Butte Education Foundation Awards Grants for Spring 2019

The Butte Education Foundation has awarded the Great Ideas Grants for the spring of 2019. Grants are awarded twice during the school year to teachers and schools to provide funding for innovative projects and programs that are not funded by the Butte School District.  Since program inception in 2008 over $160,000 in grants have been awarded to Butte Silver Bow Public Schools.

 “Outdoor Learning: Nuture in Nature” was awarded $1500.00 for the Kindergarten classes at Margaret Leary Elementary.  Kara Remsen, Alex Colvin, and Rachel Courington co-authored the request for outdoor learning supplies so their students can explore, create, and experience learning in a new way.  Outdoor learning is an ideal way to introduce children to their world through a new lens.  Their hope is too empower the kindergarteners to investigate, experiment, and formulate new ideas through challenges and exploratory play outdoors.   

 Education has come a long way from the times when uniformed students sat straight up in hard chairs and dared not move.  It is now understood that allowing students to move helps them learn more and become more productive.  Emerson teachers in 5th grade, Jennifer Lynch and Charissa Lewis requested and were awarded $1515.00 for Zuma Task Chairs for their classroom.  The chairs are ergonomic for back and neck support but also allow students to twist and move in ways that are not distracting to others.  Similarly, Emerson teachers Steve Watson and Becky Burke were awarded $1500 for “Happy Legs, Happy Heart, Happy Mind”.  Studies show that children retain more and concentrate better when they are allowed even a little movement.  Students in the 3rd and 4th grades will get to try using a LegXercise and Pedal Exerciser in their classrooms. 

 Technology continues to be a request of the teachers as a way to motivate the students to learn and promote learning through technology.  Josh Schad, Casey Dennehy, and Shane Henderson collaborated on a request for new tablets for the Whittier 5th grade.  The tablets will be used to communicate to the students and their parents, to complete homework assignments, and complete school projects.  Technology is shaping how we educate within the classroom and therefore changing the way students learn.  The cohorts were awarded $1000.00.