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RCPS Highlights
The Rockingham Educational Foundation has announced the
winners of the 2006-07 Innovative Idea Grants. Dick Harper,
Director of Special Programs, announced that REFI had awarded 81 grants
totaling $49.724. There were 184 grant applications submitted.
The project coordinators will be recognized at the October 24,
School Board meeting at Turner Ashby High School.
| First Name | Last Name | School | Proj. Leaders | Name of Grant | Description | Amount |
| Doug | Alderfer | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | The Club Connection | Extra curricular clubs will be sponsored one day per month to allow students to explore areas of interest, make friends, interact with adults, and make a better connection with our school. | $1,000 | |
| Margaret | Alger | Linville-Edom Elementary | The Book Cook Club | Students will make Òfried wormsÓ, build catapults and create an edible cartouche after reading history/science related chapter books. | $320 | |
| Susan | Anderson | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Marge Halterman, JFHMS, Emily Sergeant-Beasley, JMU | IDEA Exchange: A Novel Approach to the Language Arts Curriculum | Enhance curriculum presented in language arts to below grade level readers so that curriculum meets language arts standards while addressing conceptual ideas required through science and social studies VA SOLs | $1,000 |
| Bobbie | Arbogast | Lacey Spring Elementary | T.E.A.M.—Together Everyone Achieves More | Lego Mindstorms NXT provides contstruction challenges for students. | $1,000 | |
| Bobbie | Arbogast | Lacey Spring Elementary | Building with Seuss | A school-wide Design/Technology ChildrenÕs Engineering Day celebrating Dr.SeussÕ birthday. Engineering activities through reading, science, math and technology. | $1,000 | |
| Bobbie | Arbogast | Lacey Spring Elementary | Simply M.A.T.H. (Mathematical Acquisition Through Heads) | Games and activities are used to enhance the ability to mentally solve math equations without fingers. | $925 | |
| Lee Ann | Baber | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Vocab Daydreams | Working with computer programmers, OpenAcademics, software will be created to prepare vocabulary lessons and materials for any K-12 classroom. | $985 | |
| Jackie | Bagwell | John Wayland Elementary | Young Einsteins | Students use variety of scientific tools to develop the ability to think in terms of classes, numbers and relationships. | $930 | |
| Lillian | Barnhart | McGaheysville Elementary | Terri Davis | Just Say No Club | Program to education children about dangers of drugs, alcohol & tobacco, and how to deal with peer pressure and bullies. | $1,000 |
| Lillian | Barnhart | McGaheysville Elementary | Handwashing Fun with GlitterBug | Teaches elementary children proper handwashing using the GlitterBug system. | $250 | |
| Bly | Brown | John Wayland Elementary | Donna Barber, Yvonne Flory | In Our Own Back Yard | All grade levels assist in resurrecting a nature trail and augment the natural habitat on the school grounds for study by all students. | $500 |
| Patty | Burchill | Pleasant Valley Elementary | We Made It Publishing | Make easy reader books with pictures that document the proper sequence of activities for the entire 1st grade year. 5th graders help with publishing. | $200 | |
| Patty | Burchill | Pleasant Valley Elementary | SMART Reading | Build library of books titles in reading program. Students able to take home and read stories learned on computer at a learning center using the SMART Board. | $500 | |
| Ann | Carr | South River Elementary | Tara Snyder, Karen Huffman, Gladys Remnant | Keeping Up With KEEPBOOKS | Kindergarten ELLs will be given KEEPBOOKS to promote literacy development and family involvement | $120 |
| Janis | Churchill | McGaheysville Elementary | Bonnie Downey, Kari Carpenter, Kimberly Mizell, Rachel Farris, Jan Wampler | The Great Walk of (School Name) | Class goals of walking 9,000,000 steps to decrease obesity and other health problems and strive for a healthy lifestyle. | $975 |
| Janis | Churchill | McGaheysville Elementary | Cristin Iwanicki, PVES | Connecting Across the Country | 2nd grade classrooms learn together through Òpen friendsÓ using stories, communicating through email, digital pictures, and digital movies. | $275 |
| Debra | Coffman | Linville-Edom Elementary | Panther Pride Club | Transportation costs for after school tutoring program. | $600 | |
| Betty | Coffman | Ottobine Elementary | Sweet Sounds of Success | Students learn to create and arrange their own music on special instruments. | $500 | |
| Christy | Curry | John Wayland Elementary | Olga Dovel, Thuy Ho | Help Me Understand: Teacher to ESL Parent Communication | Translators provided once per month to limited English speaking parents about their child and how to help them study/practice with their child. | $1,000 |
