Support one-five Foundation's mini-grants for teachers

The one-five Foundation is once again offering an annual mini-grant program for staff members of Community Consolidated School District 15.

These proposed projects support a wide range of opportunities for the students of the district, with a focus on programs or technology.

This year, 13 grant applications have been preliminarily approved by the foundation for funding; however, additional funds are needed to make them a reality. These projects could have an impact on thousands of students across all grade levels in 12 different school locations throughout the district.

Please consider making a donation to the one-five Foundation Teacher Mini-Grant program. Project details can be found below and donations can be made online at one-five.org.

ACE Tool Box: These ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) tool boxes will provide a variety of tools for learners in acute stress as a result of adverse experiences. The tools can help students calm, learn resilience, learn to self-regulate and return to learn.

Building a Foundation with Family Literacy Bags: This project supports literacy bags that will be sent home with children to enrich the classroom experience. Bags will include fiction and nonfiction books, along with enrichment activities that parents and students can read and complete together, thereby increasing reading comprehension.

Diversify the Music Library: This project will support the purchase of music from diverse cultures and written by diverse composers. While students learn these pieces, they will also learn about the composer's background and listen to music in the same style. The goal is for students to have a better understanding of the musical traditions of other cultures and to provide diverse representation in the band literature.

Early Childhood Special Education Core Curriculum Language Advancement and Support: The object of this project is to increase availability of books that focus on core words utilized in developing language acquisition to help pre-verbal and minimally verbal communicators. Goals include improving student performance and developing carry-over of skills from home to school.

Inclusivity in Classroom Literature: This project will provide inclusive books that positively represent a variety of cultures, abilities and ethnicities to provide students with authentic texts that allow for engagement in positive learning experiences surrounding a variety of cultural identities through characters and story lines.

Interactive Projector for All: This projector and specialized table will allow students who use wheelchairs and have limited mobility in their arms to interact with the curriculum in more meaningful and engaging ways.

Keeping the Peace - Silent Band Practicing: Many students need to practice in a space that requires them to work quietly. These devices help the loudest of the band instruments, including trumpets and trombones, to be played without sound, using a mute technology with headphones so that only the player can hear the music being played. This will allow band students to bring what they have learned back to the classroom.

Mirrors and Windows in the JH Classroom: One of the concepts developed in the English Language Arts curriculum is the idea that a book can be a mirror for some students to see themselves, as well as a window for some students so that they can better understand others. This grant would provide for new books that would allow students to see diversity in a variety of fiction genres.

Pathway to Successful Learning: The goal of this program is to offer a sensory pathway in a common hallway at our school that can be used by every student, providing a controlled and guided movement break that will allow students to return to their learning environment and be successful in their classroom and work.

Peace Place: Peace Place is a space where children can go to regulate feelings, help their brain think, and learn again. Students can visit Peace Place when their feelings are so big that they may not be safe or they have difficulty learning their brain and body down.

Sensory Path: A sensory path includes decals that are fun and motivating, creating a path in the hallway that promotes movement such as jumping, pushing, marching and balancing. Movement provides sensory input that allows children to organize their bodies, allowing their brains to focus.

Sensory Supports for All: Now, more than ever, we need to support students' social emotional learning needs. This project would help create sensory bins for instructional rooms and sensory wall decals for the hallways to help students achieve success by providing them the support they need so they are ready to learn.

Social/Emotional Academic Learning (SEAL): This grant will provide funding to equip gross motor and calming sensory rooms with the tools that students need to work on self-regulation skills. Equipment could include noise machines, tactile wall panels, special furniture and fiber optic lighting to assist students with social emotional disabilities.

Support these projects with your donation by visitingone-five.org.

For information on foundation projects and initiatives that support the District 15 community, visit one-five.org.