“The class has
already reaped the rewards. Students are supporting each
other in daily tasks and have a stronger bond with their
teacher. Data has not yet been analyzed, but we hope to see
a drop in discipline referrals,” said Mr. Herring.
Implementation of Technology to Assist the Availability of
Regular Education Curriculum to Special Education Students
Teacher: Matthew Ammons
Grant Amount: $792
The success of this grant was measured on the students
ability to be included in regular education classes
utilizing technology.
There was a brief 10 minute training initially for any
learning support students who where interested in using the
Reading Pens to assist them with test taking in
regular education.
This later expanded to students utilizing the technology in
the resource room as available. They also worked in groups
and partners to complete social studies projects and note
taking activities.
On average two students per week were able utilize the
technology to assist them in reading text above their
reading level. They utilized the Reading Pens to
decode unfamiliar word in the general education text books,
worksheets, and assessments without the assistance of a
teacher or para-professional.
F.A.I.R.* SHARE (*Families And
Intermediate Readers)
Teacher: Mindy Rosenberg
Grant Amount: $999
There were several objectives we hoped to achieve, including:
- Cultivating and nurturing a love of reading with literacy-based activities for intermediate students and their families
- Providing books for students through classroom libraries
- Providing an opportunity for teachers in the newly-formed Intermediate School to collaborate on a student-centered literacy project
- Welcoming parents to participate in activities with their children in the newly-formed Intermediate School
The grant proposal included a monthly activity to be held outside of school hours in which literacy activities, reading, and refreshments were shared between teachers, parents, and students. For the first event, “Courage in the Face of Danger,” books, including titles by popular authors Gary Paulsen, Andrew Clements, Jerry Spinelli, and Gordon Korman, were displayed at the event and later distributed to teachers. Students and their families rotated between presentations by Ted Irwin, a 6th grade teacher who had served in the military; Greg Bardell, husband of EIS Principal Stacie Bardell, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro; Randy Gockley and his daughters Kristin and Laura, firefighters and emergency medical technicians; and Brian Dell Isola, a police officer in Ephrata.
For the second activity, each classroom was provided with a copy of “Freak the Mighty,” which most teachers chose to read aloud with their classes. The FAIR Share event was inspired by the main character’s fascination with words. Each classroom added interesting vocabulary to posters used to decorate the LGI, where students and families played board games such as Apples to Apples, Scrabble, and Scattergories.
The third program was a relaxed, “Snuggle Up and Read” activity, related to the Anthology themes of “Relationships” and “Growing Up.” MaryAnn Haines and Jill Becker, our literacy coaches, presented parents with reading strategies to use at home while students shared favorite books in other classrooms, joining together at the end of the evening.
The last program was inspired by our 5th and 6th grade Anthology themes about animals. Brent Kametz organized an evening with the KPETS therapy dog program and participants had a chance to read to the dogs. They also explored pet/animal oriented websites, and enjoyed pet/animal themed games, books and activities.
Let The Learning Begin! How to Prepare Your Child for
Kindergarten
Teacher: Crystal Loose
Grant Amount: $1,000
With this grant, 14 educational sessions were offered throughout the 2008-2009 school year for the parents of 2009-2010 Kindergarten students of the Ephrata Area School District. The four and five-year old Kindergarten students will be asked to attend these hands-on learning sessions. During these one-hour sessions, parents received information related to Kindergarten reading and math curriculum. The goal is to instruct parents on ways to prepare their children for Kindergarten. The one-hour session will be broken into thirty minutes of demonstration on a topic and thirty minutes of application of the skill with their child.
Lunch with Literature Book Club
Teachers:
Kelly Brosig and Kellie Ludwig
Grant Amount: $1,000
- Began the book club after school since interested students did not share the same lunch periods.
- Highlights of our year included
- Eight girls who were excited to read and discuss books. We assigned the books and introduced the first book with a short book talk to gain interest. We also showed the kids how they could join the Media Center Book Blog to share their impressions online.
- A Skype discussion with Terry Fields, the author of Holdup, one of the 2008 ILA Young Adult choices for Pennsylvania.
- An author visit with Catherine Murdock, author of Dairy Queen and The Off Season on April 27. We partnered with the High School Media Center and the Ephrata Public Library to include more students in the discussion.
Future Plans
- We plan to offer book club again next year. We already have a number of ninth graders signed up to join us in the fall. Our current members will also join us since they said they loved the opportunity to talk about books.
- We may be able to offer book club over several lunch periods. In addition, we will continue to offer an after-school option in the media center classroom.
- We also are talking about challenging our book club members to get involved with the PA ILA Teen Choice books, to blog about what they read, and to share their own personal reading picks with each other.
ALEKS: Online Summer School Learning
Teacher: Dan Mahlandt
Grant Amount: $968
The ALEKS pilot was a success during the summer of 2008. Enrollment increased due to the availability of more courses through ALEKS, and the incentive to end the term early gave students an impetuous to work harder during school as well as at home.
The Summer School online course has reinforced the instructor's belief that the District needs to move toward proficiency-based learning in a more flexible, yet accountable, environment where the teacher interacts with the students. The challenge is to find the balance between giving students the freedom to work ahead and accelerate their learning and at the same time create an environment that isn’t so unstructured that our students fail due to lack of encouragement and/or guidance.
Social Connections for Self-Esteem Improvement
Teacher: Patrice Laboranti
Grant Amount: $866
This grant was written for the purpose of increasing and enhancing the social skills of targeted students at the high school level who were identified as having a need for increased social and leisure skills.
