The OFFER grant I received has enhanced my Health class. I purchased a Fat Loss Monitor that measures Body Fat percentage and BMI’s. When we discuss nutrition and fitness, students have thoroughly enjoyed testing their body fat composition and BMI’s. The state of Alabama is the second most obese state in the nation, and this tool has helped students to see the importance of eating healthfully and exercise. We also purchased a DVD on “Self-hurting Teens” that discusses depression, cutting, and suicide. This DVD prompted the students to ask a lot of questions and it really was an eye-opener for a lot of the teens. I am grateful for the OFFER grant that was given to Health. Health is not considered a core subject, but I remind the students all the time that the quality of their health will affect the quality of their life. So thank you for your enhancing my Health class!
Coach Amber Deline
With the grant OFFER awarded my class I was able to enhance my Kindergarten writing and language stations. For these stations I purchased word family flip books, sentence boards, stamp pads, word journals, letter stamps and various other materials to encourage creative writing and build vocabulary. This has been very beneficial to the students as I have seen a lot of growth in the areas of sentence structure since these items where implemented.
-Angie Hogeland
Writing and Language Tools
In 2009, I received an OFFER grant. I used the money to buy literacy games for my first grade classroom. I use the literacy games in reading centers on a daily basis. For instance, I bought big books for my students to read in paired reading and to read independently. I also bought books along with CDs and cassettes. Students love to listen to the stories in our listening center. In addition, I bought individual marker boards for my students to use. We use the marker boards every morning during whole group instruction and during literacy centers. Students practice writing their spelling and vocabulary words and they create spelling sentences and stories on their marker boards.
Autumn Hyde
The phonics manipulatives used from my OFFER grant from 2009-2010 have been a tremendous benefit to my students this year. The new reading program uses Literacy Centers throughout the morning to reinforce what we have been learning in the reading program. These kits have been beneficial in the reinforcement of beginning sounds, ending sounds, blends, vowels in the middle and rhyming words for my Kindergarten students to work with independently and in small groups.
Beverly Anderson
With funds received from O.F.F.E.R., I was able to purchase a variety of instructional materials to complement our current math curriculum. These materials have enabled me to better explain challenging concepts to my students by using realistic models. The math manipulatives have been valuable learning tools that have ensured that students remain actively engaged in the learning process. An added benefit is that while these materials can be used to explain and practice concepts during whole-group instruction, they can later be used for independent or group practice in learning centers while I am providing small group instruction or working one-on-one providing remediation. Thank you to O.F.F.E.R. for providing me with materials that allow me to be a more effective teacher!
Cheryl Phillips
1st Grade
The OFFER Grant that I received has made such a tremendous difference in my class. This is the first year that Oneonta High School has offered a French class for students. However, with proration, there wasn’t enough money to buy books. To begin the year, we borrowed books that were more than twenty-five years old from Blount County. To say the least, they were extremely out of date and we knew that we would have to replace them. After some fund raising efforts, the Academic Boosters generously purchased a class set of textbooks and one teacher’s edition for us. I used the OFFER grant to purchase the supplementary teaching materials to accompany the textbooks. The students were thrilled when we were able to switch to the new books and begin using the worksheets and videos purchased by OFFER. Thank you so much for improving our class!
Cindy O’Rear
Dear Offer,
Thank you so much for granting me the money to make the ENHANCE (Educators Nurturing Higher Academics Through Networking and Collaborative Efforts) Centers.
These are centers in a box that can be carried classroom to classroom and used to challenge students. Here are some of the reactions I have gotten from teachers who are utilizing these centers:
Shannon Jones, 6th grade teacher - The ENHANCE centers are great, especially for your “over achievers”. The students that finish early are the ones that are using them in my room. They don’t get many opportunities, but when they do they prefer them as opposed to reading for fun or working on homework. The SUDOKU with the dry erase marker board is the favorite.
Tricia Watson, 1st grade teacher - They are wonderful! I have 2 students who use them and they have loved them. Today they created a block picture story; they actually made 6 separate pictures, glued them together and stuffed it to make a real block! The projects they work on require a lot of brainstorming and creativity, which is exactly what these children need. By the way, we finished the stuffed toy project and they turned out really cute - stapling worked!
