The Change Starts With You

 The STEM curriculum has been very helpful when it comes to planning lessons for myself. The lessons/curriculum that came from the funding have been great. It does a great job of laying out lessons and giving key vocab words that the students can learn, along with a hand on activity for each lesson and reflection. One example is in the 4th and 5th grade classes we all learned about catapults in one of the lessons. After we learned about the lesson, I had the students get into groups and make their own catapults and we had a little challenge for them to complete. After we were done creating the catapults, we had a little review time to see what we could have done differently and how we could/would have changed our catapults to make them even better. It was a fun lesson for both classes that I will definitely use in the future again! 

Jordan Sales: STEM

 Hello! Thank you again for approving my application for funding for the School Social Work Program! The items purchased have definitely impacted students. Students are learning skills to help improve social emotional learning and behaviors. The resources are addressing different learning styles and are keeping students more engaged. I am excited to continue to see positive results from these new resources. Thanks again! 

Kari Prokott: School Social Work

 I started using the Osmo kits immediately after receiving them. I use them in my classroom on a daily basis as a supplemental activity for a variety of different students. I use it with a nonverbal kiddo with autism to teach counting, fine motor skills, letter recognition, and so much more. I use it with a 9th grade boy with autism to teach him how to follow directions. I use it with 3rd grade boys to teach them how to make change and how to spell sight words. It has brought many different activities into my room and has been a huge help for me this school year. It’s one of those interactive activities that I can grab off the shelf and have a student working in a game within 30 seconds after they finish their activity for the day. I plan to buy more of the games for the Osmo devices and I was able to purchase a ton of learning kits that should last me a few years. My favorite game is the pizza making game where the kids need to make pizzas for customers and then make change for the customer at the end. It is a great way to distract the kids into learning something beneficial!! My goal is to add more games as the years go on using coffee cart money or special education dollars. Each student benefits from a different program offered by Osmo so it has been a great help. The Disney learning kits I ordered have been a great tool for my nonverbal girl with Autism. I can see me sharing these programs with other teachers as well, especially when I feel like my caseload doesn’t fit a certain game or activity that well. I am excited to keep using them and have used them everyday since day 1. It’s now expected in my classroom… 

Jack Peterson: Special Education

 I wanted to share an update on my funded project of using interactive speech therapy sites in my room. Although the smart board wasn’t approved, I was able to implement the use of the sites through my iPad. Attached are pictures of 3 different groups using one of the sites. The site allows for multiple interactive games to pick from - two you see here are a “treasure hunt” game and an “ice fishing” game. Basically students select a hole to dig in or a hole to fish in and it reveals their speech or language targets to practice until they find the treasure or catch enough fish. I am able to quickly select the target each student is practicing (e.g., S words or verbs) and the game quickly generates. Both of these interactive games have kept students of multiple ages ranging preschool to 4th grade engaged. Students do not complain and don’t seem to realize they are practicing as they ask to stay longer! Thank you for funding this project - the level of engagement has significantly increased for some students. I have talked with Travis about the possibility of getting a board funded as it would help with groups, but for now I am making it work and kids are loving it!!! 

Karlee Peterson

 STEM Curriculum - I have started to use the curriculum packs in my class for ideas and projects. We are just finishing up a "lucky rainbow," which is a challenge to see how long of a rainbow the students can make using only 3 straws and 3 pipe cleaners. It was fun to see how creative the students got to see which group could get the longest "rainbow." I will continue to use more of these are the seasons change. I know that I have a few in my planner for Easter already! Rover Snap Circuits - I used these in 4th grade to teach them about the flow of electricity. The rovers have 20+ ideas and models to go off of to make the circuits. The class favorite by far was the one labeled "lighthouse." When the students completed the circuit, the rover lit up and spun in a circle. Drones - I'm using the drones as another way to show coding for my older students. In the past, I have found websites and we have used LEGO robots that the class has built. The drones have the same principle, but they show it in a new and different way, and the students were excited to see something fly around the room! 

Jordan Sales: STEM Teacher

 Gracious!! Thank you! The EL students are practicing independently and working on their reading, speaking, writing, and listening skills with the resources you bought for us!!!! 

Cindy Casillas

 Thank you so much for funding the supplies/manipulatives for my classroom. The order came at a really good time. The plastic coins are being used for our money section and absolutely love that they are the exact size of real coins! We have also been using the playing cards for math activities in class. They add in addition and subtraction. The stylus pens have been a huge asset since we use Seesaw on our devices four times a week. They help keep the 1st graders writing more neat. 

Mrs. Wimmer

 The grant that I got for Mystery Science I have used for multiple lessons for multiple grades. In 1st and 2nd grade, we did a lesson where we learned about spiders, and how different spider species get food. After we listened to the lesson provided by mystery science, we did a hands on project where we made a spider that "ran" away from us towards another student. The students loved making their own spiders. I'm excited to use mystery science even more throughout the year as their are a lot of different lessons that I can do for grades K-5. 