| Hilary | Davies | Spotswood High School | Chris Dodson | Music Therapy: Creating Positive Experiences in Learning | Advanced choral students work in groups to create musical experiences for special needs students. | $770 |
| Linda Therese | Doherty | Elkton Elementary | Bobbie Arbogast, JCMES/LSES, Krista Miller, SRES/MES, Sue Porter, PKVES, Charlotte Holter, JWES | Bridge Building Basics | A kit providing hands-on unit on bridges and engineering concepts involved in building them. | $727 |
| Susan | Eckenrode | John Wayland Elementary | Monarch Manor | Create Monarch Migration Way station. Class will hatch, release & tag Monarchs and track migration to Mexico. | $1,000 | |
| Cindy | Ferek | Turner Ashby High School | Work Zone Ahead: Building New Brain Cells | Students with learning delays learn through the use of cross lateral movements that require utilizing both sides of the brain. | $1,000 | |
| Alicia | Fernandez-Mooney | Mountain View Elementary | Brain Building Maniacs | Brain building activities through jigsaw puzzles prepare students to meet SOL elements in academic curriculum. | $387 | |
| Ann | Ford | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Jennifer Cook, PVES, Glennette Carter, Sunnyside Health Center | The Young & The Elder | 4th graders and Sunnyside Health Care Center participate in activities designed to develop character traits and appreciation of senior citizens. | $170 |
| Ann | Ford | Pleasant Valley Elementary Kindergarten Pre-School Team | Diane Rodgers, Ronda Heatwole, Jan Alley, Hollie Furr | Swinging With The SOLs | Preschoolers and kindergarteners master shapes, alphabet, counting, symbols, etc. in a fun, educational manner. | $300 |
| Kathy | Foster | McGaheysville Elementary School | Write Between the Lines | MR Students are offered a hollow letter name stamp to independently stamp their name on their papers. Students then practice printing their name by writing within the hollow letter template. | $150 | |
| Marta | Frederick | Fulks Run Elementary | Judy Wilfong, Mary Hahn, Annie Hololob, Barnes & Noble | International Reading Celebration | This celebration will include every classroom choosing a country, doorways decorated, and an evening family program to include food, music, storytelling and crafts from around the world. | $700 |
| Marta | Frederick | Fulks Run Elementary | Volunteer Tutoring Program | Volunteers comit to tutoring our lowest early readers using a whole child approach and intervention strategies that have proven successful. | $750 | |
| Marti | Garber | Broadway High School | Fitness Friends | High school athletes will partner with elementary PE classes to promote physical activity and sports. | $548 | |
| Heather | Gigliotti | McGaheysville Elementary | Therese Warner | Have A Ball: Summer Reading and Writing Program for Emergent Learners | Kindergarten students will be provided with a summer reading and writing challenge to maintain/enhance literacy skills over the summer. | $150 |
| Linda | Harpine | Elkton Middle School | Maggie Howell | Engineering for Success | LEGO Mindstorms provide opportunity for students to apply math, science, technology, and engineering skills as they create and program robots. | $950 |
| Charlotte | Holter | John Wayland Elementary | Jacki Driskill | Engineer-It: Marionette | Students apply the principles of creativity, challenges, and construction to make a stringed marionette. Using the design process will help student understand how movement occurs in living things. | $350 |
| Faith | Hottle | Broadway High School | Dixie Hovermale, Rachel Swartzendruber | Transition: From High School to Real Life | Classroom store will be created for students with disabilities where they will learn and practice post secondary functional skills. | $600 |
| Maggie | Howell | Elkton Middle School | Reflection Garden | 7th grade Tech. Ed. students design and build a Memorial using a donated section I-Beam from the 9-11 World Trade Center. | $530 | |
| Cristin | Iwanicki | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Carolyn Miller, Denise Grove, Kendra Knupp | Photos for Flowers | Students increase economics and plant knowledge while immersed in hands-on, real-life experience. | $75 |
| Margo | Jantzi | Mountain View Elementary & Pleasant Valley Elementary | Mary Hahn, FRES/OES, Del Taylor, PES/LEES | Bridge Building Basics | The Bridge Building Basics kit provides lesson plans for teaching hands-on unit on bridges and the engineering concepts involved in building them. | $624 |
| Margo | Jantzi | Pleasant Valley & Mountain View Elementary Schools | Katrina Eberly, MVES, Karen Komara, PVES, Carrie Day, Snowshoe Elem., Wasilla, AK, Esmeralda Majors, Spring ISD, Houston, TX | The Battle of the Books | 5th graders in Alaska, Texas & Virginia dialogue about 25 books they read | $923 |
