From books to cameras, lab equipment to choir stands; the McMinnville Education Foundation has awarded a variety of mini-grants to teachers who supply schools with materials that help innovate and enrich the classroom experience.
Every year, teachers throughout the district apply for mini-grants. Each applicant can request up to $1000 for anything that can be justified as educationally profitable. These mini-grants have provided video equipment, books for all ages, and even the rights of a song written about the 100thanniversary of MHS. This year, 59 mini-grants were awarded district wide, 12 of those going to teachers of MHS. Out of all of the mini-grant requests, the science department was especially successful. Faculty member Laura Syring received an approval for her application "Engaging Brains."
"I received a grant for the purchase of the ‘Classroom Performance System," Syring said. "It works by having clickers that students use to confirm that they understand what we're going over in class. A lot of students say they understand something when they don't, and they don't want to ask the question in front of the class. These clickers are totally anonymous and allow the students to understand more of the material we go over in class."
Syring's example shows how the McMinnville Education Foundation can provide for not just books and computers, but is willing to provide for new and creative purchases that create better classroom experiences and help students learn material in new, different and exciting ways.
In addition to all of the purchases that help students in the school, the McMinnville Education Foundation has also provided for teachers to extend the classroom experience to the outdoors. Faculty member Cory Ecklund's approved grant for "Water, Water Everywhere" does just that.
"With my grant I bought a groundwater monitoring kit. With this I'm hoping to be able to take students to rivers and watersheds and have them measure the pollution in the water. Once the older students know how to use the tools and what they're used for, we'll help teach fourth graders learn about similar things. I'm pretty excited about it," said Ecklund.
This isn't the first time McMinnville Education Foundation has provided for classroom experiences to be extended outside of the school. The McMinnville Education Foundation has provided funding for multi-grade level outdoor education experiences at Miller Woods as well. In fact, every year, all of the fourth graders in the McMinnville School District attend a concert performed by the Lindfield Chamber Orchestra; all of this is provided by the McMinnville Education Foundation.
The McMinnville Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization thats mission is to innovate the classroom experience. The board that manages it consists of volunteers, which organize fundraisers for grants. The two main fundraisers that occur during the year are "Starry Night" and the "Annual Fashion Show." These fundraisers raise huge amounts of money through their auctions, admission fees, and donations from different businesses and people. "Starry Night" occurs in July and the fashion show happens each year in May. (All of the models are teachers and staff!)
The McMinnville Education Foundation provides large quantities of money to teachers throughout the district, hoping that with their contribution they will expand the range of educational opportunities and to encourage innovation, excellence and creativity in the educational system.