Wednesday, June 15, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Foundation grants $23,500 to classrooms
By erin Borla
Correspondent
The Sisters Schools
Foundation awarded over
$23,500 in grants to teachers
and projects at all three Sisters
schools this spring.
Since its inception in 1996,
the 10-member, all-volunteer
Sisters School Foundation
board works to have two dis-
tributions every year, one in
the fall and one in the spring.
The organization is a 501(c)
(3) nonprofit dedicated to
raising funds to support and
enhance programs that serve
the Sisters School District.
The Foundation is funded
through events like Starry
Nights and private donations.
“In the past we have had
lean years where we have
only been able to award grants
once per year,” said Vice-
Chair Treasure Lewis. “This
year, with ‘An Evening With
Karla Bonoff’ as part of the
Starry Nights series and the
Foundation being the recipi-
ent of The Open Door’s Dine
with a Cause we were able to
have funds to award two grant
cycles.”
The Foundation has funded
enrichment activities that go
well beyond what the regular
school budget can support.
This year, activities across all
disciplines at all three schools
have been funded — like
sixth-grade outdoor school,
the fourth-grade Oregon
Field Trip where students got
to travel part of the Oregon
Trail and the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, and purchas-
ing a kiln for the high school
ceramic arts program.
During this current spring
funding cycle both 2016 and
2017 Challenge Day activities
were funded at Sisters High
School, along with athletic
trainer supplies and a new
projector for the Sisters High
School Lecture/Drama Room.
“The projector was a col-
laborative project for the high
school,” said Peyton Griffin,
Sisters School Foundation
board treasurer. “A portion
of the funding came from the
2015 class gift, a portion from
district building funds and the
remainder from the Schools
Foundation. This projector is
not limited to its use in one
specific room and will allow
enhanced videos and presen-
tations for the students and
community throughout the
school.”
At the middle school, new
art canvases, library support
and training, document cam-
eras, a flag display, kitchen
improvements in one of the
classrooms, and unique cur-
riculum components were
supported.
“Minecraft in the
Classroom” for technology
teacher Wes Estvold was
funded as a unique cross-
curricular program at Sisters
Middle School. The pro-
gram allows for students to
use an educational version
of the popular video game to
enhance several classroom
area skills.
Estvold wrote in his
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proposal, “Minecraft allows
students to build whatever
they want. Scale models can
be created when you need a
practice unit about measure-
ments and proportions. The
building of scale models
might integrate social studies
content to allow for cross-cur-
ricular connections.”
In addition, “One of the
best ways to improve how
students display their reading
comprehension is asking them
to create a visualization,”
he continued. “They could
reconstruct various settings
from the text and even rec-
reate scenes and plot events
…they could also use these
recreations to give a presen-
tation or make predictions
on what might happen next
(in the story) and then physi-
cally create the predictions in
Minecraft.”
The elementary school
grants included purchasing a
“Big Book Easel,” support-
ing Battle of the Books at the
elementary level, purchasing
new novel sets, implementing
an innovative program called
Handwriting Without Tears,
and Science and STEM prod-
ucts for use in the classroom.
The science and STEM
materials included eight dif-
ferent kits all designed with
hands-on activities and dem-
onstrations to provide stu-
dents the opportunity to inter-
act with science and access
educational standards in a fun
environment.
The Fairy Tale Problem
Solving Kits were just one of
the sets purchased — where
students engineer happier
endings to classic fairy tales.
Students get to build a house
that can’t be blown down
from “The Three Little Pigs”
or construct a bridge that
keeps three goats safe from
the troll in “Three Billy Goats
Gruff. “
The funds distributed as
grants in this cycle ranged
from $200 to close to $4,000.
Administration at each
building is alerted twice a
year when applications are
available. Sisters Schools
Foundation board members
work closely with school
administrators to determine
highest priority funding areas
and work to grant those areas
of need first.
“This cycle we were able
to fund all the applications
that fit within our mission,”
Lewis said. “We would love
for every teacher to submit an
application.”
The special events like
Starry Nights and others help
to support the general fund
of the Foundation, which
benefits all three schools. In
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addition, private donors can
make targeted donations to
specific schools, subject areas,
or programs by visiting www.
SistersSchoolsFoundation.
org.
Many of the activities
and items we funded
enhance the whole school
experience – supporting
things that will help
students throughout
their school career and
their lives.
— peyton Griffin
“We want to support inno-
vation in the classroom,” said
Griffin. “Many of the activi-
ties and items we funded
enhance the whole school
experience – supporting
things that will help students
throughout their school career
and their lives.”
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