Red Apple Grants AwardedWarsaw Education Foundation, with the help of matching funds from Warsaw Community Schools Corp., recently awarded nearly $8,000 in Red Apple Grants to six teachers from four Warsaw Community Schools.
The Foundation partnered with the school corporation in order to maximize funding to achieve their mission of supporting academic innovation and excellence.
Red Apple Grants are awarded to teachers for classroom projects as well as schoolwide projects that advance enrichment opportunities, support innovative and inventive teaching and promote academic exploration.
Red Apple Grants awarded for the second semester of the 2010-2011 school year are:
- Abbi Richcreek, Warsaw Area Career Center at Warsaw Community High School, for "RoboTigers"
Robots purchased for this program will provide students with "hands-on" experience in basic programming, engineering concepts and problem solving techniques when learning how to "communicate" effectively with their robots during the design process.
- Mandy Bailey, Claypool Elementary School, for "Help Me Learn to Read, Please!"
The purchase of a Foundations Kit for the Title 1 Reading Program to help struggling readers progress in letter formation, spelling, writing, phonics, reading fluency and comprehension skills.
n Karen Sproul, Leesburg Elementary School, for "Learn to Read with Good Leveled Books"
Leveled reading books were purchased to fill an existing gap in the library for lower-level readers in kindergarten, first and second grades so that they may achieve grade-level reading expectations.
n Julie Bishopp, Leesburg Elementary School, for "MimioVote Technology"
A MimioVote Assessment System was purchased to use daily in the classroom to measure student understanding and learning and encourage maximum student participation. Feedback from the daily assessments will be used to tailor individual as well as group learning plans for students.
- Pamela Jarecki-Vosler, Eisenhower Elementary School, for "Video Modeling for Emotional Disabilities and Autism"
The purchase of a MacBook laptop with superior video processing and editing capabilities is used to help students with disabilities see their undesirable behavior instantly via video and teach them appropriate behavior, thus reducing disruptions in the classroom.
- Christine Foster, Warsaw Community High School, "Choosing to be an Upstander"
Books and video materials purchased for this program will provide students with a variety of research resources when studying the Holocaust of World War II and modern-day genocide and intolerance.
Founded in 1987, the Warsaw Education Foundation has awarded more than $200,000 in grants to teachers in Warsaw Community Schools through the Red Apple Grant Program. Warsaw Education Foundation believes that investing in academic excellence today will return excellent leadership tomorrow.
For more information on Red Apple Grants and the Warsaw Education Foundation, visit its website at www.warsaweducationfoundation.org or contact Barb Smolen, executive director, at 574-371-5098, Ext. 2410.
The WEF is a 501(c)3 organization and donations made to the Foundation are tax deductible.
