The Mat-Su Schools Foundation awarded eleven teacher grants for 2024:

• Ten - $1000 Durham School Services Grants
• One - Gorilla Fireworks Grant for Houston Sr High teachers only

The Gorilla Fireworks Grant was awarded to Aubre Provo.
We are happy to help Aubre Provo's journalism class start a newspaper. Journalism gives students exposure to the world of media relations and allows them access to try out a new avenue for a potential career later in life. Printing newspapers for the school would also give the students in class the pride of having their work published as well as inform the rest of the student body on important Houston events.

Durhan School Services Grants, up to $1,000 each, were awarded to:

• Robyn Reich - Palmer Junior Middle School, 6th, 7th and 8th grade
  Creative Success for All - Recycling Cardboard into Art
  

Cardboard. Look around the school, in the trash, and at the recycle bin. It is everywhere. Robyn wants to purchase FIVE InvenTABLEs for her classroom. This is the kid-safe power tool for cutting cardboard. This is the BEST and safest way to engage kids in upcycling and art. Kids can easily use what is available and design projects that are attainable to create and put together.

These tables were fully funded in 24 minutes on Kickstarter. The demand is HUGE for classrooms. Money is tight and to be able to use cardboard to create art projects is GENIUS all while NOT hurting fingers while creating! These machines are built to last and can be used year after year for lessons on upcycling, pop art, dimensional art and more!

• Linda Jo Klapperich - Special Ed Teacher at Palmer Junior Middle SchooPositive Positive Postcards
  Teachers/aids/ custodians take the time to write a positive postcard to students who are going out of their way to be a good citizen - by helping other students/being respectful/tutoring/etc. These postcards are then mailed home. The parents and students REALLY appreciate hearing these positive and encouraging messages. What makes an impact is parents/guardians receiving this positive message in the mail. (NOT JUST AN EMAIL)
  
  

  Last year they sent out 820 postcards. Hundreds of families are being impacted in a VERY positive way! They hope to exceed 820 this year!



• Lori Gauque - Knik Charter School
  Instruments and Equipment for Inspiring Fit Musicians
  Lori is implementing Music and Physical Education for grades Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth. She needed to acquire more instruments, such as ukuleles, guitars, recorders, scarves (to use for movement), egg shakers, boomwhackers, glockenspiels, xylophones, and other types of instruments.
  
  Lori also teaches Physical Education with a small amount of equipmentand needed - volleyballs, footballs, Spike Ball games, Hoola Hoops and other types of games. A lot of the P.E. class time will be spent inside the portable classroom due to unfavorable weather conditions. The game Spike Ball would be to safe to play inside the portable.
  
  
• Doug Reich - Palmer Junior Middle School
  Shop tools for STEM classroom
  

  Doug's grant request was for shop tools to augment/upgrade the tools the school currently has for doing STEM hands on activities. Upgrading the tools will help all classes coming in the future. It will make sure that each new group of students has a chance to work with hand tools and put their learning into action. About 500 students come through the STEM class per year. Over just a few years the number of kids impacted will be huge.
  

• Ava Voelker - Sherrod Elementary
  "Making Music with Who We Are"
  
  

  “Making Music with Who We Are” is Ava's initiative to foster musical growth within her 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Sherrod Elementary. She wants students to see that they can always create music and musical environments with their stories, voices, and movement - even with informal instruments.

  Boomwhackers, egg shakers, and a parachute will give students an outlet to use their physical energy and excitement to create movement and tonally valid and purposeful music. Boomwhackers also help build the foundation for knowledge of music theory. The physical, aural, and visual areas of the brain that are engaged appeal to multiple types of learning, and the simple structure of the
  Boomwhackers ensures that students with differentiated needs will be able to fully utilize them.
  
  Egg shakers and a parachute support student learning of rhythms, which is an essential skill for students before they move to middle school. All of these tools can be used in each grade level with repetition to teach the basis of diatonic scales, chords, harmony, reading sheet music, working together as an ensemble, and even performance - skills that are never-ending learning goals for the well-rounded music student throughout their educational career and lifetime.

