2018 Teacher Grant Recipients

1. Junior High Campus – 7th Grade
$805.80
Recipients: Shannon Robinson as a team with Robin Pritchett & Amber Ivy
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 60 Perma-Bound copies (two full class sets) of the novel Tuck Everlasting for the 7th grade reading classes.  This novel study helps meet TEKS standards by helping students to understand symbolism, plot development, figurative language, new vocabulary, making inferences and basic reading comprehension.  These purchased copies will be added to the existing copies to provide students with their own book to use in class and a take-home copy for absent students or extenuating circumstances.  The Perma-Bound company guarantee will allow for 10 or more years of use by the existing and new JH campuses.

2. Junior High Campus – 7th Grade $3000
Recipient: Ann Hurst as a team with Amber Ivy & Nick Hindes
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 3 sets of 4 laptops (one set per writing teacher) for the purpose of offering more engaging writing opportunities to students.  Laptops are flexible enough to use in groups or with individual students at a writing station while allowing for more connectivity during the writing process.  That means that students will be able to share their writing with others during drafting and revision, which creates a more relevant writing community.  The technology will also help give students writing experiences that will, undoubtedly, prepare them for future success.

3. High School Campus – Grades 9-12 $1014.69
Recipient: Alexis Hughes
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase a microscope that has a built in tablet.  The microscope will be used by both Biology and Art students.  The microscope features live image viewing on an 8 inch tablet that encourages student engagement in the classroom environment.  Students can also transmit the images to the computer or their phones.  This will encourage classroom participation and ease the process of explaining what students should be viewing under the scope.  Art students can capture images of the microscopic world and create drawings and paintings inspired by this microscopic point of view.

4. Middle School Campus – 6th Grade $600.55
Recipient: Brandon Little
Awarded:
This grant will provide the funds for replacement rocket engines .  Rockets provide an opportunity to learn about space with a hands-on, inquiry based activity that will involve building and launching a rocket.  Students will get to actively see how a rocket is built and the technology that makes it work.  They will understand how the rocket’s engine gives it the needed thrust and force to overcome gravity to launch.  Rocketry will give the students a unique way to become active participants in the discovery process of science.

5. Middle School Campus – 6th Grade $5000
Recipient: Tiffany Keasler as a team with Andrea Haynes, Sherri Browne, Nathan Rose & Liz Rotenberry
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 12 iPads and protective cases for the 6th grade math teachers.  The technology will be used daily in the classroom to engage students and help address specific learning gaps within the classroom.  More iPads available in each classroom means reduced idle time and allows students to continue their learning through engaging technology while teachers focus on the individual needs of others.

6. High School Campus – Grades 9-12 $1825.92
Recipient: Jackie Powell as a team with Reagan Berry
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to send two CTE (Career and Technology Education) teachers to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship Teaching Summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Throughout the four-day conference, “attendees will begin to develop their own entrepreneurial mindsets and learn how to activate the mindset in their students.”  The summit will continue to build confidence and excitement for moving CTE classrooms to student-centered, project-based learning with real-life experiences.

7. Intermediate School Campus – Grades 3-4 $1618.88
Recipient: Jennifer Greenough
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase non-fiction books for the Intermediate School library.  A third of the books at Wylie Intermediate School will be taken to help supply books for the new Wylie East Elementary.  The grant money will be used to help replenish some of the more frequently used non-fiction books on topics the students study.  This will help ensure that the students as well as the teachers have access to these important areas of study both at the Intermediate School as well as the new Wylie East Elementary.

8. High School Campus – 12th Grade $1000
Recipient: Gabriela Caro Bundy
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to attend the Environment and the Economy Institute, a weeklong program that will focus on incorporating innovative ways to teach Dual Credit Economics, using engaging lessons and activities, based on real world issues, which incorporate cooperative learning.  The lessons and activities developed by the Environment and the Economy Institute align with the TEKS.

