Broadway Master Class with Ben Fankhauser
Krista Manfredi
Athens High School
Ben Fankhauser (Original Cast Member, Newsies on Broadway) will teach a master class in character development, dance choreography, vocal performance, scene work, etc. to the cast and crew of the Athens Theatre Company's 2019 production of Newsies. A question and answer session will follow the conclusion of the class.
Coffee Vocation Skills
Briana E Carten
Athens High School
High School students in a classroom for students with Moderate Cognitive Impairment have flexible in-school work that includes making, delivering, and serving coffee to teachers and administrators at Athens High School. They manage money and communicate to and with customers about products, prices, and money owed. Work program funds are applied to whole class rewards and cooking when not applied to purchase more coffee for business.
Water Quality Testing for AP Environmental Science
Michelle Dodson
Athens High School
In AP Environmental Science students learn how to determine the Water Quality Index (WQI) of local waterways by collecting samples in the field and testing them with 9 standard test parameters. Once compiled and analyzed, these parameters determine the WQI. Once their data analysis is done students will report their results to Arch Environmental. Finally, students will use the water quality testing kits in other labs, specifically EcoColumns (used to model an ecosystem on a small scale) and Primary Productivity.
"The Bookmobile"
Katie Taylor
Baker Middle School
The "Bookmobile" is a project that will get books "rolling" into classrooms at Baker Middle School. Books are a way to connect students and teachers across grade levels and content areas. Book purchases will be professional resources to share with teachers, high-interest middle school books to expand classroom libraries, picture books and materials to be used for instruction, and book giveaways for students. Book access is crucial for higher-level thinking, to build curiosity, and to encourage a reading community. The cart is ready to go, and now needs to be filled with books to share!
Baker Media Center Makerspace
Kathryn Loch
Baker Middle School
This project involves developing a Makerspace within the Baker Media Center. Students and staff will be able to access the Makerspace before school and during the school day, and items may be checked out for use outside the Media Center. The Makerspace will enhance the Baker learning environment by offering all students and staff the opportunity to engage with stimulating, innovative tools and materials.
Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities in the Classroom
Dustin Harnish
Baker Middle School
Virtual and augmented realities are emerging technologies that our students must be prepared to use. This project will allow Troy students to explore and create within these realities. By using CoSpaces EDU and Merge cubes, students will create historical content in augmented and virtual worlds.
Game-Based Math Learning for Perimeter, Area and Volume
Tammy Shen
Baker Middle School
This project engages students in playing games to learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Games are an effective way to learn these concepts because they provide opportunities for students to visualize, analyze, and problem-solve creatively as they work individually or in small groups. Games will be played on student iPads, and will be developed by older Baker Middle School students.
A New Way of Learning...Breakout EDU
Blair Schwartz
Barnard Elementary
Breakout EDU will provide students new and exciting tools to promote critical thinking, teamwork, creativity and communication. Breakout EDU takes learning to a new level in a variety of games in which students solve puzzles and clues to open a series of locked boxes. Students learn even more when they are unsuccessful in opening a lock because they are then required to go back to the drawing board and try again! With Breakout EDU we will create engaging opportunities for all students to develop critical skills.
Student-Centered Flexible Seating
Danielle Davenport
Hill Elementary
Flexible seating requires new innovative options for students. My TFEE grant will create a highly engaging classroom environment where my kindergarten students can collaborate, communicate, and create as they learn throughout our day. My classroom will no longer be a static environment, it will be flexible and fluid and allow for student ownership, collaboration and movement! Students will build a community of trust and sharing as they talk about their experiences as readers, writers and mathematicians.
Dremel 3D Printer
Jason Fawcett
Larson Middle School
The Larson 3D Printer Project will support students in ELA 6 Genius Hour and Innovation Incubator as they design and create solutions to real world problems. Genius Hour students will learn the basic skills of the 3D modeling software and design a creation of their own to print. During this process, they will learn to modify their design in order to have a successful print. Students in Innovation Incubator will also learn the basic skills of the Tinkercad 3D software and design and print their own creation. In addition, students will utilize the 3D printer during the prototyping phase of the design thinking process as they create components for the Board Game Project and invent their own products for the Larson Innovation Shark Tank Project.
