Friday, October 9, 2020; Eudora, KS: The Eudora Schools Foundation (ESF) announced today the award of more than $9,000 to 18 teachers in the Eudora school district. Teachers apply for grants for innovative programs that enhance student learning and success in the classroom. Since 2006, the ESF has funded more than 130 projects across the district totaling more than $100,000 in classroom educational initiatives.

"We love being able to connect the community directly to our students and teachers through the awarding of the Teacher Excellence Grants,” said Matt Bova, ESF President. “Eudora's teachers never stop looking for ways to reach their students, and the Eudora Schools Foundation is proud to be able to support those efforts." 

The chosen projects will benefit students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Examples of the grants proposed include STEM projects, books and advancement curricula, multicultural and inclusive resources, and cross-curricular education. Grants were awarded in the following amounts:

Eudora Elementary School $5,250

Eudora Middle School: $1,500

Eudora High School: $2,250

Individual school grants and award recipients are listed below:

Eudora Elementary School

3D Printers – enables students to learn about 3D printer technology and how to use the 3D printing software to create their own 3D print designs. Students will explore ways that 3D printers can solve problems and help them begin to hone their 21st century technology skills. The 3D printers would be used in art classes with the availability to use in other classroom settings. Grant Recipient: Kania Shain

Back to the Roots Water Garden – allows third grade students the opportunity to learn about aquaponic ecosystem, where the fish waste fertilizes the plants and the plants clean the water. Farmers all over the world have used aquaponic growing systems as a sustainable and efficient way to grow food. This water garden will allow students to get hands on experience understanding different ways to grow food like generations before them. Grant Recipient: Ashley Golay

Culturally Enriching the Elementary Music Curriculum – allows the expansion of music collections including songs books to include racially diverse characters and feature cultures that students might be less familiar. This will cultivate a culturally responsive and sensitive curriculum which will benefit all of our learners. All students benefit from a diverse collection of music resources with the opportunity to access authentic materials in the elementary music classroom. Grant Recipient: Rebecca Killen & Kendra Temaat

Makey Makey – enables students 4th grade students the opportunity to take everyday objects like a banana and connect and program them to a computer. The kits would be used cross-curricular with science and reading. Students will use the equipment in teams to work, to test and to solve problems. Recipient: Lindsey Chesnut

Outside Sensory Paths – provides students the opportunity to increase foundational gross motor development through multiple sensory paths outdoors. Students can use the paths during recess, but also during designated masks break areas. Students will improve balance, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. Grant Recipients: Elizabeth Schmidt and Rachell Butler

Popular Easy Readers – allows beginning readers to have books that they can read independently. Students are drawn to books that interest them, books about Barbies, Legos, popular characters, and funny books are always checked out of the library quickly. These popular easy readers will allow the library to have in circulation books that help students become better, more confident readers, while having fun reading. Grant Recipient: Jill Dodge

Portable Speakers – provides the opportunity to play music during physical education class and allowing the teacher to amplifying their voice especially when outdoors for class. Using music is a great way to get students moving, plus helping with transitioning from one class activity to the next, particularly during social distancing. Recipient: Madee Walker

Professional Development for Art Educators – provides art teachers the opportunity to enhance their classrooms by learning and implementing hundreds of ongoing visual arts training and hands-on tutorials. These resources will ultimately provide students with the best art education learning experiences. This teacher training will provide a large impact across EES. Grant Recipient: Kania Shain

STEM Bins – encourages third grade students to create, invent, and solve problems using real-world challenges. This teacher developed program uses manipulates, blueprint recording sheets, illustrated guides with questions and prompts for quick implementation into individual student or larger group work. Grant Recipient: Ashley Golay

Eudora Middle School

Multi-sensory Manipulative Phonics Kits– provides students with significant learning disabilities explicit practice with hands-on reading phonic kits that will hopefully help them break through the barrier that is keeping them from making adequate progress in their personal reading development. The kits are part of an evidenced-based program that has been developing using research that aligns with the district’s LETRS training. Grant Recipient: Sandra Campbell

Social Distancing in Physed– allows students to design and build multiple yard games in a cross-curricular setting to be used by all students during their physical education classes. Students in woodshop, art, and life skills will draft, construction and finish yard games including: corn hole boards, ladder golf and more. These games are great for students to use during social distancing PE class. Grant Recipient: Mitchell Tegtmeier

Eudora High School

Effects Packs – enhances digital media and video students’ ability to create on screen effects and illustrations. Students will gain advanced experience using screen effects combined with their knowledge of shooting everything in 4K which other high schools have not had the opportunity to do. Grant Recipient: Nate Robinson

(More!) Science-Themed Board Games! – provides a fun and engaging platform for students to interact with often difficult-to-learn scientific concepts through a set of science-themed board games: Compound, Evolution, and Cytosis. Providing more games offers an opportunity to engage all students in the classroom. Students use creative and competitive play that will aid in their mastery of these basic scientific concepts and also encourage higher order thinking in students. Through their interactions with the games, students will be able to watch new species evolve, or see elements joining at the atomic level to form more complex compounds, or follow the path of an enzyme as its synthesized inside of a living cell. Grant Recipient: Eric Magette

Periodic Table – allows for students to see the most recent additions to the periodic table. Based on Next Generation Science Standards, students spend about three months studying chemistry including the periodic table. Having the most recently updated table in the classroom is a crucial learning tool for the science students. Grant Recipient: Julie Splichal

Periodic Table Tiles – enables chemistry and physical science students to learn the elements by building the periodic table, or even build a periodic group or compounds. The hands-on tiles help students learn simpler concepts of the periodic table and yet more complex concepts of the electron configurations. Grant Recipient: Morning Pruitt

Wireless Data Collection for Anatomy – enhances high school anatomy and physiology students to use Go Direct Sensors to collect data, wirelessly, directly to their Chromebooks. The sensors will allow students to monitor and analyze physiological responses in the body such as heart rate, oxygen uptake and muscle activation and fatigue, heart rhythms, respiratory rates, skin temperature, and reflex response. This type of dynamic lab experience that these sensors would allow our science students to be prepared to work in real-world lab settings. Grant Recipient: Eric Magette

The Eudora Schools Foundation is a nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) that generates resources, builds relationships, and champions public education in Eudora public schools. Founded in 2006, the Foundation exists to enhance the quality of education through partnerships with the community. Expenditures are primarily directed toward enhancing classroom instruction and impacting the broadest number of Eudora students. https://www.eudoraschoolsfoundation.org

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