GRINNELL HIGH SCHOOL

College Visit with Dining Experience

• Award: $1,060
• Applicant: Jill Allen, Amanda Pearce and Dan Keller
• Students Impacted: 126
• Description: Grant approves the cost of lunch for 132 ninth grade students and chaperones during a state university visit.

Gabe Burdulis, Guest Artist Residency

• Award: $1,000
• Applicant: Levi Dressler and Adam Van Arkel
• Students Impacted: 50
• Description: Grant approves the cost of Gabe Burdulis, a guest artist to work alongside and collaborate with Middle School and High School jazz band participants over the course of a day, culminating in a performance that evening.

Quilts for Refugees

• Award: $500
• Applicant: Amy Skouson
• Students Impacted: 16
• Description: Grant approves a guest-speaker stipend and purchase of supplies to create twin-size quilts that will benefit refugee families relocated to Iowa. Students will learn about the challenges facing refugees as well as how to create and sew a quilt. Students also will have the opportunity to volunteer at a refugee center in Des Moines.

Anatomical Models for the Science Department

• Award: $3,675.90
• Applicant: Sally Kriegel, Chellie Wilkins, Chris Molitor, and Angie Richards
• Students Impacted: 497
• Description: Grant approves the purchase of 9 different anatomical models and a skull storage case for use in a variety of science courses. Projected to last for many years.

Using a Therapy Dog with At-Risk Students

• Award: $860
• Applicant: Shelly Fitzgerald
• Students Impacted: 520
• Description: The grant funds training sessions and a crate for the counselor’s personal pet to function as a therapy dog for students. Sawyer, a labradoodle, helped all students maintain a connection with the school, increasing attendance, self-esteem, and empathy among the at-risk population and inspiring all students to be good citizens.

Colorful Lives

• Award: $1,600
• Applicant: Janet Ahrens
• Students Impacted: 512
• Description: Aimed at at-risk students but benefitting everyone that walks the halls of GHS, this grant provided art supplies for a student-directed mural painting project designed and executed by at-risk students.

Food with Thought

• Award: $642
• Applicant: Lori Francis
• Students Impacted: 500
• Description: GHS freshman and sophomores will choose up to eight photographic images that will be paired with inspirational quotes which will be printed in large format and hung in the cafeteria to decorate the simple, gray walls

Performance Evaluation Through Video Recording

• ward: $4,142.32
• Applicants: Roger Henderson, Levi Dressler, Elizabeth Hansen, Michael Hunter, Linda Perrenoud
• Students Impacted: 200-250
• Description: Funds will be used to update video equipment used to record student performances at the High School.  Students use the equipment to self-assess their performance.  This is a collaborative project between all of the fine arts programs.

Grinnell High School Ambassador Leadership Workshop/span>

• Award: $550
• Applicant: Jill Allen
• Students Impacted: 40
• Description: Funds will be used to invite Matt Diehl (Central College) to work with 40 high school ambassadors on leadership skill building.  By training ambassadors to be leaders and make healthy choices, the entire school culture will be enhanced.

Biography/Autobiography/Memoir Books for Grinnell High School Library

• Award: $500
• Applicant: Chelsey Kolpin
• Students Impacted: All students attending Grinnell High School
• Description: Funds will be used to update the biography and autobiography sections of the Grinnell High School library.

EBook and Audiobook Resources

• Award: $1,000
• Applicant: Chelsey Kolpin
• Students Impacted: All students attending Grinnell High School
• Description: Funds will be used to acquire reading materials for the High School library that are of high-interest to students and that also connect with the curriculum.  These books are expected to remain in circulation for at least 10 years.

