Ballroom A – Breakout Segment A
Presenter 1: Pam Blankenship
Its All in the Fine Print
While discussions across the country focuses on education and funding all of this attention has not done anything to increase funding for basic necessities for classroom teachers. As a 21 year veteran in the field , I remember budgets that included over $100,000 in textbook funds alone. Now a days, that fund is a few thousand dollars for entire school districts. While politicians speak of advancements in education and how teachers just want pay raises and retirement, I would like to have materials and equipment to teach my students instead of paying for these things out of my own pocket. With this grant money, I will purchase equipment and materials to print and copy new reading, math, social studies, and science materials and learning centers for my students.
Presenter 2: Marisa Brown
Ready to Read!!
Being awarded this grant will supply my classroom with two Kindle Fire tablets with cases, one-year access to the ESGI Online Assessment Program, two OSMO Explorer Starter Kits, and 10 Kaysent Heavy Duty Headphones. The Kindle Fire tablets will be used by the students in a variety of ways. They will be used with the OSMO kits as well as a way to offer students differentiated, targeted instruction and practice on the skills that they are struggling with the most. My school has purchased a few online programs for the upcoming year such as Moby Max and Education Galaxy. The kindle Fire tablets will also be used by students to work on these programs. The headphones will also be used with the tablets and Chromebook that they have access to in the classroom. The tablets can also be used in conjunction with the ESGI program to assess the students in a more efficient and timely manner. The ESGI program will enable us to provide these assessments more often and allow us to complete each assessment much quicker than the traditional paper versions we are currently using.
Presenter 3: Courtney Hall & Ashley Bowling
Thinking “Outside” The Classroom
A sensory Walk for Sight Words The primary grades (K-2) are a pivotal time in a child’s academic development. During these formative years, we as educators require them to learn core standards at a fast pace while reaching cognitive and developmental milestones at appropriate grade levels. Due to funding and resource constraints within our public school districts, it is often difficult to help students achieve those milestones, standards, and growth expectations with fewer resources at our disposal. One of the most common problems that I have noticed as an educator is the inability of my students to master their required sight word reading despite different teaching strategies implemented within the classroom setting. Simply sending home a list of Dolch pre-primer words and going over them twice daily as a whole and small group is no longer yielding optimal results. I believe the best approach to this problem would be to think outside the box and come up with a new strategy.
Presenter 4: Frankie Puckett
Extra Extra: Monthly Newsletter
The main activity will be using the camera to allow the students to photograph school related events then learn to print the photos and write a paragraph about the event/person for the monthly newsletter. Empowering students to use newfound photography and writing skills for the new newsletter is important in building a foundation for lifelong skill. Photography is a fun art that I would love to see my students enjoy. The camera will be used to document field trips, special projects, and different activities that our students will participate in throughout the year and be posted on the hallway timeline and help our school document the school year with pictures for the yearbook and monthly newsletter.
Presenter 5: WR Castle Elementary ACT Team
Using ACT to Address RTI/GT
Presenter 6: Tara Howard & Ashley Gamble
Student Voices of Appalachia: Podcasting from the Elementary Classroom
What are the benefits of podcasting in the elementary classroom and what effects will it have on student engagement? Our project is centered on the idea of high quality, engaging and ultimately effective teaching. In an effort to provide students with a 21st century education it is imperative to explore trends in teaching. Podcasts are currently being used as part of educational experiences across the globe. Podcasts have the ability to promote communication skills, improve technology skills, reinforce content material, increase deliberation and debate in the classroom, and provide an alternative method for assessment. This project will serve 130+ students directly involved in creating podcasts based on content and personal interests. Any impacts on literacy skills, student engagement, digital competence, global competence, and content knowledge will be noted.
Presenter 7: Melissa Little
Science Innovations, Explorations and Motivation
My grant was written to purchase STEM kits and science products that would make students want to more motivated and engaged in science. I have products where students will use engineering, to create different types of structures where they can then use these structures to become engaged in physics to determine how we can manipulate the structures to make items go faster and slower. There are owl pellets and diagrams to help students understand predator and prey, carnivores, and other animals skill concepts. My goal is to get students to explore different science content and become motivated to learn more about it.