ACSF In Ira B. Jones Elementary
Highlights:
2012-2013 Awards
Cathy Sorensen, Sandy Tarantino, Mollie McDonald, Daniel Withrow, and Caitlin Green of Ira B. Jones Elementary have been awarded $1,885.50 for Play Away Book Club. This team will use Play Away MP3 digital audio books to assist struggling 3rd grade readers. The Play Away will provide access to on-grade-level text for students who would not otherwise be able to read 3rd grade level text. The goal of this project is to motivate students by allowing them to read text that corresponds with their interests since it is difficult to find age appropriate reading material for students who are significantly below grade level. Classroom teachers will work with students to monitor comprehension and fluency during readers’ workshop. As a result of using Play Aways, students will become more engaged in reading and more confident in their abilities.
· # of Students Impacted: 60
· # of Teachers Impacted: 4
Mollie McDonald and Lisa Carver of Ira B. Jones Elementary have been awarded $4,987.50 for Family Literacy. The goals of this project are to increase parent participation in student learning, improve student writing, and increase the teachers’ confidence in providing writing instruction. A writer-in-residence will assist in classroom writing instruction, in cooperation with the lead teacher, as well as work with students’ families during designated family literacy events. Surveys will be taken by both the participating families to assess the families’ confidence in writing and the lead teachers to assess their confidence in teaching writing in the classroom. As a final project, students will create a printed and bound anthology of the writing produced.
· # of Students Impacted: 36
· # of Teachers Impacted: 2
2011-2012 Awards
TAPAS Awards
Zack Brown with artist Carla Flippelli
Caitlin Green with artist David Novak
Sandy Tarantino and Ann Turner, of Ira B. Jones Elementary School, have been awarded an Innoviation Grant for Supportive Technology for Struggling Students. This project equips Jones with resources for computer-based screening, intervention and progress monitoring of behavior and reading deficits. This grant will support the use of AIMSweb Behavior, a supportive technology for teaching pro-academic skills. Through AIMSweb teachers, families and stakeholders will use online resources in multiple ways to close the gap in performance between struggling learners and those who come to school already comfortable in academic environments.
Ann Turner, of Ira B. Jones Elementary School, has been awarded an Innovation Grant for Structure, Play, Generalize: Anne Garden. This project addresses the challenges that students with special needs face in accessing the school playground with their typically developing peers. The playground will be updated to support more strategic instruction to take place in this space. By adding stations that address various needs, children will continue to develop motor skills, turn-taking abilities, social skills and sensory needs that these students require to achieve academic success.
Tonya Sweater, Holly Gregg, Kimberley Eggett, Victoria Angelotti, Mary Elston, Molly Peters, Jeri Lutz, & Kelly Schultz are ACS Fifth Grade teachers who will continue this year as 5th Grade Science Fellows with the leadership of Donalyn Small. For the 2011-2012 school year they will develop assessments that build on their work in the previous year. Using this grant they will create lessons and adjust their pacing guide to accommodate to new science standards. By creating an organized assessment method of current standards, they will be better prepared for teaching and assessing their students when the new essential standards are implemented.
2010 - 2011 Awards
Daniel Crone was awarded a TAPAS Grant for resident artist, Gail Ashburn, and the Enriching Social, Cultural and Scientific Learning through Hands on Art project. This project encourages students with dualities to learn through puppets.
A TAPAS grant was given to Marti Sullivan for resident artist, Cleaster Cotton, and the AL.NU.GE Codes and Symbols project. This project has 4th grade ESG students making up their own language through codes.
Debbie Cross was given a Micro-Grant for Scholastic Support. This will allow every 4th grader to have a copy of Scholastic News and copies of Storyworks for children to share.
A Micro-Grant was awarded for Time for Kids for 2nd graders written by Juanita Michiner. The students will be given this weekly reader to take home and complete activities.
Everyone Can Read written by Ann Turner, is a Micro-Grant for providing books for Exceptional Children. These books will cover Math and Reading based themes as well as social and behavioral curriculum.
A Micro-Grants was awarded for a National Archives Visit written by Victoria Angelotti. When the 5th grade students go to Washington DC they will be able to visit the National Archives.
A Micro-Grants was awarded to Lisa Carver and Debbie Lardieri to purchase Time For Kids Magazine for 1st & 2nd graders This weekly magazine brings current events and real-world topics into the classroom.
Chris Martin was awarded a Micro-Grant for Cyclorama Scenery Backdrop. Mr. Martin directs a play each year for all students who wish to participate. This years production will be Honk! Jr.
Vance, Claxton & Jones Elementary Schools are all recipients of an Energy Education Grant for the Use Motion and Technological Design Science Kits written by Donalyn Small. These kits will provide 5th graders with the tools they need for new science experiments.
Parsec Financial Math Literacy Grant was awarded to Kristy Stiefel, Debbie Lardieri and Susan Lifchez to provide Math Investigation Supplies for 1st graders. These supplies will provide games for children to take home and use in the classroom.
The Reading, Riding and Retrofit Green Team Grant for the Woodland Classroom Reforestation Project written by Lisa Carver. This project with revitalize and expand Jones's nature trail which was removed when NCDOT completed some much needed sidewalk repairs.
All 5 Elementary Schools are awarded $6,000 total for 5th Grade Science Fellows, a proposal written by Donalyn Small, Tomas Seijo, Tonya Sweater, Holly Gregg, Kimberly Eggett, Kelly Schultz, Molly Peters, Jerri Lutz and Victoria Angelotti. The Fellowship Team collaborated as a professional learning community to produce high quality, hands-on, guided inquiry-based science lessons that integrated math and literacy across the entire fifth grade science curriculum. Their students got dirty in Dupont Woods on field trips to the Muddy Sneakers program. Students built model cars to test out force and motion, and used the scientific method to investigate a hypothesis of their own creation and shared at the Student Inquiry Conference.
2009 - 2010 Awards
Ira B. Jones & Hall Fletcher Elementary schools are awarded an ACSF Innovation Grant for the Language for Learning program, a proposal written by Chris Cicotello and Amy Penland. The program will improve the oral language skills of kindergartners with weak language skills through daily instruction.
All five elementary schools are awarded an ACSF Innovation grant for Bringing Words to Life, a proposal written by Helga Graff, Chrystal Hendrix, Martha Hayes, Beverly McBrayer, and Linda Geer. This program brings award-winning, African American, North Carolina, author Carol Boston Weatherford to hour-long assemblies for all third through fifth graders, for which the students will have read her books and will complete follow-up activities.
All five elementary schools are awarded an ACSF Innovation grant for Science Notebooks, a proposal written by Donalyn Small. This program will engage students in writing about science exploration.
