The Zionsville Education Foundation recently awarded nine grants to teachers within the district, seven of which were classroom grants and two were student enrichment grants. The grants totaled $18,252.
“These are just seven classroom grants that are a great cross section of what’s going on in our schools and all the different areas,” ZEF Executive Director Lyle Browne said.
The grants were awarded May 2.
“One of our members of the technology department applied for (a grant), and it is a way to teach coding through music, and it’s a great intro to coding,” Browne said. “”This gives a classroom set of equipment that can go around the district to all eight schools.”
Another grant involved culture immersion.
“An eighth-grade Spanish teacher can take students and give them a culturally rich experience in a setting with native speakers, so they will go to a local community Hispanic grocery store,” Browne said. “It’s a chance for the kids to leave the classroom and put what they are learning in the classroom to practice in situations where they are talking to native speakers and go to a grocery store to find out about food different from ours.”
Teachers who received grants
Digital Science Probes and SPARKvue Grant
Andy Seward, Zionsville Middle School ($1,089)
Funds a SPARKvue Site license, science probes and accessories to allow students to test and collect a variety of data used during science labs, projects, demonstrations and experiments.
En el mercado
Allison Manwell, Zionsville West Middle School ($2,000)
Spanish students will participate in a culturally rich experience by communicating and dining at a local community Hispanic grocery store, Carniceria Guanajuato.
Coding with a “Specdrum” of Sound and Color
Kyle Beimfohr, all ZCS schools ($6,957.30)
Sphero Specdrums allow students to use interactive rings with sensors that detect color to code music based on the color selected.
Habitudes – Making a Habit of Attitude
Mikayla Koharchik, Zionsville Middle School ($1,249)
Provides Koharchik and the seventh-grade green team with training and curriculum materials for an engaging, image-based leadership development system specifically designed for how today’s students learn.
Performance Enhancement Through Speed Development
Amy Emkow and Scott Turnquist, Zionsville Community High School ($1,809)
This technology provides immediate feedback to teachers and athletes in advanced physical education by measuring improvement or regression in speed and power output of the athlete, allowing for more individualized instruction and student success.
Untethered Tech: Utilizing Mobile Technology to Maximize Student Learning
Stephanie Barrientos, Zionsville West Middle School ($970.43)
Provides a Microsoft Surface Pro and stylus enabling Barrientos to work directly with students in small groups and individually by disconnecting from traditional media constraints and utilizing the technology for modeling, demonstrations and shared learning experiences.
Fifth Grade School Counselor Small Groups
Krista Hoffman, Zionsville Middle School ($380.74)
Counselors will be able to address social and emotional topics such as anxiety, organization, friendship, social skills and growth mindset in small groups through hands-on, project-based crafting projects.
Enrichment grant: ZCHS Robotics Club ($2,320)
Provides matching funds for the Zionsville Community High School (ZCHS) Robotics Club to attend the Vex Robotics World Championship competition.
Enrichment grant: Future Problem Solving ($1,750)
Seven students from Zionsville Community High School competed at the Indiana FPS Bowl and qualified to represent Indiana at the FPS International Conference at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
