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2010-11 IN REVIEW :
Funding
of innovation grants deliver Bridgman Students much needed tools
to enrich their education. In total, the Foundation awarded 10
Innovation Grants consisting of a variety of projects that
involved the Arts, Arithmetic, Science, History and Reading.
In all, over one thousand students attending the Bridgman
Elementary, Middle and High School benefited.
Grants
consisted of a trip to visit the Art Institute in Chicago as part
of a geometry curriculum that showed the correlation of Geometry
in Art, a RTI-Readers Association that is short for Response to
Intervention in reading, a trip to the Southwest Michigan Symphony
(click for comments) so that music students could experience and learn about the
characteristics of musical instruments and harmony never before
seen. Drama
students in the 5th and 6th grade classes
received funding for personal instruction from a local talent
company “Creative eLMNTts”
(click for comments). Additionally, ten fitBall seating
discs were purchased to benefit students with attention deficiency
problems.
Many other projects and activities were also awarded.
This
is the third round of Innovation Grants that teachers have been
given the opportunity to apply for.
The experiences and education these students have gained
are paving the way to their future.
The Foundation is proud of the teachers involved in these
projects and learning experiences. Funding
of a spring 2010 innovation grant delivers Bridgman Students the
technology needed to earn the Award of First Place at the Michigan
Industrial & Technology Education Society state competition
held in Sault Ste Marie on May 6th 2010 for a Solar
Powered Tri-Cyle (Click
for Video). The American Society of Body Engineers also Awards
this innovative project with a First Place distinction during this
same event.
PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2009
• Purchase of BOSU Fitness trainers in support of a PE Department
goal to promote lifelong physical activity and fitness.
• A social studies project re-creating the experiences of a Civil War soldier from a common
soldier’s viewpoint.
• Tools to assist in reading comprehension and writing productivity.
• Frog Dissection Alternative Lab software.
• Material to enhance study of Earth’s waters, weather, and climate.
• Purchase of Calculator Based Rangers to be used with math graphing calculators helping students to become more analytical when interpreting graphs.
• Materials that will be used to enhance student and staff training relative to conflict resolution and positive behavior practices.
• Funding to support a hallway mural painting of the history and life in Bridgman, while at the same time teaching principles of design.
Other
- Also funded through trustee donations was the purchase of 7 digital camera packs for the Visual, Performing, and Applied Arts departments. Elementary students will now be able to use up-to-date equipment in satisfying academic requirements of bringing technology into art studies, while middle and high school students will be better able to document progress on complex projects and also enhancing creative uses of up-to-date digital equipment.
- The Foundation also funded the entire 4th Grade Class trip to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. This trip gave these students a real world field trip including a chartered bus tour and enhanced the students knowledge about our 38th President of the United States.
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