| Margo | Jantzi | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Gearing Up for Success | Students intermesh as gear trains while rotating as followers and drivers in the world of simple machine exploration. | $1,000 | |
| Margo | Jantzi | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Carole Welch, PVES, Alice Bair, JFHMS, Obe Hostetter, CO, Technology | History ALIVE! | Students research American heroes through digital storytelling. | $981 |
| Amy | Johnson | Broadway High School | Buds: Oral Histories of the Valley | 11th grade English students interview a relative who experienced the 1940Õs. Keepsake book of narratives will be distributed to each participating student. | $1,000 | |
| Carolyn | Kipps | Turner Ashby High School & Pleasant Valley Elementary | Debbie Price, Kim VanBenschoten | The SkyÕs the LimitÉ. | High school astronomy classes research and design a unit that will reinforce science concepts for 4th graders of a feeder school. | $975 |
| Brady | Knight | Ottobine Elementary | Katherine Dameron | Community Connections | Promote activities that build social science skills by connecting with others in community. | $1,000 |
| Karen | Komara | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Melissa Fox | Native American Day | 51 5th graders identify and describe life in America before the 17th century by converting area classrooms into Indian Villages and make crafts representing their assigned tribe. | $360 |
| Karen | Komara | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Melissa Fox, Kim VanBenschoten | The Constitution CafŽ | Students design a computer generated menu. guest order from the ÒSpecialsÓ based on people, events and slogans from VA history. | $620 |
| Karen | Komara | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Melissa Fox | Hats Off | Various hats distributed and students will role play the appropriate character or describe the character associated with the hats. | $150 |
| Karen | Komara | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Kim VanBenschoten, Melissa Fox | The Classical Club | 5th graders meet weekly to read, research, and discuss forms of classical art, dance, music, famous Virginians, literature, and modes of transportation. | $500 |
| Karen | Komara | Pleasant Valley Elementary | Melissa Fox | IÕm Brave, Too | 5th graders spend one month writing and word processing a Type V paper focusing on a time in their lives when they exhibited bravery. Stories will be bound into hardcover book and sent to soldiers in Iraq and taken to sick children at RMH. | $235 |
| Denise | Lam | Spotswood High School | Mapping My World | World Geography students use GPS receivers to collect data around the school to create maps by entering the data into the ARCGIS9 program. | $800 | |
| Mary | Lanoue | Peak View Elementary | Susan Lawrence | Peak Readers Club: Reading to Reach New Heights | Grades 3-5 engage in reading, discussing, evaluating and voting for favorite VA ReaderÕs Choice Elementary Books. | $1,000 |
| Tammy | Lewellen | Plains Elementary | Cali LaPierre, PES, Tina Showalter, SRES | Come Read With Me | Increase storybook readings and literacy interactions between preschoolers with disabilities and their parents. | $350 |
| Laura | Logan | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Anita Hertzler | Knit Together | Grades 6-8 meet monthly to knit and form lasting, mentoring friendships. They will also create projects to wear and share. | $375 |
| Brenda | Maddox | John C. Myers Elementary | Soma Cube Conundrum | The Soma Cube puzzle consists of seven pieces which can be assembled into a cube. During the year, students will try to assemble the cube and record attempts and solutions. | $285 | |
| Jennifer | Miller | John Wayland Elementary | Jonathan Lapp | A Place In Time | Bridgewater College Art Students will paint hallways including specific ideas and events that 5th graders learn in social studies class. | $300 |
| Susan | Morris | John C. Myers Elementary | Turn Off the Television! | Students/families encouraged to participate in ÒNational Turn-Off the TV Week,Ó April 23-29, 2007. Students play games, read books, write, draw, crafts, puzzles, using bodies and brains instead of being couch potatoes. | $500 | |
| Barbara | Moyer | Central Office | Melissa Fretwell, JFHMS | Reading With Dignity | Specially designed materials with simple text and relevant topics provide opportunities for students with cognitive disabilities. | $720 |
| Barbara | Palmer | Montevideo Middle School | Mike Wanger | Wireless Weather Stations | Create outdoor weather station shelters and use wireless weather transmitter to record daily weather data. | $1,000 |
| Jeff | Peake | Mountain View Elementary | Poetry Rocks! | Students create poetry anthologies; contribute to class anthology; invite community to attend a Poetry Slam! | $395 | |
| Jeff | Peake | Mountain View Elementary | Trout in the Classroom | Students incubate trout eggs and see them mature into adults by spring. | $1,000 | |