Windows for the Windowless Classroom

• Award: $783.80
• Applicants: Lori Frances and Dwight Laidig
• Students Impacted: 35 Grinnell High School students each trimester
• Description: Funds will be used to purchase four Window Boxes and four Ceiling Lights to improve the quality of lighting in this otherwise windowless classroom. Research suggests many benefits from light therapy: In addition to having a positive effect on seasonal affective disorder, high-quality lighting has been shown to combat depression and improve cognition in those diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

High Interest Fiction and Nonfiction

• Award: $750
• Applicants: Chelsey Kolpin
• Students Impacted: All students attending Grinnell High School

Piloting MasteryConnect Software

• Award: $795
• Applicants: William Rudolph
• Students Impacted: All students attending Grinnell High School
• Description: Funds will provide year-long subscriptions for five teachers to Mastery Connect, an online collaborative software program. Mastery Connect will provide an effective tool for monitoring the English department’s PLC work. The program will facilitate alignment of assessed skills with state and national standards, online assessment creation with real-time results for each student, collaborative opportunities with teachers nationwide, sharing capabilities with parents, graphs of results that provide itemized analysis, teacher-to-teacher comparison, and student progress self-monitoring.

Online Subscriptions to the Teachers Curriculum Institute (TCI) for Instant Information and Student Access

• Award: $744
• Applicant: Dan Covino
• Students Impacted: U.S. History 1 & 2 Classes
• Description: The TCI online subscription will provide history students with better access to textbooks as well as enhance student engagement through technology tailored to the U.S. history curriculum.

iPod Touch Technology to Enhance Student Learning

• Award: $1,587.40
• Applicants: Melissa Ford and Susan TerLouw, on behalf of the GHS Special Education Department
• Students Impacted: Approximately 60 Grinnell High School Special-Education Students
• Description: Students with learning deficits need additional supports and services not otherwise provided in the general education setting. Funds will be used to purchase iPod Touch devices to promote student organization, as well as increase math, reading, and presentation skills.

The Hope Survey

• Award: $1,300
• Applicants: Kevin Seney and Heidi Durbin
• Students Impacted: All High-School Students
• Description: Funds will provide a one-year subscription to the Hope Survey, an online perception survey which helps students look at autonomy, goal-orientation, engagement, and hope. Results of this survey will help educators understand the impact of school environment on adolescent development. With that understanding they can investigate how to modify and improve the school setting to raise engagement, raise hope, and ultimately, raise achievement.

New Books For the Grinnell High School Library

• Award: $1,500
• Applicants: Margie Laehn, Todd Crites, Alana Gorsline, Nissa Greenquist, Bill Rudolph
• Students Impacted: All Grinnell High School Students
• Description: Funds will be used to purchase high-interest fiction and non-fiction books to supplement the Grinnell High School library. The current collection is not very large and contains many  outdated books which have not been checked out in years. Updating the collection will increase circulation and encourage reading.

Student Engagement and Technology Integration

• Award: $1,800
• Applicants: Roger Henderson and Levi Dressler
• Students Impacted: Approximately 200 students in 9-12 instrumental and vocal music, as well as solo and small ensemble festival participants, and the jazz band.
• Description: Funds will be used to purchase projectors and large screens for both of the high school music classrooms to more effectively employ demonstration strategies with music students. This additional technology will enable teachers to project exercises, guide large group practice more effectively, ensre greater acquisition of skill, and subsequently create greater student engagement.

Technology for Grinnell High School English Department

• Award: $1,563
• Applicant: GHS English Department: Elizabeth Hansen, William Rudolph, Michelle Barker, Nissa Greenquist, and Alana Gorsline
• Students Impacted: All Grinnell High School Students
• Description: Funds will be used to purchase three ELMO document cameras to help implement additional reading strategies. Document cameras facilitate vocabulary learning, modeling annotation, giving immediate feedback on assessments, and many more in-class projects. Students have responded favorably to information provided via the existing camera in the classroom.

Updated Computers to Help Students Prepare for the 21st Century

• Award: $6,834
• Applicant: Margie Laehn
• Students Impacted: All High-School Students

Technology for GHS Library

• Award: $2,646
• Applicant(s): Margie Laehn
• Students Impacted: All GHS students
• Description: The purpose of this funding is for the purchase of new projectors, speakers, projector carts, and a new screen. Teachers in science, social science, music, and counseling departments are now using this new equipment to access and use online educational resources.

Evaluating Music and Music Performance

• Award: $2,297
• Applicant(s): Roger Henderson
• Students Impacted: All students enrolled in GHS Music classes
• Description: This funding is for the purchase of Smart Music software and the computer hardware to implement the program. Smart Music allows a music student to record, play back, and reflect upon his or her performance while practicing weekly lessons. Then the student can email the practice performance to the teacher so the teacher has concrete evidence of the student’s musical growth. The program was successfully piloted during the 2008-09 school year and proved very successful.