"A Sea of Possibilities" Art Collaboration Project
Amy Mee
Leonard Elementary
Through the “Sea of Possibilities” Art Collaboration Project, Leonard Elementary School students will actively participate in the design, planning, creation, and presentation of large-scale collaborative sculptures using repurposed and recycled materials in response to the school’s year-long theme of water and the protection of our waterways.
Conservation Education through Birding, Composting, and Recycling
Katie Starn
Leonard Elementary
Birds, worms, and composting, OH MY! How can we make this world a better place? This question is easy to answer if you're a third grader at Leonard Elementary! They know how to take tiny steps to make a huge impact on our Earth! By learning how and why to compost we found two ways to create the best soil: traditional composting and vermi composting! The students at Leonard are also exploring the world around them by taking note of the birds that live right in their backyards. When exploring the world around us, we wonder, ask questions, observe and research. Birding is an excellent way to open our minds. Birds can be observed any time of year, anywhere you are, and across all social economic and political lines. Learning that the world outside of 'ourselves' is important and needs to be taken care of is a crucial lesson that benefits all young people.
Morse Community Compost & Garden
Melissa Batts
Morse Elementary
The Morse community garden and composting initiative is an ongoing project that provides the opportunity for students, staff, and families to learn about sustainability within a community. The garden, originally funded by TFEE grants, has been used to create an understanding of planting and harvesting, as well as providing fresh vegetables and herbs for Morse families over the past five years. Two years ago, we added composting to this project. With the combination of the two, students are able to see the full-circle benefits of creating a sustainable food source that will continually provide for the community. This project provides an outdoor learning environment, a real-world connection, and a chance for students to see their impact on others.
#ScienceRocksFilm
Christine Bonnell
Schroeder Elementary
Students show their learning best when they create meaningful projects they can share with their peers, their school and the educational community. #ScienceRocksFilms is a student-created film initiative that allows students to be critical and creative thinkers while sharing their learning of Science content knowledge! The inspiration for our filming project comes from NASA's Spotlite videos - short films featuring Science concepts created by students, for students. We would like to extend the idea into a year-long project that includes films focused on science-related concepts, misconceptions, and real-world learning. The initiative includes introductions to filming, filming platforms, techniques and an end-of-the-year film festival showcasing each student's best work throughout the year.
Historical Fiction Books
Dana Calvird
Schroeder Elementary
All fourth graders at Schroeder Elementary will benefit from the grade-level, reader-level appropriate Historical Fiction chapter and picture books. Throughout this Historical Fiction book club unit, students will not only meet with their book club, they will have a chance to collaborate with other students in the school and other fourth grade students in the district through Skype! During this unit, students will study characters analytically, recognize multiple issues and themes in books, and compare our world timeline to the timeline of the characters in their book. During their book clubs, members will grow ideas by writing their ideas in their reader’s notebook as they read. When they meet with their group, they will be ready to discuss these ideas. Getting the right books in the hands of ALL readers is so important when it comes to building and challenging students academically.
Mentor Texts to Support Writing
Holly Malavolti
Schroeder Elementary
Schroeder students are eager to write! They look for new ways all the time but often are not sure how to effectively involve their reader. Through the use of weekly mentor texts Schroeder students will be given exposure to sentence structure, writer's craft, sentence fluency, and conventions. All of these weekly lessons will guide students towards independence and ownership of their writing. We cannot wait to see what they create when it is their turn to teach each other what they have learned!
Special Olympics Basketball
Justin Tout
Troy Center for Transition / GROW
My project is to create a supported basketball team for young adults with disabilities. We will bring all of our students together to create a team of adults with unique needs and help them build an understanding of the game and the basic skill set needed to compete. We will arrange competitions with other adult transition programs so that our students are able to visit other places in their community and also meet new peers that are likely out of their immediate social circle. This project will promote social skills, teamwork, emotional and physical well being, and self worth. In an adult transition program, there is a strong focus on community use, lifelong learning, social skill building, and leisure skill building. These things combine to help our students lead fulfilling, meaningful lives once they complete school. We focus on giving students the tools they need to increase their quality of life and their ability to give back to their community once they finish their public school experience. We find that too many of our students end up on the couch in front of a TV after graduation. Through instruction like this, we reduce sedentary lifestyles and increase the health and happiness of our students throughout their adult lives.
