2012-13 Grant Awards
Archie R. Cole Middle School
- Smart Music: Linked to the National Music Standards, this innovative grant given to Archie R. Cole Middle School allows students to use interactive, differentiated, and individualized software for practice and assessment. This technology allows for performing on vocals and instruments alone or in repertoire, improvisation, and understanding music in historical and cultural context. This grant is given in memory of Mr. Ronald N. Stabile, beloved music instructor for the East Greenwich School Department for over 20 years, who died this year.
East Greenwich High School
- Modern Journalism: This grant project at East Greenwich High School is designed to enhance and supplement elements of the current English Language Arts and Computer Science curriculums with a focus on journalism. The purpose of this project is to expose students to the various genres of journalism, including advocacy journalism, photojournalism, investigative journalism, and reporting, as well as the process by which a newspaper is created and published, in print and online, through their work on the EGHS newspaper, the Mass Communications and the Media elective, and the Web Design elective. The grant funding supports the purchase of in iMac, Adobe software, and a digital camera. Students in the Mass Communications elective will be able to use the school newspaper to examine and create traditional and contemporary forms of journalism, perform editing, learn layout skills, and practice copy reading. The Adobe software also allows for web page design which would enable students in the Web Design elective to work on the project of creating a website for an online version of the school newspaper. Additionally, this technology can be used to publish a quarterly literary magazine showcasing student work, including essays, photography, short stories, poetry, and literary-based art. This project will allow students hands-on experience with these creative processes which inform, education, entertain, and inspire. The short-term goals of this project are to create a quarterly newspaper and a quarterly literary magazine. The long-term goals are to establish permanent outlets for students interested in journalism, create a lasting interdisciplinary relationship between the Computer Science and English Departments which allows for the use of advanced technology in the production of literary work by students, and to stimulate students with an interest in journalism. Students who provide work for the newspaper and/or literary magazine will be encouraged to submit work for publication in local and national print and online sources. The overall goal is to allow students to create, edit, and produce their work with an eye toward expanding their readership and viewership while exposing them to the real work of journalists and editors.
Frenchtown Elementary School
- iPAD EG: This grant project at Frenchtown Elementary School will allow for the purchase of Apple iPads and a Learning Lab, along with other supporting equipment, to enable the school to implement a pilot project designed to assess the potential of tablet technology and interactive education applications in differentiated instruction. The goal is to enhance the development of essential English language arts skills of reading – specifically, decoding accuracy, comprehension and fluency in Frenchtown second grade children. Second grade students at Frenchtown will be rotated through the iPAD EG literacy center as a whole class on a bi-weekly basis during the school day within their designated literacy level blocks. Each individual student will use an iPAD2 with an assigned application under teacher guidance and supervision. Student growth will be monitored through analysis of data accumulated within the application student file, as well as other data sources used by the district. This pilot recognizes the need for a multi-sensory approach to learning and teaching, and the potential value technology adds by allowing a child to learn via multiple pathways of visual, sound, and physical interaction with content. This project includes extensive pre- and post-evaluations so that the program can be professionally assessed in advance of any advocacy efforts to replicate this approach in additional classrooms.
James H. Eldredge Elementary School
- ’Scoping It Out: The ‘Scoping It Out project is an interactive, inquiry-based look at the life forms that inhabit our local ecosystems. The idea of this project is to look at the living organisms that make their home in our local waters. The hope of this project is to gain a better understanding of how the different life forms exist and interact in their interdependent world. Utilizing the accessible salt and fresh bodies of water in our town, the students will analyze water samples and compare life forms between the two. The goal of ‘Scoping It Out is to enrich the fifth grade microworld curriculum and to expand the development and awareness of the diversity and complexity of microbial life in our waters. This project will provide a deeper understanding of the interaction between living things and their environment. Each student will compile a ‘Scoping It Out portfolio to collect and analyze date, research, and experiences. After the introduction, use and mastering of the compound microscopes, the fifth grade students will conduct an extensive ‘Scoping It Out Interactive Expo that will be presented to the fourth grade students and the community. The Expo will provide a hands-on, inquiry-based, blended learning experience. Students will create a PowerPoint presentation using flip video technology. Learning stations will be created to provide one-on-one student direct learning on the compound microscopes. This interactive event will reinforce the student’s knowledge of their investigations and will prompt them to facilitate inquiry-based learning to their invited guests.