Creative Teaching Grant funds 6 projects
At the Butler Area School District meeting Monday night, it was announced that the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation distributed a total $10,000 in Creative Teaching Grant funds among various schools and an update was provided on the Butler Senior High School auxiliary gym construction.
According to Al Vavro, school board president, the foundation reviews and chooses which applicants’ projects will benefit the largest amount of students in a particular school.
“They try to pick projects most helpful to the kids and look at the number of students affected by the grants,” he said. “The board is grateful for the effort put forth by those applying for these grants to help our students and staff.”
The six projects are partly funded by proceeds from the Fine Arts and Beyond showcase, according to superintendent Brian White. Each applicant was asked to fill out a questionnaire describing their intentions for the grant. These projects include:
* The Community Agriculture partnership at Summit Elementary (CAPS) will be purchasing agriculture literacy kits to broaden the scope of science understanding. The kits include materials to make books that can be incorporated into curriculum and teach about animals, plants and more. The learning materials can be used for kindergarten through fourth grade students and include lesson plans for teachers.
* At Center Township Elementary, two projects will be funded by the foundation.
For five weeks, fourth-grade girls will get a chance to participate in yoga classes. Funds will cover the hour-long workshops, which include breath work, active movement, group challenge poses and balance.
The second initiative will help selected second-grade students develop reading skills and cope with major life stressors such as divorce, grief or moving. The PAWsitive Support Reading Club will meet for 15 minutes a day, and bi-weekly students will have the opportunity to read to therapy dogs. The program could eventually be available to other grade levels, according to the project description.
* As part of McQuistion Elementary School’s Positive Behavior Intervention System Framework, students earn “golden bookmarks” and are entered to win prizes. As part of that initiative, students earning the bookmarks will get a chance to use the book vending machines. Books from the machine can be kept by students.
* Students of Connoquenessing Elementary School will get to experience Osmo learning materials, which bring hands-on games with real-life objects into contact with the digital world on an iPad. Subjects such as spelling, physics, geography and more can be explored through the online system. Osmo devices are compatible with iPads already in the district and would be used in library and STEAM classes.
* Magnetic letter boards will be purchased with grant funds for multisensory teaching at Northwest Elementary School. The boards will provide an opportunity for consistent exposure to vocabulary and phonetics.
The board approved a total of more than $226,700 in change orders for the new auxiliary gym and its additional classrooms. Changes included modifications to walls in locker rooms for nearly $4,000, door and hardware changes for more than $16,000, and changes to eight bathrooms — four of which will be handicap accessible — for over $203,500.
According to White, the new bathrooms will be in the classroom portion of the new building, near the new hall that intersects with the old Senior High building. The final cost could change depending on inflation.
At the end of the meeting, White announced that $7,500 was donated to Emily Brittain Elementary School by #1 Cochran Subaru of Butler through adoptaclassroom.org.
“The sum is divided among 15 teachers, and each teacher receives $500 for class materials,” he said.
The next school board meeting is at 7:30 p.m. May 9.
