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closeThe Flint Energies Foundation recently awarded a total of $10,000 to 12 teachers in Houston, Macon and Taylor counties.
Each teacher received a grant for up to $1,000 through Flint’s Bright Ideas program for innovative classroom lesson plans. Winners received flowers, balloons and gift bags in addition to the award. The grants are not available for professional development.
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The following teachers won 2009 Bright Ideas grants from the Flint Energies Foundation: •Stephanie King, Apple a Day – Reading with iPods, Eagle Springs Elementary School, $1,000; •Angelina Armijo, Recycling Soda Can Program, Bonaire Middle School, $961.73; •Megan King, News Broadcast, Houston County High School, $633.61; •Laura Iovine, Mouthpieces for Middle School Musicians, Northside Middle School, $956; •Mary May, Georgia on my Mind, David A. Perdue Elementary School, $786.88; •Brandi Burgess, Miller Extreme School Makeover – School Beautification Project, Miller Elementary School, $496; •Jonathan Eubanks, Greenhouse Restoration Project, Russell Elementary School, $998; •JoAnne Horrell, Read and Rewind, Tucker Elementary School, Perry, $1,000; •Moneak Harris, Big Blue Goes Green, Taylor County High School, Butler, $915.90; •Jacqueline Kendrick, Rain + Soil x Sunshine = Growth!, Macon County Middle School, Montezuma, $379.69; •Betty Barnes, Readers Theater, Eagle Springs Elementary School, $1,000.00 and •Gwen McDade, Keep It Cool, Huntington Middle School, $872.19. Two other teachers received prizes for submitting grants. • Leeanne Berry, a teacher at Miller Elementary, won the online application drawing by submitting her Bright Ideas application via Flint’s Web site. She received a $250 Staples gift certificate to purchase supplies for her classroom. •Crawford County Middle School teacher Linda Locket won a digital camera for her classroom by winning the early bird drawing.
Public and private school teachers for grades K-12 in the co-op’s service territory, which spans 17 counties in Middle Georgia, were eligible to apply for the grants. Flint received 40 grant applications in September. A panel of retired teachers served as judges and reviewed the applications.
Among the teachers who received the Flint grant was Stephanie King, a kindergarten teacher at Eagle Springs Elementary School in Byron, who received $1,000 for her program, Apple a Day-Reading with iPods. Students will be able to access book files on iPods in the school’s listening center, where they can listen to the stories while following along with a scanned version of the book on the device.
“iPods are not just for music,” she said. “There are a lot of things you can do with them.”
One goal she has through the program is to engage boys in reading more by offering books on topics such as sports and wildlife, citing research indicating a reading gender gap between girls and boys after the third grade.
King also said many teachers are female, which affects the choice of books read in the classroom.
“The teachers read books they like, and we don’t think about the things they like,” King said.
She hopes to purchase five iPods with the funds, she said.
King said some of the audio recordings will be converted from books on tape. She also will enlist the help of some of her students to read the stories for the recordings.
King hopes to make the book files available through a secure Web site so busy parents can download them onto their iPods at home.
“I’m blessed to have won this, and I’m hoping it will do great things ... to inspire kids to want to read more,” King said.
Joanne Horrell, a media specialist at Tucker Elementary School in Perry, also was awarded $1,000 for her Read and Rewind program.
With the program, students will be able to check out hand-held tape recorders, read a book aloud and play back the recordings to listen to themselves reading.
Ultimately, Horrell hopes the program will become a “tool to help reluctant readers” by increasing fluency when reading aloud.
“I hope it’s going to increase a child’s desire to read and help a child read better,” she said.
With the grant, Horrell will be able to purchase 20 tape recorders, along with batteries and cassette tapes.
Students will be able to check out the recorders for a week at a time with the option to renew, and teachers also can check them out for classroom use, Horrell said.
“I was just so thrilled to be chosen,” she said. “It will definitely help children.”
To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.
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