Granting Wishes For Teachers
Education Foundation financial gifts impact students across the district
Written by Megan Middleton
In its first year to award grants, the Chisholm
Trail Education Foundation introduced Crowley ISD
elementary students to computer coding, exposed
middle school students to 3D technology and made
intermediate classrooms a bit cozier.
The foundation surprised teacher with nine grants,
totaling more than $30,000 for innovative projects
during the 2016-17 convocation. Grants ranged from
$1,000 to $5,000. New grants will be awarded at
convocation in August for the 2017-18 school year.
“This is a grant program designed to help teachers
who need funds for innovative classroom projects that
might not otherwise be available because the programs
were new and innovative and creative,” said Bonnie
Barksdale, president of the Chisholm Trail Education
Foundation board.
The foundation’s grant of more than $4,000 to
Oakmont Elementary paid for two class sets of Ozobots
and 10 iPad minis — technology that allows students
to learn how to code in a fun way. Students from
kindergarten through fourth grades, including students
with intellectual disabilities in the Functional Academics
class, have used the tiny robots.
North Crowley High School students visited
Oakmont to help teach their elementary counterparts
how to use coding to operate the Ozobots.
“It’s sparked a lot of interest in coding across the
whole school,” said Ginny Campbell, an Oakmont Gifted
and Talented Education teacher. “I think it’s great that
they’ve had the experience and the opportunity to do
that at such a young age.”
Thanks to a grant from the Chisholm Trail Education Foundation,
students at Oakmont Elementary School are learning coding in a
fun way and use their skills to control tiny robots.
2016-17 Grants
$2,500 - Crowley Middle School, Students Supporting
Students
$5,000 - Crowley and North Crowley high schools,
Creating Unity Through Artistry
$4,900 - Dallas Park Elementary, Step into My World
$4,463 - Meadowcreek Elementary, Teach Town
$1,000 - North Crowley High School, Panther Olympics
$4,344 - Oakmont Elementary, Coding for Kids
$4,923 - Sue Crouch Intermediate, Student-Centered
Classroom
$3,000 - Summer Creek Middle School, 3D Applications
in Science
$1,000 - Sycamore Elementary, Math Carnival
Megan Hutson, a Functional Academics teacher at
Oakmont, said the Ozobots have been beneficial to her
students as well.
“I truly believe that these Ozobots provide more
than just an opportunity for students to showcase
higher level thinking skills, but it also gives real life
functional practice of important skills for their future,”
Hutson said.
At Sue Crouch, grant funding made it possible for
teachers to offer alternative seating options to make
classroom learning more comfortable. Students can sit
in bean bag chairs, on stability balls, moon chairs or at
tall tables with tall chairs.
STEM Academy teacher Shelley Alvine and three
other teachers at Sue Crouch applied f or the grant for
the flexible seating after researching ways to improve
behavior and focus.
Students love the additional seating options, and
teachers have seen it help with focus and discipline
issues, Alvine said.
“We really wanted to do it, but the amount of money
it would have cost us, we wouldn’t have been able to,”
she said.
Fifth-grader Jeffery Hunsinger said he likes getting
to choose to sit where he feels most comfortable.
“I usually sit at the bean bags, and I have a bean bag
at my house, so it makes me feel at home and it helps
me focus,” he said.
The foundation is making a difference in the lives of
CISD students, Alvine said.
“They are truly impacting our students in Crowley
ISD and helping us become more innovative,” she said.
“Everyone should apply.”
CROWLEY ISD CONNECTIONS | Summer 2017
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