By Maggie Smith
The first grade teachers at Smoky Row Elementary were recently awarded one of 12 grants from the Carmel Education Foundation to help improve classroom education.
The $960 grant will allow the school to purchase 24 boogie boards for the four first grade classrooms.
But these boogie boards aren’t the kind used to surf the waves at the beach. They’re e-writers that allow students to write and erase without using paper or individual dry erase boards.
Kristen Cannady, a first grade teacher at Smoky Row, said the boogie boards provide the fun feel of a tablet without the hassle of batteries.
First grade teachers Kristen Cannady, Moira Bradley, Tamera Dillon and Cecilia Trenshaw got the idea for the Boogie Boards from a mom who bought them for her own children and loved how they used them at home.
“When (Trenshaw) introduced them to us, we knew instantly that our students would love to use these as another method of communicating and exploring math and literacy concepts,” Cannady said. “Students’ engagement and focus with our tasks involving these boards will be our measure of whether or not they’re an effective piece of our classroom environment.”
Cananady said that Jill Pillsbury of My Toy Garden in Carmel was instrumental in helping them acquire the boogie boards. In addition, the teachers were able to purchase protective sleeves for the e-writers to preserve them for future students.
Since the Carmel Education Foundation was founded in 1966, it has awarded more than $610,000 in education grants to teachers and schools throughout Carmel. This year, CEF awarded a total of $125,000 in grants, with $2,500 of the award money donated by Ingersoll Rand Corporation, according to co-executive director Barbara Danquist.
The foundation’s funding priorities include: innovation, creativity, educational value, student involvement, applicant commitment and connection to state academic standards, standards of Carmel schools and school improvement plans. It does not issue grants for apparel, food and party supplies, incentives or monetary supplies, basic curriculum books without an innovative program or compensation and benefits for employees or students.
The other 2013/204 CEF “Great Teachers. Great Ideas” grant winners are:
College Wood Elementary – Chris Chad, Kathy Olssen, Chris Atkinson, Mary Adzema, Morris Eubank and Kristi Rohrer. This grant provides 20 radio units to be used by administrators, counselors, team leaders, IAs, custodians and special education teachers.
Prairie Trace Elementary – Jill Smith. This grant provides after-school tutoring.
Carmel Elementary – Michelle Hastings, Abigail Ferrettie and Megan Klinginsmith. This grant provides a Bal-A-Vis-X training kit to help special needs children achieve their maximum level of independence in area of fine motor skills.
Creekside Middle School – Deb Bergman, Nicole Johnson and Tom Harmas. This grant provides African drums for music and choral music classes.
Forest Dale Elementary – Megan Schoff, Courtney Garrison, Debbie Freburg and Deanna Pittman. This grant provides the multidisciplinary team materials to strengthen social skills, regulation intervention and provide support for special needs children.
Prairie Trace Elementary – LeAnne Matthews, Sarah Awe, Beth Peasley and Jill Smith. This grant provides an IXL web-based program to remediate and enrich students in the 2/3 and 4/5 challenge program.
West Clay Elementary – The Barbara Underwood Grant in honor of a retired superintendent – Suzie Butz, Ryan King and Jennifer Szuhaj. This grant will provide the program, “Getting to the Core,” which is a set of lessons centered around the core texts for the 4/5 challenge students.
Woodbrook Elementary – Trisha Riggs, Courtney Baidinger and Kelly Davis. This grant will provide kitchen and craft tools for the FIATS and life-skills classrooms.
Carmel High School – Jim Peterson and John Williams. This grant will provide professional playwriting instruction to the play production class that will create and present an anti-bullying play to middle school students.
Carmel High School – Phillip Helman and John Williams. This grant will provide partial payment to attend the National Council of Teachers of English annual convention.
