Blue Grass Community Foundation has awarded a total of $10,000 to eight sites in Fayette County Public Schools for the 2015-2016 Teacher Mini-Grant Program, which encourages innovation and creativity. When reviewing applications, a committee of community volunteers considered a project’s potential to improve student achievement, the number of students who would benefit, the potential for continuation and replication, and cost effectiveness.
For instance, a group of teachers at Picadome Elementary jointly requested help to purchase books for their Scholastic Ready-To-Go Classroom Library. The award will provide new books that students can take home, read to an adult and then return – fulfilling the requirement that all students at Picadome read for 20 minutes every day at home. “This project will increase student access to quality literature and family involvement,” said second-grade teacher Pam Sims.
The following schools received awards:
- Booker T. Washington Primary Academy: $800 to purchase 40 sets of Zingo board games to teach kindergarteners socialization skills and mastery of sight words;
- Lafayette High School: $650 to produce creative writing pieces in French;
- Leestown Middle School: $850 to purchase two iPads and accessories for the Let’s Talk project, for students learning English;
- Mary Todd Elementary: $1,000 for the Bilingual Music in the Classroom program, to sponsor a bilingual instructor for five sessions of song, dance, and reading for preschoolers;
- Meadowthorpe Elementary: $910 to purchase seven Kindle Fire units and cases to create a Techno Literacy Center;
- Picadome Elementary: $2,145 for five second-grade classrooms to purchase books for the Scholastic Ready-To-Go Classroom Library, to increase student reading and family engagement;
- Picadome Elementary: $465 to purchase Kindles for the Helping Kids to Love Reading project;
- Picadome Elementary: $500 to purchase graphic novels for fifth-graders to inspire young readers;
- Sandersville Elementary: $716 for All About Kentucky magazine, to help produce a student-researched and student-written magazine.
- Sandersville Elementary: $964 for Bringing Literacy Alive, to purchase texts and subscriptions to improve nonfiction comprehension;
- Southern Elementary: $500 to purchase Comix with Content to boost reading comprehension;
- Southern Elementary: $500 for A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, to purchase a grade-level set of primary source documents.
Blue Grass Community Foundation was founded in 1967 as a public charity dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in Central Kentucky. Last year, the foundation awarded more than $8 million in grants and scholarships. For questions, visit www.bgcf.org or call (859) 225-3343.