The Innovation Grant awarded to Clay Elementary allowed the school to continually meet the changing needs of students and faculty. The goal of Destination Library Meets Learning Common, was to integrate the use of technology and eBooks into the everyday life of the library. The library has become a hub for learning and every day the library becomes a host for students who are reading, or working on Chromebooks and computers.
Students in Ms. Vongehr’s classroom completed a gated area for housing a beautiful greenhouse. Additionally, in collaboration with the Women of Construction and under the supervision of Jay Eichmann, the students assembled an 8 x 12 x 8 Palram greenhouse. This stunning jewel is the centerpiece for the ongoing development of the "Secret Garden" at Clovis High School with additional plans of above ground planters, garden benches, and a botanical setting for students to enjoy for years to come.
Tammy Pilcher’s classroom at Laton High School participated in the Fresno Chaffee Zoo educational program. This program included a behind the scenes tour of the Hooved Animals, Vet Center and Sting Ray Bay exhibits. Students had the opportunity to learn about research and conservation efforts that the zoo is making including career opportunities in Animal Science. Students were able to ask questions of zoo keepers about each area that they visited. It was a great experience for students and the first time visit to the zoo for some.
As part of the Science is Real project, Mendota High School students in Sinead Brien’s classroom completed and presented a project that demonstrated the application of science to the issue of how to use solar panels more efficiently. Students took their project to the State Science Fair where they connected with other science-minded students. Students also had the opportunity to discuss their project with professionals in the field of science and engineering.
Pine Ridge School was able to enrich student elective programs in the arts and science by providing supplies for classes such as campus graffiti art, book illustrations (Young Authors Fair books), cooking, rocketry, video editing and golf. The goal was to introduce activities to students that enhance their school experience while teaching them the foundations of art, math and science.
Sierra Junior High students participated in either a math, English intervention or an enrichment course. The goal of the Directed Studies- Enriching Experiences project was to excite students about a variety of educational fields and to help teachers share with students the experiences within those fields that could lead them to make career choices. Enrichments included science, art, music, athletics, ASL, and life skill themes. The courses were 3 weeks in length and students rotated through several interventions and enrichments throughout the school year.
The library at West Fresno Middle School made great strides to offer students 21st century learning experiences with the establishment of the audio and video recording, and coding stations. A digital library was also established featuring book talks created by students. The Innovation Grant also made another project possible, the Junior High Reading Fair Competition. The competition provided students with the opportunity to share their favorite fictional or non-fictional book through a storyboard display.
The Partnering for a Bright Future project took a diverse group of at risk young men and placed them in a disk jockey program, which allowed them to take on a leadership role on campus. These students disk jockeyed at all of the school dances, and participated as sound men for sports rallies. Students learned social, public speaking and communication skills, as well as work ethic. The program was a huge success with one of the involved students being nominated for the school's Eagle Award.
Students in Kathy Onnen’s classroom at Tranquility Elementary participated in the Peach Blossom Festival, a competition where students collaboratively work together. This competition helps students gain confidence in public speaking and develop the skill of oral interpretation of literature. They read from a variety of literature during practice, and then picked their favorite for the competition. In addition to the Peach Blossom Festival, students also enjoyed a visit to the San Jose Tech Center where they participated in a class to create their own roller coasters.
All four Coalinga Elementary schools participated in reading books as part of the California Young Reader Medal Club (CYRMC). Every year, children and teens in California help to nominate, read, and vote for the CYRMC winning books. Coalinga Elementary School students participated in the Primary and Picture Books for Older Children categories; and this was the first time that students voted for the CYRM books and 87% of the students qualified to vote.
If You Build It They Will Learn, featured Lego® in Beth Alvarado’s 8th grade classroom. Students had the opportunity to see how content standards work in relation to motion, space, and energy. If You Build It, They Will Learn took science out of the pages of the classroom textbook and into a life lesson and learning experience. Students worked in groups to build various Lego® Robots and then they had to program each robot to do individual activities. Ms.
It was A Touching Time in History for students with Ramona Cheek at Central High School West. The goal of this project was to help students gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of past world events by connecting it to the present. Reproduced primary documents were given to groups of students to research and prepare a product for display. Each group engaged in a discussion and wrote about what they discovered from the primary documents.
Dana Berg at Addicott Elementary was able to provide special needs students with educational academic curriculum to supplement specially designed lessons that are aligned to the Common Core Content Standards. Literature boxes were created with lesson plans and hands-on concrete items such as toy animals, puppets and items that can be used with many books in the classroom to bring the book to life.
Students at Kerman High School have added a skill set that they might not have had the ability to do without the Innovation Grant. Through the Lion TV project, students learned basic principles of videography, lighting, editing, interviewing, and working in teams towards a common goal. Students wrote, filmed, and edited weekly episodes on their own under the guidance of an adult, which made the material a true reflection of their own skills and creativity.
The Reading ReKindled project provided 10 Kindles for students at Oasis High, as well as the ability to purchase a variety of current books available online. The Kindles offer the benefits of technology by meeting individual learning style needs that could instill a lifelong love for reading. One of the immediate goals for Reading ReKindled was to provide students with a library of current literature in a variety of genres.
Students in Timothy Gann’s biology class at Selma High School participated in the Raw Materials for the Construction of DNA Model Blocks project. An accurate working model illustrating the abstract processes of DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis provided students with a three dimensional, hands-on, interactive, visual opportunity to work through the steps of each process. For the first time ever, students were able to conceptualize very abstract ideas with hands-on manipulatives. This concept helped students understand ideas that are challenging for biology instructors to teach.
Lynette Simon’s Lights! Action! Learn! project at Madison Elementary incorporated theatre to student teaching. Using a brain researched technique; students learned a variety of concepts in language arts, math, science, history, and even character education through the use of reader's theatre type musicals that reinforce standards-based teaching. Students were engaged in learning tasks through dramatic intonation, singing and acting, giving them an experience on which to "hook" newly acquired information, all the while having fun learning.
Fifteen students from San Joaquin Valley High Alternative School participated in the Parlier Unified School District Ivy League Project Leadership training program and were mentored by Martin Mares, CEO/Founder of the Ivy League Leadership Project. Participating students learned about leadership strategies alongside the Ivy League Project Scholars. The students were trained on 30 exemplary leadership training strategies and will in turn train participants of the Parlier Unified School Ivy League Project K-6 cohort on vision, networking, and team-building.