Innovative Ideas Classroom Grants - Spring 2008

Project Title: Vogel Elementary Robotics Club
Teachers: Andy Reddock, Karen DePalermo

The purpose of The Vogel Elementary Club (VERC) is to promote the exploration of the exciting fields of robotics. The club, available to third through fifth grade students provides students with an introduction to Lego robotics, including the mechanics and programming of MINDSTORMS NXT systems. Students have the opportunity to participate in simple task competitions between build teams. Through the use of reusable Robotics Invention kits, students will construct actual functioning robots while learning about teamwork, leadership, and gaining self-confidence through accomplishment. The students who participate in the program will also learn leadership skills, cooperative problem-solving skills and real-world math. The ultimate goal of the teams will be competition in the First Lego League Competition.

Project Title: Speaking Up, Speaking Clearly – Juan Seguin PreK
Teachers: Letty Villarreal, Jennie Hines, Caroline Achay

This grant proposal addresses a critical need at the Juan Seguin campus: assisting and supporting young children who enter school without the ability to speak clearly so that others can understand them. The grant will be used to identify and purchase materials enabling us to develop activities that all of our teachers can be trained to use when helping children correct the specific misarticulations that interfere with the child's ability to communicate effectively with others. Prekindergarten students must be able to speak clearly in order to demonstrate mastery of many objectives on the PreK report cards, e.g. responds appropriately to questions, retells stories in correct sequence, makes predictions about story endings, etc.

Project Title: Don't Dump Your Aquariums - Ball, Jefferson, McQueeney, Patlan, Weinert, Juan Seguin
Teachers: Wanda Kollaus

Seguin Elementary students in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Aquarena Center, and Aquatic Biology Department in San Marcos want to help prevent the Texas State the increase of invasive species in the San Marcos River, a tributary of the Guadalupe River. Texas State University students, leaving campus or apartments for homes or jobs, too often choose to dump the contents of their aquariums into the San Marcos River. By wanting to spare the lives of their fish, they inadvertently add the invasive species into an ecosystem in which they could potentially wipe out an entire population of native fishes and plants. Students from participating Seguin elementary schools can volunteer to adopt the aquariums' contents (plants and animals) from University students and place the contents in aquariums at their respective schools. After being made aware of the impact of dumping aquariums into a river, Seguin students will work in groups to create posters to advertise their willingness to adopt the aquariums. Included will be information on where to take their aquarium contents and how to contact Wanda Kollaus, Seguin K-5 Science Specialist. In their posters, students will include information on the harmful effects of placing the plants and animals from aquariums into the river. The posters will be placed in strategic locations on Texas State University, Aquarena Center (owned by TSU), and USFWS in San Marcos. Additionally, other media sources will be approached to inform the University students of the program.

Project Title: Courage to Karaoke – Koennecke Elementary
Teachers: Marcus Haygood

Courage to Karaoke will provide an important dimension to a child's personal and social development through reading and/or singing rhymes and songs. This proposal is designed to use a karaoke system to help create a friendly and supportive environment where young students can develop the skills of public presentation through singing and speaking. In the early development of the Kindergarten to 2nd grade child, the focus will be on preparing them for the sudden shock of everyone's attention being on him or her as they are set to perform. This project will meet this need through a gradual approach of singing and speaking with the group in a classroom, to having the microphone while everyone sings or recites, to singing a solo in a small group for the class as well as the grade level, all of which requires techniques for reading a prompt on a screen. There will be a final show for qualified participants to perform in front of a large assembly. For 3rd-5th grade students, the focus will be on building confidence and perseverance toward the completion of a goal, knowing that they will experience nervousness and uncertainty. Since most everyone in the audience will have similar experience, there will be a social emphasis on being a supportive audience for individuals with courage to perform. This approach will be unique in its long-term, scaffolding effects on the social and educational development of individuals.

Project Title: Student Electric News - McQueeney
Teachers: Irma Rodriquez, Janet Wolber

Students will develop, design, and create, an electronic news program that will allow aspiring writers, photographers, and filmmakers to submit news and other student work. The news program will be delivered during the students' lunchtime via projector in the cafeteria. The projector will be wired to a laptop in which the students' software, such as PowerPoint, and iMovie to produce the news. The student news team will be the editors and technicians, who bring student work to the big screen.

Project Title: The Many Wonders of My World Discovery Center – Juan Seguin PreK
Teachers: Rhonda Robbins, Linda Anderson, Tonya Rosborough, David Pitman

The students of Juan Seguin Pre-Kindergarten campus will develop a deeper love, interest and understanding of themselves as well as the world around them by engaging in a hands-on, living, non-living Wonders of My World Discovery Center. The Discovery Center will implement a wooden cabinet housing two 55 gallon aquariums – one used for saltwater exhibits, and the other for freshwater - and six smaller aquariums that will be used as terrariums/discovery stations for the children to develop their abilities to investigate, compare, contrast, discuss, question, hypothesize and research. It will include three bulletin boards and a dry erase board that will contribute to the young emerging scientists' appreciation of written symbols that are used to read and document information associated with their exciting discoveries. The lab will become a part of each three and four year old's every-day learning.