The following activities were successful:
American Music Theater, Wii Night (each month), Game Night, Basketball Game, and Frisbee Golf
At each activity there were targeted students and also students who were members of the National Honor Society. The NHS students were polite, interacted well with the students, and taught them how to play the games and helped with the activities. They were a great asset to our social club. Many of them came to more than one activity.
The target students really seemed to enjoy our social club. When we would have an event, they would often ask me when the next activity would be. I would tell them and they would continue to ask me for the next few weeks when the next activity would be. They really enjoyed spending social time with their friends while making new friends and learning a new leisure activity.
Many of the parents have expressed gratitude to me for hosting an event for the students after school. They commented that many times their child just comes home from school and watches television or goes to their room and they were happy that they could stay after school and socialize with their friends.
The facilitator thought the social club was a great success. The students had a great time while learning and improving their social skills. They also learned some new leisure skills. Hopefully they will continue to participate in the new games and activities they learned and teach them to their families.
Ephrata Middle School Quiz Bowl Team
Teacher: Marion Piersol-Miller
Grant Amount: $1,000
A grant from the Ephrata Area Education Foundation funded the Ephrata Middle School Quiz Bowl team's trip to the National Quiz Bowl Competition in Washington, D.C. in June 2009. The team spent two intense days in competition. They competed against teams from Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas. The competition included teams from all over the United States. Ephrata was one of two teams from Pennsylvania; Manheim Township being the other team.
The Ephrata Middle School team lost their first match, won the next two, then lost the next three to take be knocked out of final competition. The teams that beat Ephrata were impressive. The kids were fierce! They were knowledgeable and fast. It was really quite impressive.
The team also had “down time” during the trip. The group spent time at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, several memorials, and Arlington National Cemetery. “I've never seen kids so eager to spend time in a museum. We were there for about three and a half hours, and then we walked over to some of the memorials,” said Marion Piersol-Miller, team advisor. On the final day, the group spent over four hours touring Arlington National Cemetery.
Radiation Studies: Health, Safety, and Technology
Teacher: Doug Kellogg
Grant Amount: $1,000
Through use of the Venture Grant awarded for Radiation Studies, approximately 110 ninth grade students were able to use Digital Radiation Monitors along with the Lab-quest portable data collectors to complete several investigations dealing with radiation. The unit focused on differences between alpha, beta, and gamma sources.
Through lecture, demonstration and video, all students were exposed to the basics of background radiation sources as well as the uses of radiation in modern lifesaving technology such as chemotherapy, radiological imaging, food preservation and smoke alarms. They continued their investigation into radiation via radiation shielding.
Using the Lab-quest units along with the radiation monitors they were able to experiment with various materials and determine the necessary requirements to effectively block each type of radiation. In addition, several groups had time to experimentally determine the inverse square relationship between distance and radiation intensity by using the detectors and radiation source disks.
With this equipment they designed a procedure to systematically record counts per minute at various distances. After accounting for typical background radiation and graphing this data, they were able to verify the expected inverse squared relationship.
Finally, students used the results from their experimentation along with additional sources to verify or nullify real world concerns dealing with radiation technology, the environment and society. These concerns were outlined and presented in several video clips, including Physics: A World in Motion: Radioactivity and Youtube.com videos on the TMI accident and Chernobyl. Through viewing these videos and researching other documentaries of their choosing, students completed a 4-page video viewing guide and risk analysis, which they used to form their own opinions.
AP Composition and Language Meets the Future
Teacher: Cheryl Fritz
Grant Amount: $750
Language Arts students from the 11/12 grade class of AP Language and Composition class inaugurated the first year of the online ‘blended schools’ course with a rousing success. Students, who previously worked under the ‘traditional’ system of the teacher as the ‘sage on the stage,’ truly took a giant leap into Advanced Placement as they worked through an online program designed by college professors and AP Language and Composition teachers. To successfully complete the course and, hopefully, score well on the AP test and earn college credits, the students participated in self-discovery projects, with essays, online readings and practice AP tests. As the course was newly created, there was no allowance made in the budget for the purchase of the 2008 edition of the AP course book. Through the Venture Grant, the AP books were purchased and the students were able to work with the most current AP practice tests. The books included writing pointers and analytical strategies for successful writing.
Without the Venture Grant, the students would have had to use previously released prompts and older style manuals that would not contain the current information.
Weeding Through Writing:
Taking the Young Writer from Bud to
Bloom
Teacher: Patricia Orwig
Grant Amount: $1,000
The goal of this writing enrichment opportunity was to positively impact the writing of 4th Graders in the areas of style, voice and vocabulary as measured by scores on district assessments throughout the year. The primary measure was to compare Spring 2008 Writing Assessment scores to Spring 2009 scores.
The group has displayed an enthusiasm for the written word beyond my expectations and they have managed to provide Highland with monthly newsletters highlighting events that have taken place in their school community. These newsletters have served as a consistent informational tool for Highland families that have kept them abreast of happenings at our school.
Additionally, these student writers have recognized the power in the written word in the form of letters to former teachers sharing how those teachers touched their lives, creating flyers announcing a food drive for needy families in our community, crafting summaries of events at Highland and sharing vocabulary words they have learned in our club with the students at Highland.
This has been a valuable learning experience for me, and I believe it has sparked interest in these young writers. They understand more keenly the power and purpose in careful word choice and the value in attention to the details on the page.
