Teachers apply for mini-grants through a grant proposal distributed each year by the district office. Applications are reviewed each fall by the CEF Mini-Grant Committee. Those awarded mini grants are then able to use those funds toward the cost of materials and items necessary to complete each project.

2013 Mini-Grants

CEF Prize Posse Awards Funds to R-2 Teachers
October 4, 2013 (CT) Austin Buckner

The Chillicothe Education Foundation presented its annual mini grant
awards for the 2013-2014 school year Thursday morning, October 3, 2013.

More than $4,000 was awarded to 10 projects throughout the Chillicothe R-2 district. Superintendent Roger Barnes said 18 grants were submitted to the foundation this year. "Each grant application has a maximum of around $500," Barnes explained. "We like to award opportunities to teachers for these areas where they go above and beyond to further or extend instruction. These grants help fund operations that might not have been a strong priority otherwise. It's a great opportunity for our students."

Three $500 grants were awarded this year. The first of these three awards went to fifth grade teachers Michelle Vinson and Donna Good at Central Elementary. The $500 award will help fund a trip to Science City on Thursday, Nov. 7. The grant will pay for the cost of the fifth grade students to participate in the Planetarium presentation. On return, the students will create a short book appropriate for their first grade reading buddy. Students will also complete research on a chosen constellation. Other activities will also be held with the first grade related to this Planetarium visit.

The second $500 grant was awarded to Sonja Daley, a Health Science Technology instructor at Grand River Technical School. The funds will allow Daley to purchase 20 human torso models and two human torso kits that students will use in the curriculum to study the human body. Students will paint, create, and simulate each system to resemble the human anatomy.

Sondra Sturguess at GRTS was the recipient of the third $500 award. The grant will be used in creating flash cards for Garrison, Dewey, Field, and Central elementary schools to help students learn the alphabet, master math functions, and recognize high frequency words. The cards will be designed and created by the Desktop Publishing class at GRTS as a classroom project. Groups will work with different elementary buildings. The grant covers the cost of card stock, laminate, binding, colored ink, and all related materials in creating the flash cards.

A $483.96 grant was awarded to third grade teachers Tiffany Acree, Gracie Bonderer, Tracy Miller, Billie McGraw, Katie Maples and Terria Cox. These teachers will purchase approximately 14 QEB Animal Lives books for classroom libraries. The books include amazing photos and include many of the nonfiction texts that third grade students are required to know.

GRTS instructors Nancy Burtch, Brandon Dennis and Mike Harrington were the recipients of a $482 grant. Funds will be used to purchase a 3D printer (to be assembled by students), filament to make 3D objects, and accessories to improve the performance of the printer. Students will not only assemble the printer, but they will use the printer, troubleshoot their work, and learn more about its use through online forums.

Andrea Dennis and Dianna Holcer, at the Chillicothe Alternative Center for Education, were awarded $447. Currently, the students at CACE earn their required physical education credit by working out of a book or on a computer. The grant will allow them to purchase some workout equipment and set up a physical education room at CACE, including exercise mats, bench with bar and weights, dumbell weights with rack, weighted balls, and fitness balls.

A grant of $383.49 was awarded to Stacy Surber, science instructor at Chillicothe High School. The CEF grant will allow Surber's class to purchase 10 student aneroid blood pressure sets with stethoscopes, as well as an iPAD application to convert sound information into an electrocardiogram picture. Health classes will use the equipment in a lab setting to learn about blood pressure and hypertension, and Anatomy students will use the equipment to learn the operation of the heart.

Tammy Price, an instructor with the Behavioral Management Program at CACE, was the recipient of a $315 grant. Students will be allowed to order $5 worth of fiction or non-fiction books of their choice from the Scholastic Book Clubs, read the books, and report back to class in a book review. Students may share their books with other classmates, but the books are theirs to keep so they may begin their own home library.

Counselor Melissa Eiserer was awarded $288. The grant will allow teachers to purchase a long list of books and related activity books by Julia Cook. Cook's books actively involve young people into fun and creative stories and teach them to become life-long problem solvers. This grant also includes a $159 distance expense.

The final grant, in the amount of $176.00, was awarded to third grade teacher Mary Turner. The grant covers the cost of medals and mileage marker cards for students who participate in the effort to promote fitness through the Missouri Governor's 100-Mile Challenge. On Sept. 12, students, teachers, and a few parents began running or walking on the school grounds for 30 minutes three days a week after school. The punch cards will be used to chart student progress. A gold medal will be awarded to students at the Victory Lap in the spring.

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