9. ECC – Kindergarten $2386
Recipient: Amy Krake as a team with Elizabeth Pringle & Carolyn Thomalla
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase Insta-Learn Manipulative Boards.  These boards are self-paced and are designed to be used by individuals or in small groups.  They reinforce and accelerate learning in alphabet and numeral fluency, phonemic awareness, and number sense by providing instant feedback and self correction to the student through multisensory modes (auditory, visual, kinesthetic and tactile).  Because the materials are constructed of extremely durable high-impact polystyrene, the boards should last for 20+ years.

10. ECC – Transitional Kindergarten $781
Recipient: Mandi McVay
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase hands on materials to provide transitional kindergarten students with opportunities to explore and have experiences with manipulatives that help them relate to the world around them.  Incorporating opportunities for kids to be active in their own learning keeps them engaged and encourages independence.  The purpose of incorporating more hands on activities is to help prepare these children for kindergarten.  Some examples of manipulatives are: math counters, magnetic letter builders, and number line activity charts.

11. ECC – Kindergarten $524.30
Recipient: Kaylee Channell
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 12 Boogie Boards, a listening center, an Eggspert and a Wireless Bluetooth Microphone.  These items will be used to make our small group time more engaging and fun for all types of learners.  These tools will build confidence with reading, writing, listening and comprehension.  They will, also, help to increase retention of things the students have learned.  These tools can be used year after year.

12. High School Campus- Grades 9-12 $839.19
Recipients: Stacy Sanchez
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase various fake display items for students to obtain original sources for their artwork.  The Fine Arts TEKS state that students are expected to consider concepts and ideas from direct observation, original sources, experiences and imagination for original artwork.  This will aide with students who are unable to go out and obtain their own original sources.  It will also help students to embrace everything they come across as inspiration, to outsmart any obstacle they may encounter during their creative process, and, lastly,to think as an artist in every way possible.  These items should last 5-10 years.

13. Junior High Campus – 8th Grade $1992
Recipient: Shannon Allen as a team with Daysha Cheyne
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 8 iPad tablets that will be shared among two ELAR teachers.  The tablets will be used to achieve the purpose of equipping future leaders to face real-world challenges in and beyond the classroom context.  The tablets will ensure that the students are getting the best equipment possible to help ensure their success in school.  Students will have the opportunity to explore a variety of tools through instant access to knowledge, rather than only using the textbook, class notes or a pen and paper.  They can choose to write on topics that interest them, not just those provided by the library.

14. ECC  – Kindergartners $996
Recipients: Sara Bailey
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 4 iPads that will be used during small group time to help re-teach concepts that students are having trouble grasping and will provide another resource to extend independent learning.  Math, science, handwriting and reading apps will be used.  In a technology driven world, having an iPad small group will be welcomed by the students because of their high interest in technology.  This will help contribute to the student’s love of learning at such a young age.

15. High School Campus – Grades 9-12 $996
Recipients: Daisy Blair
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase 4 iPad Tablets to help supplement the limited access the Family and Consumer Science Department has to technology.  Much of the curriculum in the Department, (in particular Interior Design, Principles of Human Service, and Child Development)  requires that students have access to the internet to research the growing fields of study, find examples of various projects that are subject specific, and read current articles released by medical professionals and research departments.  Having the tablets in the classroom would give supplemental access to help some students research above and beyond the minimum requirements and allow others the extra help they might need to complete a project on time.  They will also allow the students who do not have access to their own device to have the same opportunity as those who do.

16. Junior High Campus – 7th & 8th Grade $1029.25
Recipients: Kristian Spencer
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase an additional hydroponic growing system for Mrs. Spencer’s 7th Grade Science classes as well as for a Bulldog Botany Club.  This system will allow for hands-on learning, real-life examples of tested TEK’s, and materials to sustain a new extracurricular opportunity for students interested in this FFA avenue.  This system will encourage student academic growth and provide just one more way for students to learn awesome skills.

17. High School Campus  – Grades 9-12 $989
Recipients: Bill Young
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase music creating software, a midi keyboard, and other audio for the Digital Video class.  Students in this class create their own movies.  They also video sporting events that are broadcast on the Abilene Public Access Channel.  Background music enhances the emotional weight and impact of these projects.  Downloading someone else’s music is pirating and could open the district to serious liability and stiff fines.  This grant will allow students to create their own digital music that they have written.  It will give them a sense of intellectual property ownership and respect for other artists works.  It will provide the class with a safe source of music for soundtracks to their video productions.   The equipment should last over 10 years.