Karen Clark, 3rd grade teacher - My students do enjoy most of the activities. Some are more challenging than others. It is a great way to stretch their minds. Thanks for sharing them.
Thanks again,
Deb Hicks
Gifted Education Teacher
The grant I was awarded was for the purchase of a novel unit to be used in a classroom setting. The purpose of this grant was to provide different genres of books for students with different interests in an effort to increase the joy of reading. It has provided our students with an in-depth study of a novel in an effort to increase reading fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension and other necessary skills in order for a student to be successful. The exposure and education our students have received from being exposed to a variety of genres has been of great educational value. Research has proven that recorded books accelerate reading gains. Using a listen and read method helps increase comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary, and has been a great way to motivate reluctant and struggling readers as well as ELL students.
Nan Cox
The benefits of “Listening Libraries for Fluency” are many. Because these libraries contain a variety of materials on reading levels ranging from pre-primer to 3rd grade, I am reaching not only the struggling students in my classroom, but the above-level students as well. Listening libraries are an essential resource for independent fluency practice. These fluency libraries provide targeted reading practice through high-interest fiction and nonfiction books and carefully leveled text in a quick easy-to-read format. These books help students build automaticity and motivate them to read and reread. I use both the CD and cassette tape listening stations on a daily basis for independent Reading activities. Because of the generous grant from OFFER, I have many titles to choose from and most often can use a title directly related to our unit of study for the week.
Ramona Brewer
First Grade
My OFFER grant enabled the high school library to purchase badly needed books in the non-fiction collection. I have recently added an annotated bibliography project for eleventh grade English students. In analyzing the material necessary for their reports, students needed recently published books in some vital subject areas such as computer technology and the environment. With the recent limited public education funding for Alabama schools, every dollar counts, especially for under-funded school libraries. The OFFER grant was a Godsend for the high school library and me.
Stanley Moss
I used the OFFER grant to buy Light Boxes and Power supplies. These devices allow me to teach my Physics and Physical Science students about the properties of light; color addition, color subtraction, reflection using mirrors and refraction using lenses. It is an invaluable way to allow the students to have hands-on experience. These instruments are very expensive and I would not have been able to buy enough for a classroom without the OFFER grant.
Thank you,
Teresa Dawkins
After being awarded with the OFFER grant last year I was able to order several Literacy Stations for my higher-level learners. My students use them every day! The Literacy Stations I ordered reinforce skills that I have introduced during whole group instruction including synonyms, contractions, writing conventions, and several more. My students enjoy working with these stations and I will be able to use them for years to come.
Tricia Watson
1st Grade
Writing is an essential tool that every student needs to mastery. With the OFFER grant I received, I purchased a class set of thesauruses for my students to use so that they could expand their vocabulary. The fifth grade students’ writing skills are assessed with the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing and the thesauruses have became a vital tool for them to use when preparing to use precise vocabulary.
Krystal Hall
5th Grade English |
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O.F.F.E.R. Announces 2009-2010 Teachers Grants
The grant committee for O.F.F.E.R met on April 20th, 2009 to review the 2009-2010 grant applications. The committee was overwhelmed with the number of grants submitted. All grants were deemed worthy of consideration. The committee presented the findings to the members of the O.F.F.E.R. Board at our regular meeting on April 21st, 2009. Funding was not available to fully fund all 37 grant requests at $500 each. However, the Board voted to fund all 37 grants in the amount of $250 each. Congratulations to grant recipients: Angie Hogeland, Amanda Wood, Sharon Blackwood, Rosemary Atkinson, Beverly Anderson, Ramona Brewer, Tricia Watson, Autumn Hyde, Cheryl Phillips, Janna Gibbons NeSmith, Sharron Parker, Kellie Dailey, Joy Majors, Nancy Hopewell, Christy Weems, Krystal Key, Nan Cox, Dreama Young, Caprice Sims, Telisa Hilburn, Beatriz Vargas, Bryan Smith, Debra Hicks, Renee Clemons, Jim Kilgore, Cindy O'Rear, Emily Moore, Stanley Moss, Jill Phillips, Sharon Breaseale, Adam NeSmith, Tiffany Dodd, Teresa Dawkins, Phillip Phillips, Ashley Allen, Amber Deline and Julie Talton. |
