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Grants help public connect with classroom
North Naples Middle School teacher Carrie Jarnot incorporates reading into science class with a book nook.
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Members of the Education Foundation of Collier County recently fanned out across the county to hand-deliver 78 grants to 41 schools, making a $30,000 investment in teacher creativity.
Just shy of its 20th year, Connect with a Classroom is a grant program that has grown substantially over the years, leaving no room for traditional balloons to dress up the special deliveries to teachers.
“We come in and surprise them. Some of our routes have 12 deliveries. Can you imagine balloons in the car, too?” asks Nicole Flesvig, vice president of educator programs.
Instead, teachers and students were surprised with an award certificate and congratulations from Foundation representatives while receiving their individual grant checks. Community members help fund the grants by logging on to www.educationforcollier.org. and selecting a classroom with which to connect. Then, they can log in and choose which grant to fund.
“I think the most important thing to know is the community is playing a role in helping teachers to bring hands-on, fun, creative and innovative learning experiences to their students,” explains Flesvig.
Kate Hickie, pre-k teacher at Naples Park Elementary, uses her grant to grow a garden with her students.
Kavita Gudur agreed. A recent donor to the Connect with a Classroom grant, she found the Web site accidentally, while surfing the Net for information on her daughter’s school, Seagate Elementary.
“Giving is better than receiving, and if you do it for kids, you’re doing it for a better tomorrow,” she says of her donation, which will fund Flat Stanley and Feed a Hungry World projects at SES.
Kate Hickie, pre-k teacher at Naples Park Elementary, uses her grant to grow a garden with her students.
Matching community donors’ excitement are the teachers who are recipients of these grants, which are implemented throughout the year to enhance learning.
Like most teachers in Collier, North Naples Middle School eighth grade science teacher Carrie Jarnot strives to motivate her students every day, yet, changes in classroom scheduling limited time for reading.
“I taught reading and science last year, and it’s hard to incorporate reading into science,” she says.
LAURA ARCHAZKI-PACTER / Staff
Teacher Bette Russo of Naples Park Elementary School, used her Connect with a Classroom grant money to establish a Reading Lab with an underwater theme.
Jarnot’s resulting grant project has positive results in her classroom. Adjacent to her classroom’s hazardous materials cabinet is a cozy reading area, complete with cushioned patio chairs and plenty of books relating to science and subjects appropriate for her students’ grade level. Jarnot wrote three grants sponsored by the Education Foundation, and shares items with other teachers at NNMS. She hopes to write another grant to continue her reading library for students to sit a bit while reading for a few moments in science class.
Bette Russo, a 30-year educator at Naples Park Elementary School, literally dove into her literacy grant, aimed to help struggling readers improve reading skills on all learning levels. Her Literacy Lab at Naples Park Elementary, appropriately titled Cove Theater and Underwater Poetry Café, is a place where students can embrace her selection of colorful puppets, sharks and sea life while taking center stage to perform for fellow classmates.
“They like the whole idea of performing, whether it’s performing a shared reading piece or poetry,” says Russo. “I would encourage other teachers to do this and it was easy to write. The district provides what we need, but Education Foundation grants provide the extras to help you be more creative in teaching.”
LAURA ARCHAZKI-PACTER / Staff
Teacher Bette Russo of Naples Park Elementary School, used her Connect with a Classroom grant money to establish a Reading Lab with an underwater theme.
Another original Connect with a Classroom project can be found in the pre-K classroom of Kate Hickie at Naples Park Elementary. She teamed up with University of Florida’s Cooperative Extension Service to incorporate math and science into gardening.
Hickie’s Powerpoint presentation details every step of a plant’s growth from a seed to a plant. While children master the science of measurement, her classroom’s garden blossoms. From gigantic sunflowers to various vegetables, Hickie’s grant grew all year long, just outside her classroom doors. Her students were in the garden each day, monitoring their plants’ progress, too.
Just as Hickie’s garden grows, so does the Education Foundation’s goals to continue helping local teachers keep up creative activities in the classroom.
“Everybody plays an important role,” says Flesvig of the generous support of community members and businesses.
Learn more about the Education Foundation of Collier County at http://www.educationforcollier.org/
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