18. Elementary Campus  – 2nd Grade $495
Recipients: Megan Oliver
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to attend a workshop by Eric Jensen, Teaching and Engaging with Poverty in Mind.  Every child deserves a great education, no matter his/her family income.  Children living in poverty face struggles with nutritional needs, social relationships, higher stress levels, and academic equality.  Eric Jansen is a world known educator that brings neuroscience research into practical use for the classroom.  This workshop will create an opportunity to learn new research-based skills that can reach students in our classrooms that come to us with the struggles of poverty.  Instead of seeing poverty, we can see a child with great potential to be successful in school and life.

19. ECC – Kindergarten $989.95
Recipients: April Brannan
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to purchase a Tower Garden so that students can get and up close and personal view of the needs, parts, and beauty of plants.  In kindergarten science, it is not enough to watch videos of science experiments or see pictures on worksheets of life cycles.  5- and 6-year-olds need real life, hands-on experience to truly activate their young brains and make connections that will last a lifetime.  They will cultivate, plant, feed, water, grow and harvest our plants as a class family, and in doing so the students will walk away from the class with a tangible, lasting understanding of life science.

20. Intermediate School Campus  – 4th Grade $640.35
Recipients: Lindsi Goettsch
Awarded:
The money from this grant will be used to add three standing desks to a classroom’s seating options.  This teacher currently uses alternative seating, including one standing desk, wobble stools, floor tables and bouncy bands attached to desks.  These have been seen to make a great improvement in the ability of students to stay focused.   In addition, this trio is an inclusion trio for special education.  Many of these students are more successful with seating options that allow them to stand or move during the school day.  Having three more standing desks would allow for the removal of standard desks and provide a better learning environment for all students for years to come.

21. Middle School Campus  – 6th Grade $2991.05
Recipients: Adrienne Ruffin as a team with Shay Cox & Paul Mock
Awarded:
.  The money from this grant will be used to purchase more Physical Education equipment to help improve the health and wellness of each student, teach life skills and activities as well as leadership skills, social skills and also teamwork.  The major objective is to purchase needed equipment for the PE program that will allow students to play games and do different exercises that will help them to be physically fit while learning lifelong skills and teamwork.  Some of the items are: long jump ropes, rubber horseshoes, whistles, volleyball cage ball, tennis rackets, gripper footballs, introfit sandbags, plyo boxes, bowling pins and a tabletop scoreboard.

22. Wylie ISD  – Grades 3 – 12 $2000
Recipients: Kim Cheek
Awarded:

Four teams from Wylie ISD have earned the right to compete against the WORLD at the Destination Imagination Global Finals competition held in Knoxville, TN, the last week of May.  These 4 teams earned this right by placing in the Texas state competition.  Texas is known to be the hardest state to advance in the US.  These students will be competing against all other US state champions as well as champions from around the world – including China, Romania, Qatar, the UK, Mexico and many others.  It is a once in a lifetime event for these students and their parents.  It allows these students to learn about diversity, learn about other cultures and states, and it allows them to compete against the best in the World at creative problem solving.   The WBEF board approved $2,000 to assist with travel expenses of these students.  This is the ONLY school event that is ever held outside of the state.  It is a HUGE honor to represent Wylie ISD and the state of Texas.  This expense required Board approval because this request could not have been completed during the regular grant application process.


TOTAL AMOUNT GRANTS APPROVED: $32,514.93
6 @ High School, 4 @ Junior High, 3 @ Middle School, 2 @ Intermediate, 1 @ Elementary, 5 @ ECC
4-Reading, 3-Writing, 4-Science, 2-Art, 3-Math, 3-Workshops, 3-Technology, 1-P.E., 1-Digital Video, 1-DI, 1-Focus (4 Grants covered two subjects)

 

The Wylie Bulldogs Education Foundation is a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Our mission is to collect and distribute gifts to promote excellence in education to students and teachers.