Bright Ideas Grant Application

Please complete the entire application. Do not include any identifying information, including your name, county, school, or school mascots in Parts 2, 3 or 4. You may attach supplementary materials. Teachers may only submit one grant application per year. Grants up to $1,500 will be awarded to Georgia certified Pre-K though 12 grade school teachers who demonstrate the best innovation, goals, learning objectives, student involvement and budget. Qualifying counties include Baldwin, Jones, Putnam, Twiggs and Wilkinson. Winners will be greeted in their classroom by the Bright Ideas Prize Team. Applicants agree that their name, photo and project may be used in print, broadcast and any other media as it relates to Tri-County EMC.

Part 1 of 4
Last Name: ____Walker_______________ First Name: ____Linda_________________________ Project Title: ____E-Reading to Excellence____________ School Name: ______Putnam County Elementary School_______ School Mailing Address: ___314 S. Washington Ave., Eatonton, GA 31024________ School Physical Address: ___ 314 S. Washington Ave_________________________ City: ____Eatonton_______________ State: ______GA__________ Zip: ______31024________ School Phone: _________(706) 485-5312 ______ School Fax: ____(706) 923-2308______ Applicants Email: [email protected]__
I am a certified teacher in Georgia Pre-K through 12 grade in Baldwin, Jones Putnam, Twiggs or Wilkinson county. I have the support of the school principal. This is the only application I have submitted. I will use this grant for students in grades Pre-K through 12. If I win, I will submit a report about the grants outcome. I also agree that my name, photo and information about the grant may be used in publications and publicity of Tri-County EMC without compensation to me or my team members. I agree with these terms by submitting this application.

Part 2 of 4
Project Overview
Applicants Signature: ___________________________________________________________

Project Title: ________________E-Reading to Excellence______ Curriculum Areas: __________ English/Language Arts and Technology Integration_ _________ Number of Students and/or Classrooms Project Will Benefit: ______420_____________________ Grade Levels Impacted: _________4th and 5th _________________________________________ Does Project Involve More Than One Teacher? ______Yes__X_______ Number of Team Members (teachers): ___Two____________

Part 3 of 4
Project Description
Please describe the project. (Limit to 150 words.)

New district criteria for promotion requires students to demonstrate literacy skills at or above their current grade level. Additionally, fourth and fifth grade students must meet the Georgia Performance Standard of reading one million words per year through a variety of text mediums. All fourth and fifth grade students attend the school reading enrichment lab class throughout the school year. Currently, only a limited number of print books and one primary level E-book subscription program are available as reading resources for students while they are in the school reading lab. This project will place ten Kindle E-readers in the Reading Lab. Each E-reader will have a minimum of twenty-five, reading level appropriate downloaded E-books. Students may utilize the Kindles during their reading lab period. By self-selecting reading material available through the E-readers, students will have increased opportunities to practice and improve their reading skills.
What are the goals/objectives for this project? How will your goals be measured? (Limit to 150 words.)

The goal of this project is for every fourth and fifth grade student to meet both district promotion criteria and GPS ELA4R2. The implementation of this project will support students in improving their reading skills by providing additional reading lab resources through Kindle Ereaders and E-books. Presently, both the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) and Accelerated Reading (AR) assessment programs are used to measure student performance in reading skills.

SRI and STAR Reading tests are administered to students regularly throughout the school year and provide teachers with literacy skills benchmark data. AR tests are taken by students throughout the school year and the resulting data indicates a students success in meeting GPS ELA4R2. Increases in student achievement in meeting the project goal will be indicated by yearend results of SRI and AR student data.
What makes this project innovative and/or creative? (Limit to 150 words.)

Over 300 free and low cost childrens E-books will be available to students through 10 Kindle Ereaders. These books are otherwise not available through the school media center or Reading lab. E-books offer text delivery in a format that is familiar and comfortable to young 21st Century Learners. Kindle use nurtures and reinforces language acquisition and comprehension. Selecting books from this digital format will offer fourth and fifth grade students a plethora of resources including classic childrens literature, as well as current popular nonfiction and fiction titles. The automatic dictionary, web resource check, and note taking features available through the Kindles will allow students a seamless reading experience, one they do not have when perusing traditional printed text.
How will this project benefit students? (Limit to 100 words.)

As students are given the opportunity to select from books representing a wide range of literary genres, they will practice and improve their reading comprehension and language skills through daily exposure to content rich informational and fictional text. As they read the E-books, students will be tasked with adding annotations to text with a virtual keyboard, thus encouraging higher order thinking skills. Kindle E-books are digital so students will be able to edit, delete, and export the book notes. They will also be prompted to use the text highlight, clip key passages, and bookmark pages features of the E-readers. How will you implement this project? If others will assist you, include what they will be doing, however, do not use their names. (Limit to 250 words.) Each day, there are five reading enrichment laboratory classes that serve fourth and fifth grade students. The Kindles will be available to ten students per class, or fifty students per day. This will result in approximately 8,500 E-reader uses throughout the school year. The school currently has an Amazon account, and the Kindles and book downloads will be purchased through this account. When the units are received they will be entered into the school technology database and assigned asset numbers by the media specialist. The media specialist will then download fifty E-books per unit and create a spreadsheet of titles available on each Kindle unit. As the Kindles become available to the students, they will select an E-book to read and sign up to use a Kindle on which the book is downloaded. Students will check-in the Kindle at the end of the reading lab period or when the book is finished. The Reading Lab coordinator will facilitate the use of the units in the lab. After completing an E-Book a student will take an AR test on the book read. All E-book and E-reader use will be compiled and compared with year-end Language Arts and Technology student performance assessment data for fourth and fifth grade students.

Part 4 of 4
Budget (Maximum grant is $1,500)
Please list the items you must have for this project. If applicable, include tax, shipping or other fees. Item Description Kindle E-reader Quantity 10 Unit Cost $79.00 Total Cost $790.00

Power Adapter/charger E-books E-books (free downloads pre 1923 copyright or public domain)

4 100 200

$ 9.99 $ 6.00 $ 0.00

$ 39.96 $600.00 $ 0.00

$1429.96