  The collection of Songtales adapted by Dr. John Feierabend, a leading authority on music and movement development in childhood, helps to not just teach music and movement, but support students’ literacy growth. These books and the MP3 files that come with them are designed to be engaging to read, sing, and dance along with. Having a more extensive collection of these resources helps to broaden students’ exposure to stories and dances that have shaped various cultures and contributed to the worldwide scene of music.
  

• Shane Artz - Cottonwood Creek Elementary
  Orchestra Club
  

  Cottonwood Creek elementary school’s orchestra club is a small but growing program that serves students in grades 3-5. The club meets afterschool and provides students with an opportunity to learn and play string instruments, developing their musical skills in both individual and ensemble settings. However, he is limited in the number of students that can be accommodated due to a shortage of instruments, particularly violins.

  The additional violins will enhance their ability to offer hands-on, practical learning experiences, helping students build their technical skills and confidence in playing. These instruments will also enable them to include a more diverse group of students, promoting inclusivity and accessibility within the music program.
  

  By equipping the orchestra club with these new violins, they hope to inspire a lasting love for music and provide students with the foundation they need to continue their musical education into middle school and beyond. This project will ensure that all interested students, regardless of their circumstances, have the opportunity to explore their musical potential and benefit from the enriching experience of playing in an ensemble.

• Stepanie Green - Joe Redington Jr/Sr High
  Grahping Calculators for AP Success
  
  Stepanie teaches AP Precalculus, Calcuus and Statistics courses, all of which require the use of graphing calculators in class and on exams. These calculators cost $100+ and many times is a financial burden on the families. Stephanie would like enough calculators to supply every student in her classroom will help the students to do their best without the financial stress. She has managed to collect 15 calculators throughout the years and we have granted her the money to purchase 10 more.
  
  
• Amy Wright - Augmentative and Alternative Communication Specialist
  Switch Adapted Equipment
  
  The school district has recently seen an increase in enrollment of students with complex communication needs. These students have difficulties using speech and most of them use a communication device or paper system for communication.
  
  Amy's project was to purchase equipment that has been adapted to be activated with a switch. A switch is a device that allows people with disabilities to control items. For example, when a student pushes a specialized button switch, it could turn on an adapted toy, a fan, or music. The equipment she would like to purchase has sensory elements such as lights, vibration, sounds, movement or music to make them highly engaging to a variety of students with visual, hearing and motor disabilities.
  
  
• Frances Christensen - Susitna Valley Jr Sr High
  Cooking Up Learning in the Science and Spanish Classroom
  
  

  Cooking up Learning in the Science and Spanish Classroom ecompasses two projects: "Chemistry in the Kitchen" in her Science 8 classroom and "Cooking Our Way Around the Spanish-Speaking World," in her high school Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 classes. This project will integrate cooking skills with academic content to enhance students’ understanding of both science and Spanish. In the science classroom, students will explore the chemistry behind cooking, learning about reactions, measurements, and states of matter by preparing foods like cookies and ice cream in projects such as “Chemistry of Ice-Cream Making: Lowering the Freezing Point of Water”. Students will also conduct cooking experiments using the scientific method, testing hypotheses, observing outcomes, and analyzing data related to chemical changes in food. In Spanish class, students will use cooking as a tool to practice language skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening while exploring recipes for traditional dishes such as paella, tamales, churros, and gazpacho. Students will learn about Spanish-speaking cultures through their important foods as well as learning culinary vocabulary. These hands-on activities help students develop essential life skills, such as cooking, while engaging deeply with academic content, making learning relevant and meaningful.
  

• Stacy Roberts - Palmer Jr Middle School
  Flexible Seating in the Library
  
  

  This project allowed Stacy to purchase more flexible seating for her school's library. Students struggle to focus and sit still during classes, and this causes them to not finish work. By adding flexible seating options to PJMS library, students can choose a seating option that supports their learning based on how they are feeling for that day. Having flexible seating that allows students to move in their chair without disrupting other students. This allows students to stay in class and work with their peers without needing to take breaks causing instructional time to be lost. Students also like the flexible seating we already have, and they wish there were more seats available. Being able to buy a few more seats would positively impact kids daily!