Scott Elementary and Principal Starr Rich received a grant for $4,060. The money will assist teachers with a voice enhancement system to project their voices throughout the classroom, enhancing the development of sounds discrimination and word pronunciation.

Hillcrest Elementary teachers Marla McMillen, Michelle Castle, Tracey Redfern and Stephanie Hiegel received a grant for $2,368.62 for their students' reading, language arts and literacy development. They plan to offer students the opportunity to select books to put in individual book bins to be read at school or at home.

Cambridge principal Michelle Biondo accepts grants for teachers Kristin Corbin and Travis Gowen who together received $1,419.63 to purchase books and other items that make reading more interactive and fun.





Mill Creek Upper Elementary received three grants this semester, the most in the district. Tricia Trutzel-Betts and Mill Creek principal Kim Mauck received $2,667.56 for the school's gifted program. The money will help provide students with problem-solving activities that focus on collaboration, cooperation, communication and creativity.
 

Deanna Feeback plans to purchase a classroom library of 200 content area picture books and magazine holders to categorize those books to promote literacy within the curriculum. She was awarded $1,000.





Pam Pressley received $988.45 to create a classroom library with picture books and guided reading books.

Michelle Norman, principal of Yeokum Middle School, was awarded the highest total grant this semester - $4,997. The funds will purchase student computers, which will help students who struggle with reading fluency and comprehension. This will be a part of Yeokum's Response to Intervention Initiative, to ensure no students are left behind.

November 2009 Grants

The Belton Educational Foundation awarded over $15,000 in grants during its fall round of funding. 

• Funding for an after-school tutoring program for Kentucky Trail Elementary school.  This program will pair real life experiences with reading as teachers and students explore fiction and nonfiction books and visit various locations across the community that tie to their reading.
• Personal CD players purchased for a class at Mill Creek to use during their reading time.  These CDs will allow students to work on reading individually.
• Mill Creek received a school grant to assist with their after-school tutoring program.  This innovative program will target students reading below grade level.  It will provide these students with experiential learning opportunities directly linked to their literary focus on reading and writing.  
• Kindergarten teachers from Hillcrest received funds to expand to five ABC Nights where kindergartners and their families can work on key kindergarten skills.
• A team of teachers from Mill Creek received funds to take four fifth grade classes on field trips tied to classroom curriculum.
• The Title One and Special Education Preschool Classrooms at Grace received funding to attend several community-based field trips.  These field trips will allow the students hands-on learning while they learn new vocabulary and concepts.