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School teachers receive grants for use
Brian Gunningham
Brian Gunningham and Joe McGlamery - photo by Special
A number of Bulloch County teachers are likely smiling after receiving grants from the Foundation for Public School Education in Bulloch County.
    The Foundation awarded 10 grants recently, the second time this year, said Monica Lanier,  grant committee chairperson, who also is technology director for First District RESA.
    "They are all different," she said. "Each teacher could choose what they needed."
    The grants are awarded twice annually, she said. The first round of grants were awarded last spring, and the next round will be awarded next spring, during the 2007 school year.
    The Foundation for Public School Education in Bulloch County raises money for these grants by donations generated by an effort known as the "Campaign for Academic Excellence," she said. Parents, school employees including teachers, staff and faculty members, and local businesses have given to the Foundation and thus enabled it to award the grants, she said.
    The grants range from $407 to $500. They are as follows:
    • A Study Island CRCT program grant for $487 will help students master skills and knowledge described in the Georgia Performance Standards. This program will help students improve skills in areas tested on the CRCT in grades 2-8, which results in test score improvement.
    • A math literacy program grant for $500 will integrate literacy into the math classes, allowing teachers to teach a unit of math from literature books.
    • A grant for $479.60 will fund the purchase of books for a fourth grade classroom. The books utilize Lexile scores,used to measure reading comprehension and to measure growth from period to period.
    • A science grant for $500 that will provide "real-life learning situations" that will deepen students' science knowledge. The grant funds guest speakers and a field trip.
    • A grant of $500 will help renovate the stage at the William James Educational Complex, which is used by students of the Performance Learning Center.  The project will teach Georgia Performance Standards as a "multidisciplinary, performance-based real-life experience" that provides valuable opportunities for students to perform required community service on-site service.
    • A grant for $407 is funded "to enhance, enrich and expand" classroom excellence by incorporating the Mountain Language supplemental program into instruction. The Mountain Language program targets and enhances language and grammar skills, which help students excel in testing.
    • A grant for $500 will fund implementation of a school-wide recycling program which will involve all students.  This also helps teach Georgia Performance Standards as a "multidisciplinary, performance-based real-life experience. The program will be held in collaboration with the Keep Bulloch Beautiful organization.
    • Portal will celebrate its centennial in 2008, and a grant for $500 will provide materials needed for students to collect, preserve, and disseminate the town's history in preparation for the event. This is also another approach to teaching Georgia Performance Standards as a "multidisciplinary, performance-based real-life experience," and will help students understand the importance of their local history.
    • A grant for $450 will help establish a lending library of large print novels and books on tape or CD that will help students become literate. These materials will serve the visually impaired  students in Bulloch County schools.
    • Deaf students will benefit from a grant of $500 which will fund sign language DVDs, which they will be able to take home weekly. The teacher will use a digital camera to make mini-movies showing how to sign and fingerspell that week's vocabulary, spelling, theme-related and reading words. Students will be able to practice independently at home and share with their families, reinforcing and adding to what they learn at home.
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