The Wylie Bulldogs Education Foundation granted more than $65,000 to teachers in May during the 2023 Teacher Grant Surprise Patrol. The grants will provide teachers with cutting-edge teaching tools that will challenge and inspire students.
Megan Oliver, Wylie West Elementary. will use her grant to purchase age-friendly art supplies to create opportunities for hands-on activities that fit easily into a daily lesson. The use of art and creativity will promote an increase in comprehension of key concepts throughout multiple areas of our curriculum.
- Lindsi Goettsch as a team with Dakota Hall, Lindsey Grimes, and Kathryn Makuta, West Intermediate, will purchase new, TEK-based science equipment and STEM supplies to improve overall science achievement and engage the students in a real-world, hands-on classroom environment.
- Shyrl Martinez, East Elementary, will purchase 89 military books from Follet school solutions for use at Wylie East Elementary. The grant will expand the library books for the students and channel growth for every student at the school.
- Angela McKnight, East Intermediate, will purchase instruments from non-Western cultures around the world including West Africa, the Middle East, and ancient Mesopotamia. Students will be exposed to new cultures using instruments, song, dance, and other connective movements.
- Julia Olmsted, East Intermediate, will purchase 2 sets of the Squishy Circuits Group Kits. These kits will allow students to explore the concepts of circuits and electricity in a hands-on manner that goes deeper than the current curriculum.
- Kayla Barnes, WEE, will purchase mini manipulatives to turn a math and science classroom into a hands-on learning experience. These resources will help students to take concrete examples and transfer them into abstract concepts.
- Kristian Spencer, East Junior High, will purchase a BirdBrain Finch Robot Classroom Pack as well as 5 Retro Arcade Game Consoles for the Coding/Gaming/Robotics/Innovation course. These robots and game consoles will be used to extend introductory knowledge of all 4 components of the CGRI program.
- Suzanne Wright as a team with Kristina Hadaway, WEC, will purchase supplies and equipment to begin a calming and sensory room. The items requested are a bubble tower lamp, large mirrors, swings, calming tent, sit-n-spin, wobble board, balance beam, sensory board, sequin board for sensory needs, teeter totter, sensory bins, toddler climbing mats, a crash pad, and a sensory sack. These sensory/calming activities, items, and tools will help the pre-K students, including students with disabilities, regulate behaviors, self-soothe, reduce stress, increase focus, and reduce aggression.
- Melinda Bacon as a team with Kathryn Gilreath, Madeline Lowry, Rachel Jordan, Holly Kirby, Kimberly Lewis, Jazmine Moreno, Kara Richardson, Takuma Tsuneki, and Ashley Williams, WHS, will purchase 30 Chromebooks which will be used to enhance students’ research and writing skills.
- Kim Cheek, DI director, will use her grant to help send qualifying DI teams to the DI Global Finals. Students will be able to interact and compete with teams from around the world. Students will also attend engineering and skill-based workshops during Global Finals.
Nancy Reed as a team with Ashley Randell, East Elementary, will install a colorful, energetic, outdoor sensory path along its sidewalks to promote student well-being. Stencils and paint will create a sensory path which is an interactive path that engages students in thinking and movement. Students can walk, jump, bounce, twist, and push for mental and physical benefits. Students benefit from building motor skills such as balance, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness, and emotional regulation. The path will be stenciled on sidewalks with a group of parent volunteers and ready for use at the beginning of the next school year.
- Meagan Wiley as a team with Ramona Nelson, Megan Brennan, Katelynn Craig, Stephanie Barham, Angelina Kenley, Melanie Reyes, Katie Fulton, Reba Strebeck, Catherine Haack, and Matt Preston, will purchase 40 Chromebooks to be used in 5th-grade classrooms. The Chromebooks will allow students to learn, receive intervention, and build digital confidence in innovative and engaging ways. These devices will help prepare students to successfully navigate the digital world ahead.
- Leah Pruitt, WEC, will purchase manipulatives, pretend play items, phonics tools, emotional support tools, sensory items, and fine motor support items. These purchases will promote fine motor skills, small group differentiation, and student-directed learning in areas such as emotional awareness, phonics, and number sense. Some of the materials include magnetic drawing boards, dot art painters, and kid-safe appliances.
- Sheryl Davis, WEC, will purchase hands-on, concrete manipulatives to support reading, math, and fine motor development in kindergarten. These manipulatives will help young students connect to abstract concepts, develop fine motor skills, and promote independence and responsibility.
- Mandi McVay, WEC, will purchase items to create and make lasting hands-on activities such as laminating sheets, printer ink, dry erase pockets, a class set of markers, number line addition boards, and polyhedral dice. Also included in this grant are storage boxes to store the above-mentioned hands-on, small-group activities.
- Karen Cothran, West Junior High, will purchase a set of 12 student kits which include magnetic letter tiles, syllaboards, color tiles (for word segmenting), and an individual magnetic student work surface. These manipulatives will be used in conjunction with the ‘Reading by Design’ Dyslexia Intervention program to reinforce the student’s abilities to develop word structure skills and increase their phonological awareness skills by segmenting words into sounds or syllables.
- Valerie Anderson as a team with Tina Buckner, Bailie Gulley, Stephanie Jennings, and Alexa Bavido (Crenshaw), East Elementary, will provide the second-grade math team with the Lucky to Learn math curriculum program and the necessary items to make, store and implement the program which includes math manipulatives, storage items, and toner.
