Foundation grants fund latest tech, learning methods
Across Vestavia schools, students will be able to study the atmosphere, virtually travel the world, work with robots and more, thanks to 15 grants awarded by the Vestavia Hills City Schools Foundation, totaling nearly $59,000.
Robin McKean, a three-year member of the VHCSF board, said the annual grants are a chance to support student growth and learning through projects outside the standard curriculum.
“I think what we have in Vestavia is very unique, and our teachers and administration do a great job,” McKean said.
There were 23 applicants for this year’s grants, which were awarded right before spring break. McKean said the foundation board, with help from principals and the Board of Education, award grants to projects that align with their school and school system’s overall education goals. They try to distribute the grants roughly equitably across the schools.
“We try to award grants based on the greatest possibility to positively impact as many students as possible,” McKean said.
The Board of Education also can receive grants for teacher training purposes. McKean said sometimes a grant will be funded to provide students the same opportunities across schools, such as this year’s weather balloon kit grant at Liberty Park Middle to replicate a similar project at Pizitz Middle last year.
Liberty Park teacher Desiree Spencer said her students spend about two months studying weather each year. Through this grant, in spring 2018 they’ll be able to release a weather balloon to study the atmosphere, with the help of a local meteorologist.
The project will involve collaboration, data collection and analysis, along with science, math and engineering skills. Students also will blog about their results from the weather balloon release.
“When we are studying weather with these students, any time we can give them a real-world experience rather than watching it on TV or reading it in a text, the knowledge transfer seems to be much greater,” said Lisa Williams, who co-wrote the grant application with Spencer and Linda Rummell. “They’re actually collecting [data] on their own and using the tools to interpret it and make predictions.”
At Vestavia Hills Elementary Central, Kim Jaggard will be creating a virtual reality (VR) room this summer for students to interact with their lessons. The VR room will work with the use of four projectors, one to display images on each wall of the room.
The system can be used to immerse students in a subject, such as a virtual trip to the Eiffel Tower or tour of the body, or display multiple related images and videos on different walls. Jaggard and Principal Marian Humphries got to see a similar room in action at Mountain Brook High School.
“When we observed, we were both just on fire because for our children at this age, it was just so appropriate,” Humphries said.
“You just kind of feel submerged in wherever you are or whatever you’re learning about,” Jaggard said.
With 34 classrooms, Jaggard said she expects students to be using the VR room “all day long, every day” for different projects or lessons.
Should Central get relocated in the discussion of how to best accommodate the growing Vestavia student body, Jaggard said they can pick up the VR room equipment and take it with them.
“[We’re] bringing the classroom into the real world,” Humphries said.
At the high school, art teacher Timarie Fisk is using her grant to purchase a glass kiln. In addition to teaching her art students different glass sculpting techniques, Fisk said the kiln can be used to bring science and engineering principles to life.
The kiln, which is mounted on wheels and can be transported to different classrooms, can help students visualize melting point, fusion or create “fossils” by pressing leaves between glass before putting it in the kiln.
“Students can build and create in the lab and fire it in the kiln right there,” Fisk said.
The kiln will arrive at the high school soon, and Fisk said the science teachers she has talked to are excited to use it. While her art classes might only use the kiln a couple times each school year, incorporating it in science curriculum means a lot more students will get the chance to use it. Fisk said she thinks the idea could be replicated at the middle school level.
“We wouldn’t have the money to purchase a large piece of equipment or purchase a piece of equipment that can be used throughout multiple classrooms [without VHCSF]. I think the Foundation does a great job of looking for projects that have vision,” Fisk said.
The awards totaled $58,850, an increase from last year. Funding for VHCSF grants comes from individual donations, as well as fundraising events such as Dinner and Diamonds. The full list of 2017 grants is below.
“We would not be able to offer this great experience to our students if it was not for the grant,” Spencer said.
Board of Education
► $10,000 for summer professional development and DIY professional collaboration.
► $2,000 for the Vestavia Teacher Leaders Program.
Vestavia Hills High School
► $5,150 for 15 computers and a computer cart for the Exceptional Education department.
► $1,268.88 for a new kiln to be used in art and science courses.
► $2,468.50 to purchase the newest version of The Geometer’s Sketchpad, Kuta software and to add additional “seats” to the TI-Smartview software.
Liberty Park Middle
► $1,630 for a high altitude weather balloon kit, GoPro camera and tracking software.
Pizitz Middle
► $3,500 for a model classroom with different seating and work spaces to engage different learning styles.
Cahaba Heights Elementary
► $2,699.73 to purchase the Investigations 3 math program.
► $3,043 for a set of Blue-bots, a docking station, backpack and four mats, two iPad Minis and a Cubelets Mini Makers pack.
Central Elementary
► $6,600 to create a Virtual Reality room inside a computer lab.
East Elementary
► $7,003.25 for Osmos Wonder Kits for each classroom.
Liberty Park Elementary
► $6,543 to purchase 24 Virtual Reality viewing sets.
West Elementary
► $3,000 for a set of Blue-bots, four iPad Minis and two Cubelets Educator packs.
► $845 to purchase the Fountas and Pinnell First Grade Book Collection 1.
► $3,100 to purchase the Units of Study for Teaching Reading resources for all classrooms.