allowing teachers to visually and graphically display responses from students to a set of questions.

Speech and Debate Partnership
Sr. High students will work with Jr. High students to start a Speech and Debate team at the Jr. High level including participation in the May 2013 state tournament. 

The Knight Morning Show
Jr. High students will learn all aspects of broadcast production and will air broadcasts to homerooms with news, announcements, school life videos, musical performances, etc.

The Senior Project
Senior English classes learn interviewing and writing, public speaking and performing during 10 weekly visits by the Working Group Theatre’s writers and directors, ending with a presentation at the Englert Theatre.

The Symphony Goes to School
Each and every 3rd grade student will attend a special youth-oriented concert by Orchestra Iowa. Curricular connections to the program are made prior to the performance in addition to post production discussions.

Visiting Author Program
A nationally renowned author or illustrator will meet with all 5th and 6th graders during the 2012-13 school year.  Meeting and interacting with an author/illustrator is exciting for any reader and tremendously encourages and promotes reading and writing.

These programs and projects would not be possible without private funding. Click here to make a donation.

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