Teachers apply for mini-grants through a grant proposal distributed each year by the district office. Applications are reviewed each fall by the CEF Mini-Grant Committee. Those awarded mini grants are then able to use those funds toward the cost of materials and items necessary to complete each project.

School Years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 Mini-Grants

Spring 2019
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CT Photos / ANGIE TALKEN

On Monday, March 18, 2019, members of the Chillicothe Education Foundation and Dr. Roger Barnes, superintendent, surprised teachers across the Chillicothe R-II School District with the 2018-19 second semester mini grants. Six grants totaling $2,492.48, were awarded.

At Chillicothe Elementary School, Margie Albertson received a grant for $467.38 for a program, Developing Critical Thinking in Young Learners Through Inquiry. Albertson is shown with students and members of the Chillicothe Education Foundation, including Dr. Roger Barnes.	Dewey Elementary School's Jackie Smith and Natalie Leamer received a $315.10 grant for a program for second through fifth graders called Building a Better Me: Supporting Social and Emotional Learning.

Chillicothe High School teachers, Kari Keller and Amanda Marsh, received a $500 grant for the 2019 Job Olympics.

Brandi Fahrmeier and Ashley Hawkins, fourth grade teachers at Dewey Elementary School, received a $500 grant for a program called Rise and Shine, Stretch your Mind.	Dewey Elementary School’s Sophie Chambers, Ellen Gott and Libby Howe received a grant for $500 for their Better Students, Better World program.

Grand River Technical School's Jenny Hughes received a $210 grant to be used in conjunction with Ellen Hanson's kindergarten class for Mentoring Magic.

Spring 2018 Mini-Grants

Prize Posse Revisits Schools
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Playing kazoos and carrying an oversized check, members of the Chillicothe Education Foundation traveled to four schools recently to surprise teachers with the news that their grant requests have been funded. Grant amounts ranged from $482 to $500 apiece. Members of the foundation making the stops to the schools included Ed Douglas, Julie McCoy, Inger Young, Lindy Chapman, and Dr. Roger Barnes. They are shown in the photos below, along with the grant recipients. Brief descriptions of the teacher projects also are provided. C-T Photos / Catherine Stortz Ripley

Little Hands' Learning Toolbox: The grant, applied for by Carla Williams, will be used to purchase several items, including a solar system fact finder, a space theme box, design and build engineering centers, gears builders, float and find alphabet bubbles, alphabet learning locks, and more. Funds from this grant are estimated to impact 120 preschool students. The solar system fact finder and space theme box provides exposure to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) ideas, tools and resources from an early age. By incorporating these tools through play and centers, students gain interest, awareness, language skills, social skills, emotional development and cognitive skills.

Little Dragon Foam Generator: This grant, applied for by Tim Marsh (materials science and technology teacher for 11th and 12th grades at Chillicothe High School), will be used to purchase a foam generator for students to make their own "aircrete", a new "breakthrough" alternative to concrete. Concrete is versatile and durable yet extremely heavy and has almost no insulative value. Companies have developed a way to incorporate foam into the concrete mix and reduce its density while increasing the insulative factor associated with the material. Being able to make their own "aircrete" would unlock the door to opportunities that traditional concrete would not present. The foam generator consists of a system of valves, regulators and pumps that take standard dish soap and convert it to high volume foam that is injected while the concrete is being mixed. Once produced, students would run the product through tests to investigate its properties, search for applications and test its limitations. Funds from this grant are estimated to impact approximately 70 students per year.

Mentor Sentences - Grammar Just Got Real: This grant, applied for by Central School's fifth-grade ELA teachers (Kate Jones, Phoebe Pyrtle, Jessica Shackelford, Amy Taylor), will be used to purchase a curriculum to cover many language skills through Mentor Sentences. This practice uses one sentence a week to model grammar, punctuation, and descriptive writing. Through consistent use of this curriculum, the teachers have seen an improvement in grammar usage, correct punctuation and an increase in confidence in the students' writings. Funds from this grant are estimated to impact all fifth grade students in the district.

Missouri Learning Standards for Middle School / Earth and Space Science: This grant, applied for by Shaylee Rademacher, CMS science teacher, will be used to purchase models to enhance learning about the solar system. The transparent celestial globe shows the Earth's position as it revolves around the sun and the relative position of stars and other galaxies. The orbiter shows the position of the sun, moon and Earth and will help students visualize the positions for these three celestial bodies in the event of both a solar and lunar eclipse. The final product is a 3D (glow-in-the-dark) model of the solar system. Funds from this grant will impact CMS science students.

Fall 2017 Mini-Grants

Education Foundation Visits Schools, Distributes Funds for Learning Projects
By JAIME SAUCEDO
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The Chillicothe Education Foundation awarded its fall mini-grants on Wednesday and toured the district's schools to present checks to the winning applicants. There were nine grants in all, totaling $4,148.87. The Education Foundation expects to award a second round of mini-grants in the spring.

Margie Albertson of Garrison School was awarded $484.91 for Enhancing Learning Through STEAM/STEM. Alberston submitted the grant request to acquire some constructive play items, such as a Kodokids balance, Create a path magnetic center, magnetic pattern blocks, a Stay and Play firehouse and a Bluebook.

Shelby Ward of Dewey School was awarded $427.98. The money will go toward HP printer ink cartridges for Ward Readers Publishing Company. The company is used as a platform for these first-graders to publish works written during their writer's workshops.

Stephanie Baldwin was awarded $400 for materials for MATHThe Universal Language. MATH-The Universal Language is a variety of hands-on activities that correlate with the Missouri Learning Standards for sixth-grade math as well as the STEM curriculum.

Dr. Jill Watkins was awarded $493.76 for her high school Composition and Research class to purchase paired text for the secondary classroom which combines contemporary literature and classical literature to increase student engagement.

Amy Peoples was awarded $349.22 for Optimizing Communication in the Science Classroom in her sixth-grade science class. The class will benefit from voice projection for students during presentations and recordings and small detail projector.

Lee Rucker was awarded $500 for a band saw for his seventh- and eighth-grade Industrial Technology class. The band saw will cost $1,600; and Rucker plans to pay the balance from his classroom budget.

Ellen Duckworth was awarded $498 to purchase a Visio SmartCast 50" M50-F1 Ultra HD TV for "Seein' is Believin'" in her high school Spanish class. This TV will allow students to easily share in their presentation project, "La Vida Real" - Real Life Assignments.

Amanda Marsh and Keri Keller were awarded $500 for the life skills class. The funds will be used for various food and products for the Hornet Cafe at the high school.

Melissa Englert was awarded $495 for a Ricoh Theta V 360 Spherical Camera and accessories for Building an International Perspective to be used for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at the middle school. The equipment will be used to capture and highlight the culture of Chillicothe through a student-developed website. (NO PHOTO)

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