Spring 2011 Grant Recipients
Sasha Bloch, ESOL
Bell Multicultural High School, Washington, DC
Ms. Bloch's ninth grade ESL English class is reading Frankenstein; this unit will serve as an opportunity for students to increase their vocabulary, explore literary concepts, and make connections to their own life. In order to further her student's understanding of the novel, she plans to use the grant money to help the class attend the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Frankenstein.
Tonia Luk, Elementary Education
Horace Mann Elementary School, Washington, DC
Ms. Luk's fourth grade class will be recreating Colonial Williamsburg. Each student will research, learn, dress, and act in the role that they choose and present their knowledge to other students, parents, and staff during Colonial Horace Mann Day. The grant money will be used to purchase the costume supplies for the presentation.
Kristen Luppino, Early Childhood Education
Bright Beginnings, Washington, DC
Ms. Luppino will be using her grant money to purchase various sensory tools for her pre-kindergarten class at Bright Beginnings. Many of her students struggle with core muscle strength and an inability to maintain their focus. These tools will assist the children in improving their ability to focus and will help teach them how to support themselves, a focus of the curriculum at Bright Beginnings.
Lorrette Van Rensburg, Elementary Education
Janney Elementary School, Washington, DC
Ms. Van Rensburg's second grade classroom will be exploring basic measuring skills as a part of their mathematics unit. The grant money will be used to purchase a plethora of measuring supplies for three projects that will test the students' knowledge of these measuring skills.
Fall 2010 Grant Recipient
Emily Johnston, Elementary Education
Brent Elementary School, Washington DC
Ms. Johnston's third grade students produced a Chinese cookbook which has been integrated into their year long project on Chinese opera. The students were placed in small cooperative groups where each group was responsible to generate their own recipe using the guide of a mentor recipe. The funds were used to produce fifty copies of the cookbook, as well as purchase groceries for the cookbook release party.
Spring 2010 Grant Recipients
Joseph Grimme, Performing Arts
Wilson Senior High School, Washington DC
Mr. Grimme wants his choir students to be award winning performers. For his project, he proposes to have students record and listening to their voices twice a week and also film themselves performing. He will use the grant funds to purchase digital voice recorders and a camcorder to make this possible.
Ayo Heinegg, Secondary Social Studies
Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School, Washington DC
Ms. Heinegg is using her grant to provide funds for her students' Senior Advocacy Projects. The students have received training in advocacy and community organizing and have been required to design a project that supports a public policy stance they have researched and defended. To help them complete their project, the grant funds will be made available as micro-grants to students who submit convincing applications.
Laura Wood, Secondary Social Studies
Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School, Washington DC
Ms. Wood is using her grant to evaluate and support her students' Senior Advocacy Projects. Students will work off campus with local non-profit organizations to complete their projects. Part of the funds will be used to purchase metro cards for transportation to project sites. Ms. Wood is also purchasing a flip camera as she plans to interview students before and after their projects and create a video report from which stakeholders may assess how the projects affect students' sense of empowerment and agency.
Spring 2009 Grant Recipient
Sarah Nemati, MAT, Secondary Education: Biology (2009)
Alice Deal Middle School, 7nd Grade Life Science, Washington, DC
Cooperating Teacher: Ms. Elyse Lerum
Ms. Nemati designed a forensic unit for her students. Students learned how forensic scientists use evidence to build a case. The project involved students in writing creative crime stories in which they cast family and friends, researching the characteristics of the evidence they wanted in their crime scenes (i.e., soil, glass, hair, fiber, DNA, skeletal remains, eyewitness testimony), and analyzing how evidence leads to the conviction of a crime. Students used Wikispace to synthesize and display their cases for other students to solve. The grant funds were used to buy Insignia digital cameras for photographing the evidence, witnesses, suspects, and the culprit
Fall 2008 Grant Recipient
Kira Sonberg, BA Elementary Education (2008)
Janney Elementary School, 2nd Grade, Washington, DC
Cooperating Teacher: Ms. Shana Zallman
Ms. Sonberg created Z-ville, a mock community, in Shana Zallman’s second grade classroom at Janney Elementary School. The idea is attributed to Jennifer Miller, a fellow second grade teacher at Janney who has experienced a lot of success with her own “Millertown.” The students created a connected classroom community that they were responsible for running. Students took on classroom jobs that mirrored jobs in a real community such as running a post office, the Z-ville store and the Z-ville bank. They completed their jobs with pride because they learned the affect those jobs had on the well-being of the classroom. Students also experienced the Washington D.C community as the classroom was visited by real workers who have the same jobs as those in Z-ville. Students met police officers, firefighters, the American University eagle, a crossing guard, and other individuals who are important to the Janney School community. Through their exchange of “money”, students developed financial responsibility as they worked to be paid, paid classroom expenses, and then decided whether to spend or save their money. Students experienced the real world within their classroom community in a fun and exciting way. Ms. Zallman was so excited about Z-ville that she plans to continue the project in the future.
Spring 2008 Grant Recipients
Tom Bishop, MA International Training and Education, Graduate Certificate in Secondary Teaching, Social Studies (2008)
Ballou Senior High School, Washington DC
Mr. Bishop used “Bishop Bucks” to encourage good behavior, class attendance and class participation and discourage disruptive behavior in his class at Ballou Senior High School in Southeast, D.C. Students earned Bishop Bucks for good behavior, which they were able to use towards rewards like apples, granola bars, candy or a pizza party. Students were fined between 1 and 10 Bishop Bucks for disruptive behavior or poor attendance.