Connected Biology
Rebecca Brewer
Troy High
Connected Biology utilizes active learning strategies where high school students uncover biological concepts by working with real scientists to conduct inquiry investigations that facilitate deep, authentic learning.
ELD Writer's Workshop
Christina Rick
Troy High
ELD English students will use composition notebooks (writers notebooks) as I work to implement the workshop model in my ELD English classes. I will use strategies from Kate Roberts' book, A Novel Approach, to engage students in reading and writing and make their learning more individualized and organic. Students will track their thinking about reading and write drafts in their writers notebooks. Students will do daily reading and writing work in their notebooks (based on mini lessons), and this work will be the basis for classroom discussions and published writing pieces. At the end of the year, students will have a physical notebook to show all of their learning from the year.
Forensic Science Entomology Unit
Noelle Wald
Troy High
Students LOVE to solve cases, especially when the case is their very own to solve! This year, we are merging two units taught in forensic science and creating one gigantic and exciting case that involves investigative techniques, evidence collection, insect identification and access to experts in the field. Who wants to listen to their teacher talk about these things when you can discover it for yourself and learn from real-life crime scene technicians, police officers, federal agents, autopsy attendants and pathologists!? The case has two parts; design an experiment to determine the time of death of the individual using a fetal pig (which is done through insect evidence collection), and then use the investigative techniques learned in the class and through experts, to solve the case. At the end, students show their collaborative skills by presenting to those very experts who assisted in their learning!
Wass Summer Book Club
Kristyn Cubitt
Wass Elementary
Our project's goal is to avoid summer regression in reading ability of targeted students who are below or approaching grade level in reading as measured by the Spring Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment. We will identify books for students entering grades 2-5 that will be purchased and sent home for the students to read. We will meet three times in the summer at Wass to discuss the books. This year, our media specialist will be attending the summer book club dates to allow all students grades K-5 to check out books. In addition to inviting the targeted students and providing them with the book sets, we're also inviting all students entering grades 2-5 to join; however, they would have to purchase their own copies of the books. Students work so hard during the school year to improve their reading ability and comprehension, we hope to support their reading in the summer, too!
Krista Manfredi
Athens High School
Ben Fankhauser (Original Cast Member, Newsies on Broadway) will teach a master class in character development, dance choreography, vocal performance, scene work, etc. to the cast and crew of the Athens Theatre Company's 2019 production of Newsies. A question and answer session will follow the conclusion of the class.
Coffee Vocation Skills
Briana E Carten
Athens High School
High School students in a classroom for students with Moderate Cognitive Impairment have flexible in-school work that includes making, delivering, and serving coffee to teachers and administrators at Athens High School. They manage money and communicate to and with customers about products, prices, and money owed. Work program funds are applied to whole class rewards and cooking when not applied to purchase more coffee for business.
Water Quality Testing for AP Environmental Science
Michelle Dodson
Athens High School
In AP Environmental Science students learn how to determine the Water Quality Index (WQI) of local waterways by collecting samples in the field and testing them with 9 standard test parameters. Once compiled and analyzed, these parameters determine the WQI. Once their data analysis is done students will report their results to Arch Environmental. Finally, students will use the water quality testing kits in other labs, specifically EcoColumns (used to model an ecosystem on a small scale) and Primary Productivity.
"The Bookmobile"
Katie Taylor
Baker Middle School
The "Bookmobile" is a project that will get books "rolling" into classrooms at Baker Middle School. Books are a way to connect students and teachers across grade levels and content areas. Book purchases will be professional resources to share with teachers, high-interest middle school books to expand classroom libraries, picture books and materials to be used for instruction, and book giveaways for students. Book access is crucial for higher-level thinking, to build curiosity, and to encourage a reading community. The cart is ready to go, and now needs to be filled with books to share!
Baker Media Center Makerspace
Kathryn Loch
Baker Middle School
This project involves developing a Makerspace within the Baker Media Center. Students and staff will be able to access the Makerspace before school and during the school day, and items may be checked out for use outside the Media Center. The Makerspace will enhance the Baker learning environment by offering all students and staff the opportunity to engage with stimulating, innovative tools and materials.
Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities in the Classroom
Dustin Harnish
Baker Middle School
Virtual and augmented realities are emerging technologies that our students must be prepared to use. This project will allow Troy students to explore and create within these realities. By using CoSpaces EDU and Merge cubes, students will create historical content in augmented and virtual worlds.
Game-Based Math Learning for Perimeter, Area and Volume
Tammy Shen
Baker Middle School
This project engages students in playing games to learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Games are an effective way to learn these concepts because they provide opportunities for students to visualize, analyze, and problem-solve creatively as they work individually or in small groups. Games will be played on student iPads, and will be developed by older Baker Middle School students.
A New Way of Learning...Breakout EDU
Blair Schwartz
Barnard Elementary
Breakout EDU will provide students new and exciting tools to promote critical thinking, teamwork, creativity and communication. Breakout EDU takes learning to a new level in a variety of games in which students solve puzzles and clues to open a series of locked boxes. Students learn even more when they are unsuccessful in opening a lock because they are then required to go back to the drawing board and try again! With Breakout EDU we will create engaging opportunities for all students to develop critical skills.
Student-Centered Flexible Seating
Danielle Davenport
Hill Elementary
Flexible seating requires new innovative options for students. My TFEE grant will create a highly engaging classroom environment where my kindergarten students can collaborate, communicate, and create as they learn throughout our day. My classroom will no longer be a static environment, it will be flexible and fluid and allow for student ownership, collaboration and movement! Students will build a community of trust and sharing as they talk about their experiences as readers, writers and mathematicians.
Dremel 3D Printer
Jason Fawcett
Larson Middle School
The Larson 3D Printer Project will support students in ELA 6 Genius Hour and Innovation Incubator as they design and create solutions to real world problems. Genius Hour students will learn the basic skills of the 3D modeling software and design a creation of their own to print. During this process, they will learn to modify their design in order to have a successful print. Students in Innovation Incubator will also learn the basic skills of the Tinkercad 3D software and design and print their own creation. In addition, students will utilize the 3D printer during the prototyping phase of the design thinking process as they create components for the Board Game Project and invent their own products for the Larson Innovation Shark Tank Project.
"A Sea of Possibilities" Art Collaboration Project
Amy Mee
Leonard Elementary
Through the “Sea of Possibilities” Art Collaboration Project, Leonard Elementary School students will actively participate in the design, planning, creation, and presentation of large-scale collaborative sculptures using repurposed and recycled materials in response to the school’s year-long theme of water and the protection of our waterways.
Conservation Education through Birding, Composting, and Recycling
Katie Starn
Leonard Elementary
Birds, worms, and composting, OH MY! How can we make this world a better place? This question is easy to answer if you're a third grader at Leonard Elementary! They know how to take tiny steps to make a huge impact on our Earth! By learning how and why to compost we found two ways to create the best soil: traditional composting and vermi composting! The students at Leonard are also exploring the world around them by taking note of the birds that live right in their backyards. When exploring the world around us, we wonder, ask questions, observe and research. Birding is an excellent way to open our minds. Birds can be observed any time of year, anywhere you are, and across all social economic and political lines. Learning that the world outside of 'ourselves' is important and needs to be taken care of is a crucial lesson that benefits all young people.
Morse Community Compost & Garden
Melissa Batts
Morse Elementary
The Morse community garden and composting initiative is an ongoing project that provides the opportunity for students, staff, and families to learn about sustainability within a community. The garden, originally funded by TFEE grants, has been used to create an understanding of planting and harvesting, as well as providing fresh vegetables and herbs for Morse families over the past five years. Two years ago, we added composting to this project. With the combination of the two, students are able to see the full-circle benefits of creating a sustainable food source that will continually provide for the community. This project provides an outdoor learning environment, a real-world connection, and a chance for students to see their impact on others.
#ScienceRocksFilm
Christine Bonnell
Schroeder Elementary
Students show their learning best when they create meaningful projects they can share with their peers, their school and the educational community. #ScienceRocksFilms is a student-created film initiative that allows students to be critical and creative thinkers while sharing their learning of Science content knowledge! The inspiration for our filming project comes from NASA's Spotlite videos - short films featuring Science concepts created by students, for students. We would like to extend the idea into a year-long project that includes films focused on science-related concepts, misconceptions, and real-world learning. The initiative includes introductions to filming, filming platforms, techniques and an end-of-the-year film festival showcasing each student's best work throughout the year.