* = Contact Teacher

Dream Home

• Award: $9,390
• Applicants: GHS Career Education and Technology Teachers, Janet Ahrens*
• Students Impacted: Dream Home will be a yearlong project during which the architectural drawing classes will use Chief Architect software to draw house plans; the construction classes will then build a scale model of one of the plans. Interior design students will create several decorating schemes for the home, and one of the designs will be selected to be used in the home. Agriculture classes will draw and create landscape plans, and business students will create spreadsheets for material costs and financial records for home maintenance, mortgages, and housing costs. Technology, drafting, and computer classes and web design students will document the process.

Supporting Rigor & Relevance

• Award: $8,000
• Applicant(s): GHS English and Fine Arts Departments, Liz Hansen*
• Students Impacted: All students enrolled in GHS English and Music classes
• Description: The funding will be used to purchase high quality video equipment and editing software to support student projects. This equipment will be used by students in such courses as English, television and radio production, humanities, advanced speech, mythology, and cinematic production. Vocal and instrumental music students will also have access to the equipment to aid them in evaluating their own performances.

Technology Student Association Start-up

• Award: $400
• Applicant: C. David
• Students Impacted: All high-school students who have an interest in pursuing technology as an extracurricular activity or as a career.
• Description: Start-up funds to create a Grinnell Chapter of the Technology Student Association at Grinnell High School.

Second Chance Reading Ð Grinnell High School

• Award: $2,000
• Applicants: L. Hansen, M. Barker
• Students Impacted: All high-school students.
• Description: Funding to expand two secondary classroom Second Chance Reading libraries.

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America Association Start-up

• Award: $200
• Applicant: B. Huebner
• Students Impacted: All high-school students who have an interest in pursuing Family and Consumer science as an extracurricular activity or as a career.
• Description: Start-up funds to create a Grinnell Chapter of the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America.

Inquiry Learning and Collecting

• Award: $5,000
• Applicants: C. Wilkins, GHS Science Department
• Students Impacted: All high-school students.
• Description: Funds to purchase instrumentation for student use in data collection. Equipment will be used in physical, chemical and biological sciences.

* = Contact Teacher

Cognitive Tutor

• Teachers: Mike Baker, Trent Edsen*, Mike Hunter, Corrie Wohlers
• Students impacted: 25 freshman, sophomore, and junior math students
• Description: Cognitive Tutor is an interactive computer math curriculum based on a contextual teaching style. This program is currently being used by our non-proficient students in our math study halls. This program emphasizes problem solving and skill work.
• Expected outcome: Grinnell High school hopes to bring all students to proficient levels in mathematics. This program supplements our current curriculum in order to achieve this goal. We will assess the effectiveness of the program by looking at ITED results and class monitoring of the program. We feel that Cognitive Tutor will make math interesting and fun for the students, thus causing a higher achievement rate.

“Math is actually fun now.”

“I can do this math.”

“I’m not dumb; I can do math.”

Books for Accelerated Reading Program

• Teachers involved: Heidi Durbin, Liz Hansen, Michelle Barker, Terese Grant*, Karen Parmer
• Students impacted: English 9 – 140 students; Reading Enhancement (all levels) – 50 students
• Brief project description: The grant was written in order to purchase reading books for the media center. These books and their quizzes are to be used for students in English 9 and Reading Enhancement. Students are required to read every day and work towards their own personal reading goal. Students are tested at the beginning of the trimester to determine their reading level and reading goal. In the past, students had limited choices in the media center for books. There were often complaints that students did not find books for their level or interest. The grant has allowed us to purchase a variety of books that students in these classes may use. In addition, all students at GHS have access to these new books.
• Expected outcome: As students read books of their own choosing, they must also past a quiz in order to receive points towards their reading goal. This daily practice is intended to improve every student’s reading proficiency and motivation to become a life-long reader. We expect to see higher scores in ITEDs and fewer students required to take Second Chance Reading because they are not proficient in reading.