2005-2006 Awards

Natoma Elementary, Natoma, $140.00-Operation Cooperation involves a variety of activities that require the students to get goals and work together to reach an objective.  Many of the activities originate from Project Adventure, or the Governor?s Adventure Program.  Each activity begins with instructions and involves integrated situations.  It finishes with a debriefing following the outline of what, so what and now what.  This program will help students learn that cooperation is a life skill that needs to be taught and cultivated.

Graham Co. Head Start, Hill City, $210.00-Parent involvement in their child?s education will be enhanced through open-ended hands-on art activities.  Creative Hands Are Flowing will incorporate paper bags, wood, sand, frames, strings and masks to encourage parent and child participation in learning activities.

O?Loughlin Elementary, Hays, $250.00-This project will teach students what life is like for people with orthopedic, hearing and visual impairments, as well as specific emotional needs and learning disabilities.  Seven special needs Puppet Friends will help teach children about special needs through fun activities and experiments.  After all seven puppets are introduced; the children will have explored their sense of sight, smell, sound, touch and taste.  They will also have learned a great deal about the people in the world around them. 

Hays High School, Hays, $250.00-Autistic students have difficulty learning abstract concepts and communicating with others.  Visual Learning willincorporate actual digital photographs to create a visual task analysis for skills that the students find difficult.  Many of these students are not able to verbally express their needs, wants or preferences.  The development of communication notebooks using actual photos will significantly aid in their communication with others.

LaCrosse Elementary, LaCrosse, $250.00-Family involvement is a key component in increasing student learning.  Learning Totes will reinforce important reading and math skills; encourage family involvement in reading and math activities, provide important insight and resources for parents regarding the curriculum and aid students in the acquisition of new academic skills.  Instructions, activities and manipulatives will be tailored to meet each student?s individualized needs.

Roosevelt Elementary, Hays, $250.00-Real Life Visuals will assist students who have difficulty with reception and/or expressive language.  Visual stimuli will assist these students who are challenged by communication difficulties as well as fine and gross motor skill development.  The ability to learn academics, social skills and many other life skills will be supported through this program.

Stockton High School, Stockton, $250.00-Students will learn new and unique ways to add more activity and healthy eating habits into their daily lifestyle through A Lifetime of Wellness.  Students will analyze lifestyle-related diseases learning the causes, effects and treatments available for each.  A list of lifestyle changes that could help decrease the risk of getting those diseases will be compiled.  Students will track their physical activity; analyze school lunch menus and develop their own wellness physical activity program.

Wilson Elementary School, Hays, $250.00-The Picture Exchange Communication System aids students with severe communication difficulties in corresponding with others.  Actual Digital Photos of familiar items will assist students in initiating interaction and providing other opportunities for communication.

Hays High School, Hays, $250.00-Digital Photography will provide social skills through pictures to non-reader students with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, Autism and mental retardation.  Self-help and social skills will be the focus of this program through various activities such as creating sequence stories that integrate language and science, supplementing presentations, constructing a personal picture alphabet, and incorporating pictures for concept illustration.

Holy Family Elementary, Hays, $273.40-Students will identify healthy foods and learn about routine behaviors to help them stay healthy throughout their lives during Setting the Table for Good Nutritional Choices.  This program incorporates activities such as food baskets to introduce nutritional concepts, nutrition lotto to reinforce nutritional concepts, magnetic food and placemats to provide role playing meal time, and food pyramid felt pieces to help make healthy food choices.  The unit will conclude with the school nutritionist helping the students plan a healthy school lunch for the entire school and parents.

Grinnell Grade School, Grinnell, $384.00-Take Home Learning Packs is a cross-curricular learning tool set which features 16 different back packs for students to either take home or in the classroom.  Each pack is filled with fun, hands-on activities and books that reinforce basic skills in math, science, phonics and English.

LaCrosse Elementary, LaCrosse, $449.00-Developing Future Heroes and Heroines through digital photography will incorporate monthly activity calendars, certificates, web pages, schedules and newspaper articles.  This program will involve physical education classes developed around specific themes such as professional sports, food groups, vehicles, Olympics, etc.  Each weekly skill will be incorporate to themed activities.

Grinnell Grade School, Grinnell, $450.00-A Foundation for Life Long Learning will help students build a positive self-concept, exhibit positive attitudes and participate in cooperative learning activities.  Students will be encouraged to accept responsibility, respect themselves and others while learning to share toys and materials.  This program will also provide activities that promote their social-emotional, cognitive, physical (fine and gross motor), and language development in a variety of learning modalities.

Simpson Elementary, Russell, $500.00-Students will investigate science concepts (such as rocks, soil, insects, forces, motion, plants, animals, matter, solar system and weather) through a variety of activities from super-involving science experiments to high-interest writing projects.  This Science and Social Studies program will also include hands-on social studies lessons that integrate reading and writing through the use of props that give students a tactile and visual sense of landforms and mapping skills.

Washington Grade School, Ellis, $500.00-Math the Kindergarten Way will actively involve students in various center activities to develop understanding and insight of the patterns of mathematics through the use of concrete materials.  Through these centers, students will increase their skills in developing relationships and interconnections in math and enable them to deal flexibly with mathematical ideas and concepts.

Bickerdyke Elemetnary, Russell, $500.00-Engaging students in their own learning has been proven to increase retention of concepts.  Classroom Jeopardy II, an interactive electronic game, does just that!   Pre-programmed game cartridges that align to state and national standards play on the classroom TV or a screen using a LCD projector.  Teachers are also able to program their own categories, questions and answers to test their own curriculum.

Hays High School, Hays, $500.00-A Book Club can provide a place for intellectual exchange, meet the need for connecting with others and will give students an outlet for discussing books they read during free time.  It will also give students a platform from which to possibly influence others to read for pleasure.  Active reading club members will also gain organizational skills, as a different student facilitator will lead each themed monthly meeting.

Palco Enhancement Preschool, Palco, $500.00-Going on a Bug Walk will incorporate items such as bug nets, hats, water bottles, bandannas and magnifying glasses as students learn about the outdoors at school and home.  Some of the learning objectives of this project are to use senses to observe and explore materials, seek answers to questions through active exploration, use simple tools for investigation, show interest in how people affect the environment, participate in measuring activities and use language for a variety of purposes.