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More Than $58,000 In Grants Awarded to Local Middle Schools From The Cox Kids Foundation
(SAN DIEGO) September, 2009 – As part of its Innovation in Education program, the Cox Kids Foundation has awarded more than $58,000 in grants to 14 middle schools throughout San Diego County to fund innovative classroom projects. The 2009 Innovation in Education grants are presented by Bridgepoint Education, a leading provider of post-secondary education and supporter of the advancement of teachers and students. The grants will be used by local teachers to create a new classroom project, build upon an existing one, purchase equipment and materials, or promote student learning and participation. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Cox Kids Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Cox Communications. More than 1,000 employees donate funds from their paychecks, which are matched 100% by Cox Communications to support San Diego area educational initiatives and children and families in need. The Innovation in Education program awards grants to local middle schools to help fund educational programs that promote innovation and imagination in local classrooms. Chosen from nearly 70 applicants from throughout San Diego County, the 2009 Innovation in Education grant recipients are: Bear Valley Middle School, Escondido, $4,534.38 - to implement a “Literary Puppet Production” project that uses Muppet-type hand puppets and video production equipment to help middle-school students connect with literature, and master content standards such as plot, setting, character, dialogue and theme. Students will produce a play, memorize, rehearse and perform scenes, and videotape/edit their play. Bernardo Heights Middle School, San Diego, $2,990 - to purchase video equipment for a production class with special needs students. Because visualization plays an important role in oral and reading comprehension, students with the inability to imagine struggle academically and socially. Sixty sixth-through eighth-grade students including those with learning disabilities, autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or speech and language impairment will increase writing and oral communication skills, and increase their ability to critically evaluate work projects. Carmel Valley Middle School, San Diego, $1,009.75 - The first of its kind in the county, the “Heroes” class will be run by middle school students who will oversee Friday Night Live Kids, a club for elementary school students that promotes drug-free and healthy lifestyle messages in a fun setting. The grant will be used to fund books and materials that teach meaningful lessons on health issues. Granger Junior High, National City, $5,000 - for “The Ecosystem Project” that will benefit 10 ninth-grade biology classes. The grant will be used to purchase 30-gallon fish tanks for each class, complete with plants, fish, snails and organisms, digital cameras, computers, a photo printer and for field trips. Students will be responsible for the maintenance, care, monitoring and reporting of their ecosystem, and they will learn how the principles apply and the impact they have on our local wetlands. Guajome Park Academy, Vista, $1110.56 - for the “Gourd Sculpture and Ceramic Sculpture” project, designed to challenge students to solve three-dimensional design problems. Eighth-grade students will participate in preliminary work, concept development and actualization of two finished sculptures that are uniquely relevant to their lives. The grant will be used to purchase gourds, wood burning tools, power gourd saws, ink dyes, sculpture clay and pottery tool kits. Guajome Park Academy, Vista, $900 - for “Going Graphic at Guajome,” Millennial Tech Middle School, San Diego, $5,000 - for a music program that will incorporate technology to enable students to become more rounded in the arts ands sciences. Millennial Tech is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Magnet Middle School that is looking for ways to integrate the arts into their curriculum. The grant money will be used to purchase digital keyboards, and music writing software for the new “Digital Music” elective class. Olive Peirce Middle School, Ramona, $5,000 - for “Visualize This!” a project designed to increase student science learning and engagement by using document cameras. The objectives of the project include: using the cameras to guide students through interactive reading passages, modeling proper lab procedures in a way that is visually effective for all students, and placing high quality work under the document camera so that students can immediately see the expectations for the assignment and its learning goal. Parkway Middle School, La Mesa, $3,842 - for electronic responders that will provide immediate student feedback. Because some middle school students are intimidated or embarrassed to ask questions in class, the hand-held responders will allow students to respond electronically to a mathematical problem. The responders will be used in conjunction with PowerPoint presentations and will give immediate feedback on what percentage of the class understands the concept. Prospect Avenue PRIDE Academy, Santee, $5,000 - for the implementation of PASCO scientific probware and the SPARK Science Learning System, which will help improve science instruction and learning in grades 6-8. SPARK is an all-in-one mobile device that integrates the use of hand-held devices that contain pre-installed information for students to complete science experiments. The devices also integrate with laptops and electronic whiteboards and include an electronic journal for students to maintain throughout the year. River Valley Charter School, Lakeside, $4,785 - for the development of a graphic arts lab that will give students the opportunity for hands-on exploration of creative art forms. The grant money will be used to purchase Adobe Creative Suites Design Premium CS4 software and digital cameras for use in media Arts, Web Design 2-D and 3-D Animation and Graphic Arts elective classes. San Elijo Middle School, San Marcos, $5,000 - for the “Eagles Soar from the Past” project, which will provide students with the opportunity to use film production techniques to learn and review history concepts. Students will be responsible for filming group skits including interviews of famous historical characters, panel discussions, and debates or re-creations of important historical events. The grant money will be used to purchase a digital camera, computers, tri-pods, software and cables. Woodland Park Middle School, San Marcos $4,953.37 - for the project titled, “Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English Learning in the Digital Age” that will use InterWrite Pads and Classroom Performance System to increase students interest and participation. The InterWrite Pads and its supporting software provide visual imagery and stimuli using backgrounds, grids, graphic organizers, a screen capturing tool and hand-held responders. This immediate response technology had been on loan to teachers at Woodland Park, and they noticed an increase with students being on task, being actively engaged in lessons and with their Cornell note taking skills. The entire sixth-grade class will utilize this technology. Sycamore Canyon, Santee, $4,021.63 - for the “Focus and Engage” project that will use technology to develop a learning environment that enables all children to be active participants in the classroom. The grant money will be used to purchase interactive whiteboards and individual hand-held response systems for students that will give immediate feedback to the class on a particular concept. These tools will allow students to see, touch, hear and respond to what’s being taught and will help the teacher all students’ needs regardless of their academic levels. Twin Peaks Middle School, Poway, $5,000- to increase the collection of graphic novels (not comic books) in the school library. There has been a reading explosion in the popularity of graphic novels among students in grades 6-8. At Twin Peaks, they have 596 graphic novels and from September to March of the prior school year, the books circulated 2,058 times, which is a huge number for such a small collection. The grant money will be used to purchase graphic novels at all reading levels to accommodate reluctant and high level readers and increase literacy among all middle school students. Marking its 10th anniversary of community giving, the Cox Kids Foundation will donate more than $500,000 to the San Diego Community in 2009. Since its inception in 1999, nearly $3 million has been raised through the foundation for community programs for children and families in need in the areas of health, education and social services. ###
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