06/07 Innovation Grants


Green Building Technologies: ($500 Higgins Family Fund)
Project:  Students will learn about “green building” technology, which will play a large role in natural resources conservation and provide new career opportunities, with a visit to the Chicago Center for Green Technology.

The results of Ms. Woods innovative teaching resulted in Dundee Crown High School student Trevor Hansen winning the highest State Science award. 
Educator: Elizabeth Woods
School:      Dundee-Crown High School

Math Extensions and Enrichment ($500)
Will provide engaging learning opportunities to reinforce math concepts pertinent to second grade.
Educator:  Luc Miron
School:       Kenneth E. Neubert Elementary 

Practical Play ($500)
High-interest, developmentally appropriate “prop boxes” will be used to assess developmental skills, goals and objectives across domains.
Educators:   Beth Siegfort,  Kristy Gibson,  Jan Merner
School:          DeLacey Family Educational Center 

Rescue the Repeating ($500)
Will help students repeating Algebra I by providing tools to succeed and prepare for state and ACT exams and foster trade skills.
Educators:   Julie Duffield
School:         Dundee-Crown High School

Boys & Books ($500)
Will engage reluctant readers in literacy and writing interest- and skill-building activities.
Educator:     Erin Fillmore
School:          Golfview Elementary

Reading Fun ($150)
Parents will be taught word work activities they can do at home with a cookie sheet and magnet letters.
Educator:      Sarah Carlson
School:           Sleep Hollow Elementary

05/ 06 Innovation Grants


Math Enrichment  ($500) 
Will enhance the math skills of second-grade students by giving them the opportunity to interact with one another while learning life skills as well as logical and sequential skills. The teacher will use math centers during recess and designated math-center time to accomplish these goals and meet the needs of all students—from “gifted” to “struggling.”
Educator:     Luc Miron
School:          Kenneth E. Neubert Elementary

Non-Fiction:  Making it Real ($500)
This is a first-through fourth-grade project in which nonfiction children's magazines will be used as resources for science and social Students.  A primary goal is to improve ISAT non-fiction reading scores. 
Educator:  Barb malinger
School:       Perry Elementary

Extreme Building ($275)
 This project at Algonquin, Carpentersville, Dundee, Hampshire and Westfield Middle Schools, will allow gifted 8th-grade students to use a hands-on approach to design and build a roller coaster, experimenting with the laws of physics.
Educator:  B.J. Franquelli
School:       Westfield Community School

Physical Education and Action-Based Learning ($500)
This project will combine fitness, health, teamwork and problem solving for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Activities will include using a game board in which students read a fitness skill and execute as a team, and assembling a seven-foot puzzle of the human skeletal system. Other activities will integrate math, spelling, history and science. Educator:     Susan Sliwoski
School:          Meadowdale Elementary

Reading is a Family Affair ($200)
This grant will allow teachers to create create take-home “literacy bags” for students' families. Bags will contain materials including books, manipulatives, games and a variety of suggestions of related activities that families could do together to develop pre-reading skills.
Educators:  Cindy Bielski, Connie Rainey and Lorrie Wildenradt
School:         deLacey Family Education Center

Portable Language Arts Folders ($350)
Teachers will create folders containing word-wall words, color words, calendar words, Jolly Phonics letters and picture cues for use at each student’s desk to make language arts visuals more accessible when students are reading and writing.
Educator:    Barb Jones
School:         Lincoln Prairie Elementary