Several Indian Lake Schools teachers recently received thousands of grant dollars from the Logan County Electric Cooperative Energizing Education grant program.
District officials said the improvements made possible by these grants will positively impact the way many Indian Lake students learn for years to come, including at the following schools:
Indian Lake High School:
Special Education teacher Krystal Loy and math teacher Amber Shively each received a grant to update their classrooms with flexible seating.
“Many times students are sitting for long periods throughout the day and would prefer options,” Loy said. “I am going to use the grant to add 5 desks in my classroom that will allow the students the opportunity to stand while they complete their work.”
The desks are adjustable to different heights which will allow students many different options. Post-COVID, the seating options will also allow for group work where desks can be quickly moved together or rearranged in the classroom. The goal is to continue to introduce different seating options in the classrooms over the next several years.
ILHS Family and Consumer Science teacher Betty Kimball received a grant as well.
The ILHS Foods Lab has six kitchens, with three on one side of the lab and three on the other side. Three of the stoves are gas-powered and three are electric powered. All the stoves were from the 1980s and were in need of replacement.
The school already replaced three of the stoves and had funding available to replace two more. Now the Logan County Electric Cooperative grant allowed Kimball to replace the final stove, an electric one.
“The ILHS students are so fortunate to be able to cook on gas and electric; to experience the nuances of each type of cooking,” Kimball said. “I find that most students are able to develop a preference over the semester. In addition, there is much community cooking that the stove will be used for. Students of all education and economic levels will be able to use the stove and learn from it, helping them to grow in their independence.”
A certificate from the Electric Cooperative will be displayed in kitchen six where the stove will be placed.
Indian Lake Middle School
Fifth-grade Science teachers Jana McPherson and Brian Tidwell received the grant to help fund one of their most popular classroom activities — dissecting owl pellets and recreating the skeletal contents, an annual project completed to culminate the life science unit.
“Previously, students each paid their individual cost of materials for this activity,” McPherson said. “With the challenges many families are facing due to COVID, we decided to apply for a classroom grant. This grant will cover the cost of the owl pellet itself, the clay used to secure the recreated skeleton, and the display container to protect the contents.”
The fifth-grade science teachers are looking forward to completing this activity with their students.
Indian Lake Elementary School
Music Teacher Pamela Mendenhall purchased useful equipment — Desk Bell Sets — that are already in use in class, with sanitizing taking place in between classes.
“Singing in the music class has needed to be quiet and not quite as fun this year because of COVID,” the music teacher said. “The bells allow us to play pitch and rhythm without blowing our air everywhere. They will be a great tool once COVID is gone, too.”
ILES Music Teacher Tracey Notestine also purchased an iPad for recording music performances.
Finally, ILES Computer teacher Wes Hall will use the grant money he received for several subscription upgrades/additions. There are a mixture of digital subscriptions/downloads or add-ons including:
Quizizz Premium Subscription — Extends the current use of Quizizz. Hall can continue to have students complete student-paced quizzes/activities, but the premium subscription also allows him to be able to conduct a lesson at a whole-class pace. This would be beneficial whether face-to-face or if needed with distance learning.
Fieldtrip (a video-based hybrid learning platform) — This can be used with students and staff. The platform can be used for a live or recorded lesson. Hall had used it with staff this past fall so that they could socially distance, but still learn digital content. It is a similar platform to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
ClassTools.net (Premium Subscription) — Advertisements will no longer appear for the teacher or students, a full-screen format is accessible, you can save or add templates to your favorites, and the teacher has their own personal area on classtools.net server where the teacher could edit/organize their resources by type, title, year, group etc.
ABCya.com (Premium Classroom Account) — This allows students to experience some of ABCya’s software (activities/games) not only through a web browser on a computer, but also gives us access through mobile devices as well (iPads). Advertisements are removed and this allows up to 30 devices to use the premium features. Students will only be using the premium account when in Hall’s class.
Reflector 3 (wireless screen-mirroring application) — This will allow students and staff to mirror their screen’s device to my computer (which is connected to the overhead projector). Students and staff can then show creations or explain their screen/problem solving steps with the remainder of the class.
Two years ago, Hall received an Energizing Education Grant that involved a microphone ball. With that ball, he ordered a microphone that serves as a backup and/or goes with a lapel and he can use within the room.
With this year’s grant he also purchased another clip for the microphone of the lapel.