| Lori | Peltonen | Broaday High School | Ann Hill | Book Bingo: A High School Reading Incentive Program | Summer reading initiative to get students excited about reading during summer vacation. | $522 |
| Sarah | Pritchett | Elkton Elementary | Julia Bair, Doug Frankish, Benjamin Markel | Reading for SOL Success! | Books will be created that follow RCPS benchmarks in social studies and science to improve reading and mastery of content. | $940 |
| Matt | Rhea | Elkton Middle School | Alisabeth Hussey, Chris Bryant | PickleBall— Promoting Lifelong Activity |
A new sport that can be enjoyed to promote lifelong fitness and activity in a PE setting. Creates desire for students to get active and healthy and continue the path. | $1,000 |
| Rebecca | Rhodes | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | The Kitchen Connection | Students learn basic cooking skills and how to prepare healthy snacks. | $360 | |
| Ann | Ridenour | Elkton Middle School | Mini-Society Motivation | 7th graders learn about entrepreneurship, economics, government and law. | $77 | |
| Jeanne | Ritchie | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Sandy Good-Wetsel | Fun With Fitness | New equipment and supplies will encourage students to pursue individual wellness by being physically active and make decisions that support a healthy body and mind. | $430 |
| Monica | Robinson | Spotswood High School | Kendal St. John, CO | ONSITE: Ongoing New Site Development Integrating Transitional Elements | Five worksites will be added to existing work-study program to assist students to gain needed skills to transition from school to work successfully. | $1,000 |
| Barbara | Rood | Elkton Elementary | Julie Gortler | Beyond the Classroom: Taking Home Literacy Fun Packs | Materials provided and suggestions for parents of early childhood special education students to work on skill reinforcement at home. | $728 |
| Dana | Shields | Lacey Spring Elementary | Carlene Lantz, Kim Price | Sing Out Loud | Students use songs, song books, and recordings of themselves as a fun and effective way to learn. | $126 |
| Heather | Smith | Lacey Spring Elementary | Chess Club Rescue | Uses No Stress Chess game boards to stimulate childrenÕs minds and skills making them more critical thinkers, better problem solvers, and independent decision makers. | $370 | |
| Kim | Tate | Broadway High School | Erin Fawley, JCMES Matthew Kinman BHS |
Letterboxing: Reading & Writing More Than Just Email, Snail Mail and Research Papers | Students use reading, technical writing, research and art to create and find letterboxes to discover and share their communityÕs value with others. | $303 |
| Dani | Taylor | Wellness Coordinator, RCPS | Getting Kids Active: Before School Activities | Before school physical activities to increase neurogenesis by up to 50%. | $1,000 | |
| Sherwin | Tusing | Linville-Edom Elementary | Margaret Alger | Read and Run Marathon | Challenges students to keep fit bodies and minds. Students complete a marathon by reading for 25 hrs. and running 25 miles. Students given a calendar to keep track of their minutes and miles. | $531 |
| Therese | Warner | McGaheysville Elementary | Math Made Fun: Connecting Math & Literature | Provides hands-on materials for students entering school with little or no number or math skills. | $765 | |
| Therese | Warner | McGaheysville Elementary | Janis Churchill, Lou Kirkendall | Technology /Learning Buddies |
PreK & 2nd graders connect by becoming learning buddies by sharing literacy, math and technology skills. | $495 |
| Deborah | Watts | Linville-Edom Elementary | Karen Thomsen | Stuck On You | Language disordered students learn new vocabulary words and concepts using themed sticker sets. | $117 |
| Deborah | Watts | Linville-Edom Elementary | Laura Evy | Balancing Good Speech | Speech therapy students improve sensory-motor integration by balancing on therapy ball and doing repetitive rhythmic speech tasks. | $113 |
| Anita | Wayland | Montevideo Middle School | Ecosystem Ecology on Wheels | Convert 250 gal. tank into a self-sustaining ecosystem on wheels. Students record data created within the ecosystem. | $817 | |
| Tracy | West | Elkton Middle School | Egyptian Art | Students discover art from different culture through clay and paper mache. | $900 | |
| Wilma | White | Lacey Spring Elementary | Math Team Hits a Homerun On SOLs | After-school math team for students grades 2-5 who are at risk. | $300 | |
| Zach | Yoder | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Guest Scientists Without the Guest! | Creation of 10-12 guest speakers to add excitement and creativity to teaching students about scientific methods. Speakers perform demonstrations and dress in costumes. | $500 | |
| Zach | Yoder | J. Frank Hillyard Middle School | Building Blocks of Us | Students build a strand of DNA that is both structurally appropriate and functional. | $1,000 |
When it comes to learning, we click!