Boone County Education Foundation
Mini-Grant Projects
2018 – 2020

Ockerman Middle  School – Little Bits, Decomposition

For this project, the 6^th grade Makerspace class learned about decomposition while utilizing the hands-on technology of LittleBits; which are a learning system of electronic building blocks that allow students to create with technology using snap circuitry.  They explored how to use decomposition to break up a complex problem into smaller, more manageable problems. The culmination of the lesson was putting all of their inventions together to create a Mars habitat!

Cooper High  School – Video Production with iPads

I was fortunate enough to win one of the BCEF Grants this past fall which allowed me to purchase four new ipads for the Library Media Center. Prior to winning this grant there were no mobile devices outside of chromebooks that students could use for taking still or video images for projects. While the chromebooks are sensational for many things the picture and microphone quality is not nearly as crisp as that of the new ipads. Our previous ipads were so old we could not download any basic apps on them, not even Google Drive which made sharing any images/videos taken with the devices nearly impossible. This has allowed us to utilize technology such as FlipGrid videos, chroma key technology (green screen) and Swivl for recording teaching instruction. I do not think that a school day has gone by that the ipads have not been used by students and/or myself! Thank you so much for making these grants available!

Ockerman Elementary – Learn to Read!

I have been able to introduce my higher readers to books that interest them. For example, I introduced one to the book Hatchet. She loved it so much she has now read the entire series! I also have several beginner readers that I have been able to pull lower level books from the shelf, which helps give them the much needed confidence they need to succeed.The growth in our reading has been amazing! We have several students who have taken an interest in reading now because they have finally found books that interest them. The boys have been drawn towards the books about basketball and the National Geographic Kids books. One day, one of my struggling readers was standing at the book shelf trying to choose a book, when he held one up and yelled the title of the book followed by saying, “Hey, I can read this book.” As their teacher, it makes me so happy to see this.

Kelly Elementary – Native Habitat Gardens

The grant for The Native Habitat Nature Center has been a wealth of little learning opportunities for all of us. And is continuing to grow larger than anticipated. The students have a much better understanding and complete comprehension of how everything is connected. By removing one piece of the ecosystem, (one native plant-milkweed), it can cause of chain reaction of decline or extinction of a species (monarchs), which causes another, or overpopulation of another. As several students said time and time again, “Wow!!! This is so cool!!!” or “Ohhh, now I get it!!”. Thank you for all the AH-HA moments. This grant made a huge difference to the kids and community.

Conner High – Hydroponics

With the money we received from the Foundation, we were able to build a small garden in the science quad across the hall. It was successful and once we got this garden running, we started planning Green Day. 

This took place on Monday at the middle school. We had three vendors from the local farmers market come and sell their products such as: meat, honey, jams, and organic lettuce as well as an informational booth for Wands for Wildlife. This project will be used by many different subjects, including science (ecology, biology, horticulture), social studies (world food crisis) and physical fitness instruction.

Cooper High – Art Club Printing

After receiving the Epson Photo Printer and the necessary materials to start printing artwork, my students went right to work. My Art Club members formed a sub-committee called, the Gallery Committee, and started brainstorming theme ideas, talking about entry submissions, signing up for responsibilities and learning new skills. They came up with their first theme: Color vs. Black and White because they wanted to keep it really open and invite lots of students to participate.They learned about matting artwork and how to professionally showcase pieces for display. Once artworks were printed, students matted the pieces and then we displayed them in the library. Our gallery was appropriately deemed, The JAGallery and our first show was a massive success.  We are exceptionally grateful for the grant money award and look forward to using it for years to come.

Stephens Elemenary – Appalachian Basket Weaving

The Appalachian Basket Weaving project will expose students to the time honored skill of basket weaving. The people of Appalachia were very resourceful and made do with what they had. Skills were taught from one generation to the next generation. This type of community closeness allowed communities to thrive in harsh conditions. This type of mentality goes right along with our school embracing the Seven Habits; #2 Begin with the end in mind and #4 Think Win, Win. We want students to see the end result and know that they can do that and that helping each other strengthens their own knowledge. We want students to be engaged in the art making process. Basket making allows student to shine who think differently. The ability to conceptualize in a 2D format and then to translate into 3D object is a really hard skill to learn.

Yealey Elementary – Preschool Gross Motor Skills

These may look like toys to most of you, and really they are. However they are also helping these students get their required 10 gross motor movements at different times during the day. 

Thornwilde Elementary – Robot Coding

Every one of our students in grades 1-5 are working on coding in technology and robotics in STEAM.  Mr. Frye and Mrs. Haney have worked collaboratively to make this happen so that students could learn to code and then use this knowledge for coding robots!  Our Wilde Dads made a lego table and purchased the 2012 kit for the obstacle course.  These kids are doing an amazing job!