Innovative Ideas Classroom Grants - Spring 2006

Number of Grants Approved: 5
Amount Awarded: $11,580.57

Campus: F.C. Weinert Elementary
Proposal: Weinert Elementary Community Literacy Outreach Program
Amount: $3083.63

Weinert Elementary's literacy outreach program includes a traveling library called Books on Wheels that delivers books to be checked out at no cost to families in parts of Weinert’s attendance zone. The outreach program also provides Books in Bags throughout the school year to families of Weinert Elementary's fourth graders. The program is designed to increase the overall literacy at the family level and strengthen the connection between Weinert Elementary School and its community of families.

Campus: Joe F. Saegert 6th Grade center
Proposal: Understanding Cultures Through Art
Amount: $2501.94

This grant would fund the purchase of a ceramics kiln for Saegert Sixth Grade Center. It would enable almost 300 students each year to create original works of art using fired clay. The creative collaboration between the art department and the social studies department world increase student understanding of the cultures of the World.

Campus: Koennecke Elementary
Proposal: Koennecke's "Having a Ball"
Amount: $2500.00

Koennecke’s "Having A Ball" is a program created to develop, support, and improve students' wellness and self-esteem through ballroom dancing. Since many students lead non-active lifestyles, spending hours watching TV or playing video games, this program is designed to foster social interaction with an emphasis on physical activity, cultural diversity and respectful behavior.

Campus: Joe F. Saegert
Proposal: HOBOS in the Science Classroom
Amount: $2,795.00

Students will collect temperature, light, relative humidity, and voltage data during science experiments using HOBOs purchased with grant funding. The HOBOS, matchbox-sized portable measuring devices, include a microprocessor, data storage, and a sensor so that students can quickly and easily take measurements both in the classroom and outdoors. This raw data will be downloaded onto laptop computers that will display the experimental variables in table or graphical form. Students will be more excited about learning when using the HOBO technology and will develop more critical thinking and analysis skills as they practice data interpretations in teacher and student-generated labs.

Campus: F.C. Weinert
Proposal: Earth Investigators - Seeking to Find Evidence of Changes over Time
Amount: $700.00

Students will collect science data at the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center using kits and supplies that will enhance the science curriculum. The project will have students study the Geronimo Creek watersheds giving them the opportunity to learn in a hands-on environment, use new vocabulary, make observations, and collect/record data.