Jordan Sales: STEM

 The grant money received from the Innovative Schools Project was used to purchase four (4) MacBook Pro’s and four (4) subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes the graphic design programs Photoshop and Illustrator. This addition to the classroom will benefit classes such as, Digital Art (Yearbook) and Graphic Design by giving them the opportunity to create digital works of art. In the fall of 2022, the high school computer lab was dismantled. (There was a need for more classroom space and the iMac desktop computers were extremely out of date.) The digital art class that I teach, which is responsible for creating both the elementary and high school yearbooks, used this lab to design the yearbooks online. Hence, three of the old computers were moved to my classroom which was awkward and inconvenient. The purchase of the four computers and the software allowed for the students to work on the yearbook in my classroom. The digital art class is usually a small group of students (8-12), so I had the students rotate the use of the laptops in order to give everyone the opportunity to work on the yearbook. In addition, I was able to teach the students an introduction to Photoshop and Illustrator. I was able to assign extra assignments that the students were able to work on if there was not any work needed to be done on the yearbook. The addition of the new laptop computers is allowing the students to have greater access to several design applications that can be used both inside and outside the classroom. Photoshop and Illustrator will be the main focus of my instruction, and I will be teaching a Graphic Design class in the fall of 2023. The course will include projects such as: logo design, product and packaging design, identity systems, along with graphic signage and possibly website design. Finally, the project funding allowed for my students to participate in the Swanville Carnival design contest. It was fun to see the different designs that my students came up with, and for one of my most talented students, Courtney Och, to win the competition! I cannot express enough to the committee how much this addition to the classroom has enhanced my teaching! 

Ms. Osberg: Tearcher

 The Swanville Bulldog Coffee Cart is now rolling through the hallways. The students have delivered more than 15 cups of coffee, hot chocolate, and tea each week since starting in November! The students are utilizing the Keurig coffee makers and are learning how to read order forms and create individual coffee orders. They are also beginning to use the Ninja appliances to create basic doughs and baked goods, which may eventually be sold on the cart in the future. The project has given three young male students an opportunity to take part in something inside the school. Teacher participation has been a big success, with 16-20 school staff ordering from the cart on a regular basis. The program is off to a great start, and I look forward to seeing what it can grow into in the years to come. Thank you for the funding, 

Mr. Peterson

 Once again I would like to say "Thank You" for the grant. We have been using Big Word Club in our EL classroom for 10 weeks. We have learned a lot of new words and meanings. Students enjoy the cartoon characters along with the book, song, and dance! Some comments from students: Kindergartener: "big words with lots of letters" First grader: "I like the songs" Second grader: "love Friday because we review words and dance" Fourth grader: "the book is funny and I like learning new words" 

Ms. Casillas

 I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for the generosity and support for my third grade classroom with the flexible seating and maps. I was thrilled to learn of my selection and very excited when items started coming in! My goal of offering flexible seating and visual support of our world and the United States are in motion! Seeing the excitement on the students faces as they use the wobble chairs and wobble cushions are priceless. Here are quotes from the students: “I usually move around in a chair, but I can move around without standing up.” “I can have fun in these chairs and still learn.” “While working we can get our wiggles out.” “I can concentrate.” “They're fun, comfortable, and good.” The chair bands, wobble cushions, and wobble chairs offer a variety of seating options for the students in the afternoon when they are in my room and attention spans may be short but still need them to focus on learning. As a first year teacher and teaching social studies and not having any maps or globes have been challenging. Now that we have the gigantic United States, world map, and globe up in the classroom, there has not been one day that we have not referenced and used them. My goal by spring is for students to be able to name the seven continents, oceans, and regions in the United States. The students enjoy looking at the globe and are grasping the concept that the world is round. When we reference locations from our readings, the students take turns finding it on the maps. We look forward to using the multiplication wipes boards in the winter. I am glad that I ordered extra as two new students joined us. The magna tiles are hit among all as their engineering minds are in play. As a new employee in the district , I am in awe of the support and dedication for the Swanville School. Again, I am grateful for this grant and feel blessed to be able to teach and be part of Swanville Community! 

Sara Schultz

 My second grade students and I want to thank you for granting our wobble stools and standing desks. They are a huge asset to our classroom for flexible seating. The students are less fidgety and the standing desks allow them time out of their chairs. They are used daily by many students! Once again thank you for giving us this wonderful gift to our classroom to better our learning experience. 

Mrs. Wimmer: 2nd Grade

 As the year is coming to an end, I wanted to give you a huge thank you for the grant to purchase EL curriculum materials. It felt good to know that our students were given the opportunity to work with a series that was meeting the standards for English Language Development. I found the real-life topics to be interesting and engaging for our students. THANK YOU! 

Ms. Sebek

 The microphone system has made a HUGE positive impact in my classroom since receiving this item last spring. Not only does it save my voice, kids can hear me easily with very little effort. When students can hear clearly, things are accomplished quicker and more time can be spent learning. 

Ms. Andres

 Classroom book project. This was an awesome project. The students each had their own page to write about their dinosaur. They also had to illustrate their writing. It is a great keep sake for the kindergartners. I had several parents comment about how cool the book was. 

Mrs. Schleicher

 The scanner/reader that was purchased has been an effective tool for my dyslexic student. He often uses it (with earbuds) during silent reading time and other times students are asked to read silently. He is very comfortable using it. I anticipate this tool will make any silent reading time going forward much more meaningful and enjoyable for him. 

Mr. Swisher

 Thank you so much for the math tools and games! We have already put some to great use! These tools are helping students become fluent in addition and subtraction facts. We are very thankful for this great program that our school has been offered. 

Mrs. Waltman

 My students LOVE these books (Kevin Lovegreen book set). The boys in particular are constantly reading them, but the girls enjoy them as well! I have noticed that they have been appealing to many of the students who typically don't enjoy reading, so it's been a great way to get those kids reading books they enjoy. 

Ms. Andres

 I am happy to say that I was able to work with the janitorial staff over the summer to get the sensory movement pathway put on the floor. They should be set for about 5 years. It looks great! 

Ms. Brateng