One of the greatest challenges for educators is finding the sources of funding to allow for innovation and technology in the classroom. Federal, state, private foundations, and corporation grants are sources of such alternative funding. Debbie Hays, Supervisor of Special Programs and Professional Development, Research, and Public Relations, and her staff are committed to assist  with the collaborative efforts of the grant writing teams in Bossier Parish on their initiatives to research, locate, and submit grant proposals in order to obtain funds for educational programs and school projects. As always, Debbie Hays and Martha Patten are available to work with individuals and/or onsite school grant writing teams for assistance and support on their grant writing opportunities.

Upcoming opportunities for grant writing workshops will soon to be announced for the 2011-2012 School Year.

Bossier Parish Schools have formed school-site grant writing teams for the 2010-11 school year. Presently, Supervisor, Darlene Pace is working with schools to provide grant writing training for teams and other interested staff members. Every school will be encouraged to submit grants that are suitable for their school populations and unique school needs. In addition, the Staff Development Department will provide information to schools on the availability of grants from the federal, state, public, and private institutions. Other services and assistance include researching, revising, and editing grants on a request basis. One of the goals for Bossier Parish is to provide every school the opportunity to apply for grant funding that will support the unique and specific needs of their students. Ultimately, grant writing gives access to funding that will make "DREAMS BECOME REALITY!"

Thirteen educators in Bossier Parish Schools are the recipients of the Academic Incentive Grant Awards for the 2011-2012 school year. These grants are funded through the Staff Development Department of Bossier Parish Schools.

The Academic Incentive Grants program awards $10,000 for grant proposals. AIG funding awards classroom teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels for grant proposals in various subject/content areas.  Each grant proposal is rated by a three-judge panel.  The award winners are then given the funds for their specified use or project.

Congratulations to these award winning grant writers!

Waller Elementary - Karen Mitchell, Courtney Feliciano, and Lisa Nix - $1,000 - Funding will be used to purchase a class set of Flash Masters. The small, hand-held devices will support student learning by reinforcing math facts as they practice to increase their mastery of the GLEs.

Kerr Elementary - Lauren Warren and Lisa Smith - $995 - Funding will be used to purchase the multimedia learning tool, BrainPOP, to engage students through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic modes of instructional learning that will actively stimulate the right and left sides of the brain.

Apollo Elementary - Stacy Pollard - $951 - Funding will be used to purchase several sets of "The 39 Clues" to instruct students in the Six Traits of Writing and increase their abilities to think, problem solve, and communicate in various modes that will impact audiences.

Legacy Elementary - Peggy Wilkes- $992.90 - Funding will be used to purchase math manipulatives to actively engage student in daily math lessons, improve their confidence, and promote communication skills while addressing the various learning styles.

Cope Middle - Elizabeth Vance - $1000 - Funding will be used to purchase equipment to allow students to explore science topics and create videos to demonstrate and teach key concepts among fellow students, evaluate and critique their work, predict outcomes, and conduct experiments to answer guiding questions.

Greenacres Middle - Pam Sparks - $979 - Funding will be used to purchase materials/resources to support the use of Tablet Math to engage and challenge students in modes of concrete learning to support abstract thinking through hands-on and interactive manipulatives.

Rusheon Middle - Charlene Cooper - $1000 - Funding will be used to purchase materials and provide students with learning opportunities in the areas of investigation and comprehension through discussion, collaboration, and hands on physical science experiments.

Benton High -  Austin Grant - $825 - Funding will be used to purchase a Student Response System which allows students to be actively involved in the science content and provides immediate feedback to reinforce comprehension skills.

Technical School - Kelly Stough - $1000 - Funding will be used to purchase materials/resources to support Project iSPY (Scavenger Project for Youth) which involves small teams of high school students working collaboratively with a participating elementary teacher to compose lessons to teach elementary students how to strengthen comprehension and research skills through an interactive, digitally created scavenger hunt. 

Haughton High -  Tara Allgood - $1000 - Funding will be used to purchase materials/resources to utilize project based learning principles and teach Cyber Science students computer programming and Cyber Citizen essentials. Students will then teach these skills to various classes at the elementary level.

Excellent Listings for grant opportunties from this newsletter publication:  Education Grants ALERT

http://www.grantsalert.com/grants.cfm?id=4&gid=33597

Fenders Music Foundation in-kind grans for music instruction

http://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/grants

The Toshiba Exploravision Contest for K-12th students. Students will be encouraged to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining imaginations with tools of science. The teacher will act as a coach and incorporate the National Science Standards into the classroom and is administered by the NSTA.

http://www.exploravision.org/about/

Grant Wrangler Grants for Teachers contains various featured grants for educators. (Automatically updated on the availability of grant applications each month by Grant Wrangler)

http://www.grantwrangler.com/

Grant Wrangler Grants for Science and Math Teachers (STEM Resources/Materials) 

http://www.grantwrangler.com/STEMresources.html

Register your classroom for the "Adopt a Classroom" Partner/Donor Program, by Office Max.

http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/teachers/teachers_landing.aspx?Private=0inter=0

The Donors Choose is is a non profit organization that connects public school teachers with people who want to support classroom learning.

http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers

Lakeshore Learning is offering various grant opportunities for schools and classrooms

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/general_content/free_resources/grants.jsp

Lowe's is again offering the Toolbox for Education Grant Application for the 2011-2012 school year.

http://toolboxforeducation.com/