Mario Trevino and Heather McDonald, WEE, will purchase rhythm sticks, scarves, tubano drums, boomwhackers, musical whiteboards, mallets, adaptive cuffs, and a stretch band. All these instruments and supplies will be used to focus on musical literacy, creative expression, and critical evaluation and response.
- Nichole Collins with Lisa Reed, WHS, will purchase 7 iPads to share between two classrooms of Functional Academics students. The iPads will be used to give reading and math assignments and practice. For lower functioning students, they will be used to customize Unique to You lessons to meet their instructional levels. The iPads will be used as an incentive for work completion and good behavior.
- Jillian Johnson, WEC, will purchase a Magnetic Felt board with 11 sets of felt pieces, 2 bookshelves, 2 sets of wooden blocks, 6 foam stools for seating, and translucent manipulatives for a light table. These items will be used to help students explore, learn, and build social skills among their peers.
- Angie Kenley as a team with Ramona Nelson and Katie Fulton, West Junior High, will purchase a variety of incentives/rewards for Reading Language Arts students participating in the Accelerated Reading Program. Students will be rewarded for their hard work, dedication, and love for reading and for meeting their reading goals.
- Lillian Jones as a team with Kylee Newberry and Tanya Miles, West Junior High, will purchase 3 class set subscriptions to Scholastic Scope Magazine for 2023-2024. These magazines will be used to provide timely, engaging, culturally relevant texts to students and help improve reading comprehension, improve vocabulary, and writing skills as well as increase background knowledge.
- Christen Pruitt, WEC, will purchase manipulatives and games to be used in hands-on activities to enhance and differentiate Kindergarten phonics and math skills being taught. The use of the materials for the hands-on activities will allow students to be active participants in their learning, with exploring and problem-solving occurring through different modalities or senses.
- Lettie Morrow, East Elementary, will purchase a hutch, a playpen, reading books, and a class set of bare books for the classroom rabbit. The hutch and playpen will allow for a better living space for the classroom pet as well as a better way for the students to view the rabbit and how it lives. The books will be used to learn more about rabbits. The bare books will be used as journals for observing the bunny and recording their findings and stories.
- Hollie Gannon, West Elementary, will purchase flexible seating and adjustable tables. The flexible seating will allow students to have control over their classroom environment and allow movement as needed increasing focus and positive behavior.
- Robin Pritchett as a team with Amber Ivy, Savannah Fisher, and Hailey Miller, East Junior High, will supplement the cost of 30 Chromebooks and a cart to house them. There are four Reading-Language Arts teachers who plan to share the use of the cart to incorporate engaging technology into their lessons. This technology will allow them to better prepare their students for a future in digital learning.
- Aimee Wristen, West Junior High, will purchase a basic team-building activity kit which includes 16 props for over 300 different activities. This kit will provide the right combination for a wide variety of games and initiatives suitable for groups ranging from 8th-grade selected LEAD students to the various peers they work with on campus for team building/leadership.
- Amber Jansa, WHS, will purchase supplies for an Education & Training students’ supply workroom. These supplies will allow for students to create high-quality, professional products such as interactive bulletin boards and teacher-created materials. Students will use these products to compete in the Texas Association of Future Educators contests and to provide interactive instruction to classrooms throughout the Wylie district.
- Lacey Kennedy, WEC, will purchase a variety of hands-on learning materials. The materials will include Math, Science, and Social Studies manipulatives that encourage learning through play. Some of the manipulatives that are being requested include REALBUG Frog and Butterfly Life Cycles, a Dress Up Closet, and Human Body Magnets.
Karissa Albarado, WEC, will purchase various storage items to help organize multiple learning centers and items to help expand learning center options for students. The learning center items include community helper dress-up clothes, a dentist kit with pretend play teeth and 3D magnet building blocks.
- Jo Gipson as a team with David Rodriguez and Michael Lopez, East Elementary, will purchase PE equipment. The items requested include bowling balls, dodge balls, spike balls, basketballs, and more. Students will engage socially in collaborative team play and strategizing. The goal is for students to continue these skills for a lifetime.
- Kaylee Channell, WEC, will purchase a variety of hands-on materials to create a Kindergarten STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) lab and storage unit. This will allow students to explore and engage in hands-on experiences that will foster creativity, develop critical thinking as they work to solve problems, collaborate with their peers, and so much more.
- Jessica McIntire, East Elementary, will purchase circle tables and wobble stools. This will allow the classroom to have half of the classroom with regular desks and half with the new circle tables and wobble stools. This will allow them to have some choice in where they sit in class.
- Elise Rocco, East Elementary, will purchase books, colored copy paper, printer toner, lamination pouches, zipper bags, watercolor paint, and a silicone mold to be able to fully implement an exciting new curriculum that Ms. Rocco has purchased for her classroom. All the requested items will enable lessons to be prepared and will engage the students to get them excited about learning while building the foundational skills needed for kindergarten and beyond.
- Jessica Hagler, WEC, will purchase organizational and storage materials for a kindergarten classroom. These items are storage shelves, a bookshelf, a storage cabinet, and storage bins. These items will help to promote autonomy among the students and create a learning environment that supports academic achievement.
More Pictures from The Fun!
