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The College Station ISD Education Foundation is pleased to provide opportunities annually for our teachers to apply for innovative teaching grants. The mission of these grants is to bring innovation and excitement into our classrooms.
Here are some of the great ideas by CSISD teachers this past school year!
"READ, White & Blue" - Creek View Elementary
READ, White, and Blue has been celebrated annually for 8 years with patriotic parades and camps on campus. The event is designed for kindergarteners to learn national symbols, holidays, historical figures, and citizenship, while also celebrating reading. This grant launched a long-lasting program benefitting thousands of students. It was sponsored by Brazos Valley Pediatric Dentistry in 2016 and continues today!
"CSISD Learns CPR" - District-wide
Students and teachers are learning life-saving skills! This district-wide health education grant provided new manikins and AED trainers for staff and students to learn first aid. Teachers earn CPR certification and teach CPR in health classes. Students gain preparedness and confidence for emergency situations. Manikins are also used to provide required training for all seniors. Nearly 2,500 students and 150 teachers benefit from the initiative. This grant was generously sponsored by St. Joseph Health.
"Computer Lab Build" - AMCHS & CSMS
Tech-savy teens are learning to assemble computers, load software, and install a computer lab through this project in the Computer Maintenance, Networking, and Practicum class. The high school tech students help implement a turn-key computer lab at the middle school, so that 7th and 8th graders are equipped for A/V and Engineering coursework, impacting 50 students each year. The grant supported the information technology cluster by providing computer components and tools. The grant was sponsored by Brazos Valley Floor & Design – Premier Countertop Design.
"Quilts & Veterans" - Wellborn Middle School
Seventh-grade students are binding math and life skills to create quilts for a community outreach program. The class project engages math concepts related to measurement, geometry, and proportion to create the quilt blocks. Then, the class partners with the Montgomery Quilt of Valor organization to finish the quilting. The project culminates in a presentation of the finished lap sized quilts to local service members at the school’s Veteran Day ceremony. Andrews Orthodontics generously sponsors this grant.
“Pepping Up Partner P.E.” – AMCHS, CSHS & Wellborn MS
Students with special needs struggle to access the world of sports. This grant supports the Partner PE program that encourages students and their buddies to engage in the world of sports, games, and recreation. One of activities is fishing, where students "catch" skills like working with a partner, patience and hand-eye coordination. This grant was sponsored by Stewart Smiles.
"Construction Science Lab" - Cypress Grove Intermediate
The local trade workforce is diminishing. The Construction Science Lab inspires students to consider a career in a trade to work with their hands and use their creativity to earn a living and be productive citizens. Young apprentices are learning about tools, machinery, safety, and project planning, while exploring careers in woodworking, electrical, plumbing and more. Students are learning valuable know-how and building confidence in problem-solving. This is phase 3 of the engaging club that is very popular among 5th and 6th-grade girls and boys. The project was sponsored by Kent Moore Cabinets.
"Building Engineers of Tomorrow" – Pebble Creek Elementary
Lego Spike Kits are transforming GT students into engineers. Developing skills with sensors, motors, mechanical design and programming, young engineers built robots for an epic “Rhino Wrestlers” showdown! The robo-rhinos detected and pushed each other in the arena. When the sensors detected the touch of their opponent, the detailed coding would push back fiercely, trying to push its rival out of bounds. When a bot didn’t behave as planned, it was problem-solving time with teamwork and communication. This exciting grant was sponsored by Jim and Linda Woods.
"Turners & Caddies" - Cypress Grove Intermediate
Instrument tuners help 6th-grade band students with pitch accuracy and tuning. Caddies keep the tuners from being damaged as musicians go in and out of the band room. Using tuners in class allows students to better understand how their instruments work. Students learn to adjust instruments for specific notes and how to listen for tuning issues. It has also greatly benefited students with hearing challenges by letting them see if they are playing the correct sound when there is a lot of noise in the room. This fine arts grant is sponsored by SafeWay Driving.
"Powering the World with our Knowledge" - AMCMS
7th & 8th grade Engineering students in Mr. Bywater's class explored the challenges of using windmills to produce clean energy by building their own windmill to see if they could light up light bulbs. This bright lesson was sponsored by donors James & Jill Faith.
Here is what some of the students had to say about the project:
"Something I learned during this project is that failure is just a step to succeeding. If you fail in a project, just make adjustments until you get the outcome you want."
"My favorite part of the project was creating the designs I really liked this because we could research and be creative with the idea which I think was very fun and helpful to the success of the windmill, another part I liked was after finishing our project we could look at all the work we did and be proud of what we made."
"During my Wind Turbine Project, I learned that it takes a lot of patience and time to make a wind turbine work and set up, especially when you have to glue the wings or sand your hub or wings down so they can pick up the wind or generate energy."
"My favorite part of the project was definitely the building and testing. Every time we finished a part of the build it was very fun and felt like a good accomplishment."
"I have had a lot of fun during this project and have learned many new things. The most surprising thing I learned during this project was how wind turbines work. I know this sounds silly, but before I never sat down and thought about how these wind turbines really work."
"Along with learning how to use the breadboard or just lighting up the LED light, it was also my favorite part, because there's just something about getting all those wires hooked up, then when you turn the generator boom, they're all turned on."
