County teachers take home 24 chamber mini-grants
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 6, 2009 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/GREG SOUSA
Jaqueline Joseph, center, a teacher at Edgewood Community Developmental School, reacts after learning that she was a winner of three mini-grants on Friday. Presenting the prizes are Dr. Ed Wilson and Beverly Carroll. A total of 24 grants were presented at 10 schools.
Santa came early this year, with 24 mini-grants presented to teachers at 10 schools on Friday.
The Business and Education Partnership, a committee of the Wayne Education Network sponsored by the Wayne Charitable Partnership and the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, made surprise visits to the recipients.
Funding for the mini-grants was generated from this year's Extreme Spelling Bee, which raised more than $18,000. Other donations came in from sponsors around the county.
This year's "prize patrol" was made up of members of the Wayne Education Network, Chamber of Commerce staff members and Extreme Bee sponsoring business representatives.
The mini-grants will assist innovative teachers in implementing special projects, organizers said.
Some of this year's projects include "Butterflies in Bloom," observing the life cycle of butterflies from caterpillar to adult with research on habitats and the creation of a butterfly garden; "Blood Typing Using Synthetic Blood," where students will test for antigens to see how blood reacts when mixed with the wrong blood type, and include a Web-based curriculum placing students in the emergency room as a technician to demonstrate the need for knowledgeable medical personnel and focusing on blood donation; and "Learning, Literature and Scrapbooking," an opportunity for students to create individual literary scrapbooks on "The Odyssey" and "Romeo and Juliet," integrating themes, characters and plots and how the works relate to the students' own lives.
The following is a complete list of the recipients and their projects: * Jacqueline Joseph, Edgewood Community Developmental School, "Ready to Play and Read!," "Books are Fun!" and "Listen! I Can Talk!"
* Donna Countryman, Edgewood, "Can You Hear Me Now?" and "You've Got that 'Magic Touch!'"
* Brandice Howell, Edgewood, "TEACHnology -- Giving Non-Verbal Students a Voice in Education"
* Tammy Wallace, Fremont STARS Elementary School, "Discovering the Biomes of North America"
* Cathy Cogdell, Fremont STARS, "Stepping Stars"
* Sheila Wolfe, Fremont STARS, "If You SMOVE, You'll Lose"
* Laura Hall, Fremont STARS, "Literary Agent X & Co."
* Lynda Stewart, Fremont STARS, "Count on It!"
* Allison Wolfe, Fremont STARS, "Butterflies in Bloom"
* Joy Hill, Brogden Primary, "Tag School Centers"
* Joyce Hess, Mary Friedman and Lauren Vrana, Northwest Elementary, "Round and Round We Go -- Compost We Sow"
* Patricia Alexander, Eastern Wayne Elementary, "The Forecast Is For...Hands On Science"
* Cathie Hooks, Wayne Country Day School, "On the Road -- Wayne County Now and Then"
* Rebecca Fordham, Wayne Country Day, "Oh, Play Me Some Mountain Music!"
* Beth Hill, Eastern Wayne High School, "Rural Renderings of North Carolina"
* Pam Brantley, Eastern Wayne High, "Forensics in the Classroom: DNA Fingerprinting"
* Patricia Malcolm, Eastern Wayne High, "Understanding Modem Bullet Trains (Levitation Trains)"
* Robin Casey, Carver Elementary School, "Brain Pop?"
* David Powell, Carver Elementary, "See It! Read It! Learn it!"
* Shelly Pinkowski, Charles B. Aycock High School, "Learning, Literature and Scrapbooking"
* Donna Lee, Eastern Wayne Middle School, "Blood Typing Using Synthetic Blood."