2019 Grant Winners

$11,000 in grants in 2019!

 

Yorkville Educational Foundation invested more than $11,000 this year to fuel innovation.  Grants are presented annually in November and are awarded for classrooms, school-wide and District-wide.  Winners are selected from applications submitted by district teachers and staff members.  The grant awards process opens in September each year.

The fall 2019 grant recipients were:

  • Circle Center Grade School Classroom Grant - Musical Instruments for Early Childhood students. This grant enhances and supports communication skills for early childhood students by providing musical instruments for instrument play, singing and movement to music. This addresses goals such as language acquisition, social-communication skills, language concepts, oral motor skills, breath control and using targeted phonemes/blends. Impact: 56 Students

  • Bristol Bay Elementary School School-Wide Grant- Wonderbooks for English Language Learners. This grant purchases dozens of "Wonderbooks”, a high-quality audiobook player built into the book. This provides an opportunity for our limited English Proficient students to experience and practice their English language development at home. All students need to do is turn it on, press play, and read along with the built-in audio. After listening to the story, students enter learning mode where they will be asked comprehension questions about the story. Impact: 50 students.

  • School-wide grant at Autumn Creek Elementary School - Social-Emotional Learning Speaker and Magician Scott Green. This grant allows ACES to bring in well-known magician in the Chicagoland area, to deliver a fun and exciting magic show to deliver the message on topic of bullying to help the social/emotional needs of our students! This nationally will discuss the importance of empathy, kindness, and the ability to stand up for yourself and others in a way that will be engaging for students in our grade level. We thought this would be a great learning experience for our students at the end of January, since that’s when there is an increase in office referrals. Impact: 680 students.

  • School-wide grant at Yorkville Middle School - VR Student Kit and Google Expeditions Student Kit. This grant builds engagement through the use of virtual reality/Google Expeditions. Google Expeditions enables teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and in outer space. These trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° panoramas and 3D images — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools. This will only increase the number of students positively impacted by this technological tool when it is shared with colleagues throughout the school. Impact: 490 students.

  • School-wide grant at Bristol Grade and Yorkville Grade Schools. This grant funds STEM and Literacy lessons to create #READERMAKERS! These #readermakers each month would have access to a read aloud and STEM/STEAM Challenge activity that was inspired by the book. Students are empowered by taking ownership of their learning and helps them develop growth mindsets throughout the process. It also helps students develop a mindset of innovation. It gives them creative time to grow their creative intelligence, listed as one of the top skills that is sought after in the 21st century job market. Every classroom in each of the schools would have access to this experience that will help develop each students love of reading and STEAM challenges! Impact: 450 students.

  • Classroom Grant at Yorkville Intermediate School - This grant proposal seeks funds to expand student voice and choice in the classroom through flexible furniture. These 2 options for seating provide more movement (wobble stools) and more freedom of space (standing desk) for students to work. The freedom to choose their personalized space for the day gives them choice, independence, responsibility, comfort, and overall a feeling of empowerment in the classroom. The culture in the classroom is one of serenity and trust as my students appreciate that I trust them to choose a seat that best aids in their success. Impact: 40 students.