Historical Fiction Books
Dana Calvird
Schroeder Elementary
All fourth graders at Schroeder Elementary will benefit from the grade-level, reader-level appropriate Historical Fiction chapter and picture books. Throughout this Historical Fiction book club unit, students will not only meet with their book club, they will have a chance to collaborate with other students in the school and other fourth grade students in the district through Skype! During this unit, students will study characters analytically, recognize multiple issues and themes in books, and compare our world timeline to the timeline of the characters in their book. During their book clubs, members will grow ideas by writing their ideas in their reader’s notebook as they read. When they meet with their group, they will be ready to discuss these ideas. Getting the right books in the hands of ALL readers is so important when it comes to building and challenging students academically.
Mentor Texts to Support Writing
Holly Malavolti
Schroeder Elementary
Schroeder students are eager to write! They look for new ways all the time but often are not sure how to effectively involve their reader. Through the use of weekly mentor texts Schroeder students will be given exposure to sentence structure, writer's craft, sentence fluency, and conventions. All of these weekly lessons will guide students towards independence and ownership of their writing. We cannot wait to see what they create when it is their turn to teach each other what they have learned!
Special Olympics Basketball
Justin Tout
Troy Center for Transition / GROW
My project is to create a supported basketball team for young adults with disabilities. We will bring all of our students together to create a team of adults with unique needs and help them build an understanding of the game and the basic skill set needed to compete. We will arrange competitions with other adult transition programs so that our students are able to visit other places in their community and also meet new peers that are likely out of their immediate social circle. This project will promote social skills, teamwork, emotional and physical well being, and self worth. In an adult transition program, there is a strong focus on community use, lifelong learning, social skill building, and leisure skill building. These things combine to help our students lead fulfilling, meaningful lives once they complete school. We focus on giving students the tools they need to increase their quality of life and their ability to give back to their community once they finish their public school experience. We find that too many of our students end up on the couch in front of a TV after graduation. Through instruction like this, we reduce sedentary lifestyles and increase the health and happiness of our students throughout their adult lives.
Connected Biology
Rebecca Brewer
Troy High
Connected Biology utilizes active learning strategies where high school students uncover biological concepts by working with real scientists to conduct inquiry investigations that facilitate deep, authentic learning.
ELD Writer's Workshop
Christina Rick
Troy High
ELD English students will use composition notebooks (writers notebooks) as I work to implement the workshop model in my ELD English classes. I will use strategies from Kate Roberts' book, A Novel Approach, to engage students in reading and writing and make their learning more individualized and organic. Students will track their thinking about reading and write drafts in their writers notebooks. Students will do daily reading and writing work in their notebooks (based on mini lessons), and this work will be the basis for classroom discussions and published writing pieces. At the end of the year, students will have a physical notebook to show all of their learning from the year.
Forensic Science Entomology Unit
Noelle Wald
Troy High
Students LOVE to solve cases, especially when the case is their very own to solve! This year, we are merging two units taught in forensic science and creating one gigantic and exciting case that involves investigative techniques, evidence collection, insect identification and access to experts in the field. Who wants to listen to their teacher talk about these things when you can discover it for yourself and learn from real-life crime scene technicians, police officers, federal agents, autopsy attendants and pathologists!? The case has two parts; design an experiment to determine the time of death of the individual using a fetal pig (which is done through insect evidence collection), and then use the investigative techniques learned in the class and through experts, to solve the case. At the end, students show their collaborative skills by presenting to those very experts who assisted in their learning!
Wass Summer Book Club
Kristyn Cubitt
Wass Elementary
Our project's goal is to avoid summer regression in reading ability of targeted students who are below or approaching grade level in reading as measured by the Spring Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment. We will identify books for students entering grades 2-5 that will be purchased and sent home for the students to read. We will meet three times in the summer at Wass to discuss the books. This year, our media specialist will be attending the summer book club dates to allow all students grades K-5 to check out books. In addition to inviting the targeted students and providing them with the book sets, we're also inviting all students entering grades 2-5 to join; however, they would have to purchase their own copies of the books. Students work so hard during the school year to improve their reading ability and comprehension, we hope to support their reading in the summer, too!