IPEI,
the Ithaca Public Education Initiative, awarded the first ever Connecting
Classrooms Grants to groups of Ithaca City School District (ICSD) teachers last
spring and many of the funded activities continue during the new school year.
One such example is the “Caroline Wilderness Campus Curriculum Initiative” led
by Caroline Elementary School Principal Mary Grover and involving classroom
teachers from all grade levels and the school’s music and art teachers.
Last
May Caroline held its first annual daylong “Celebration of Learning” throughout
the school’s unique, outdoor space known as the “Wilderness Campus”. According
to parent Terezka Korinek: “Awe-inspiring student work was shared throughout
the day. It was an integrated,
school-wide opportunity for PreK-5th grade students to showcase
various projects that resulted from their learning about a particular nature, science
or engineering topic.”
Students
were stationed along the trail equipped with what they would share with other
Caroline students and with visiting family members and friends. For example, some students educated attendees
about the animals and insects present in the school’s wilderness with videos
that they recorded after conducting research. Digital tablets connected to the
district’s outdoors wireless network were used to share the student videos.
Janie
Moon Clark, retired Caroline teacher who supported creation of the “Wilderness
Campus”, has also been involved with this grant’s curriculum development that
can be used by Caroline teachers as well as by teachers from other ICSD
schools. Lessons feature Animal
Detectives, Water Cycle and Flooding, Bird Migration and Adaptations, and
Trout-Life Cycle. The “Celebration of
Learning” included unveiling of a new trail sign for the outdoor campus donated
by the families of students who completed Grade 5 in 2014. In recognition for
her leadership, the trail sign is dedicated to Clark.
Grover
applied for the Connecting Classrooms Grant in order to access funds to help develop
an “integrated school-wide approach to support a culture of student learning
which builds students’ persistence, collaboration, critical thinking and
problem solving, communication skills and independence.” Caroline teachers have participated in a district-wide
initiative to support the creation of interdisciplinary, units of study aligned
with the current learning standards.
Grover’s
goals include supporting and nurturing instructional shifts that engage and
empower students, providing students with authentic opportunities to share
learning that bring standards to life, and giving educators the time and
support to write curriculum that reflects a clear understanding of standards
and our district’s instructional shifts.
“One
thing that was especially inspiring was how everyone throughout the school was
engaged,” expressed Grover who described students who were excited to share
their learning with everyone. “This
grant helped push us to be a community of learners right up until the final
days of the spring semester. My
colleagues in other buildings are looking to replicate the ‘Celebration of
Learning’ model in ways that work for their schools, too.”
Korinek
joined Grover in expressing gratitude to IPEI for funding its proposal as a
Connecting Classrooms Grant. “Caroline’s industrious teachers worked intensively
over a three-month period to design and implement new and inspirational
curricula,” she said. “Classrooms became
a string of birdfeeders hanging on tree boughs outside a nearby window; or a
rotten log covered with mold, myriad invertebrates, and moss. Other classrooms
were held on the tip of a flowering aster watching as a bumblebee sipped nectar
and next exploring elephant dung to learn how seeds were dispersed on the
plains of Africa. Some classes encircled the bark of oak and sycamore trees and
then cast visions upward to explore bare-branched canopies just as the buds
began to appear. Paper mâché animals, cradled with care by their makers, looked
for food and shelter within the woodland campus. Adaptive features of various
wildlife species were highlighted near Six Mile Creek and accessed on the web
with student experts reporting.”
The
Connecting Classrooms Grants program is IPEI's newest grants offering for
teachers, staff and others with ideas for enhancing educational opportunities
for ICSD students. Five grants totaling $34,950 were funded according to IPEI
Grants Committee Chair Connie Patterson. "IPEI is pleased and excited to
support these fantastic proposals that find new ways to get students actively
involved in learning and discovery. Each project was created by a group of
educators who have chosen to focus on scientific content while incorporating
language arts, math, and technology. We are impressed with the teachers' vision
and commitment!" said Patterson, an IPEI board member and retired
educator.
Connecting
Classrooms Grants build on IPEI's successful models for encouraging and
supporting innovative teaching and deeper learning. "Our intent is to be
the catalyst for ICSD staff to seek and develop innovative collaborative
partnerships between teachers within a school, across grade levels and/or between
schools," according to Patterson. "It's about working together,"
said IPEI Executive Director Christine Sanchirico. "This is really our
guiding principle for the new grants."
IPEI
initiated Connecting Classrooms Grants using funds IPEI received from generous
community members who donated to its Our Children * Our Schools * Our Future
campaign. One of the capital campaign's three goals was to expand programs and
grants. IPEI's other grants programs are funded by the Annual Fund and Adult
Spelling Bee.
Connecting
Classrooms Grants help recipients to plan, develop, and implement their visions
that are aligned with the grant criteria including internal collaboration among
ICSD staff; identification of overall promise or potential of project aligned
with school and district goals; plan encourages active learning and student
engagement; realistic, thoughtful outline of process; proposed budget aligns
with project goals and intended outcomes; potential for academic impact; and
process for effective evaluation of the project. Patterson added that
applicants first should consider whether the request fits into IPEI's other
grant categories (Teacher Grants, and Red and Gold Grants).
The
next review of project proposals begins with Statement of Interest forms
submitted by October, 15. IPEI's website (www.ipei.org) includes details on all
its activities. For more information, contact
ConnectingClassroomsGrants@IPEI.org or call (607) 256-4734.
IPEI
is a not-for-profit organization that connects the Ithaca City School District
and the community through collaboration, engagement, gifts and grants. For more
information, see www.ipei.org or contact 256-IPEI (4734) or ipei@ipei.org.
