County-wide Partners-in-Education Mini-Grant Application (up to $300)

Applicant's Name: Allison Baker Phone Number: Email Address: School or Department: Cowan Road ES Team and/or Grade Level: Media Center Project Title: Partner Reading made Effective Number of students affected: 100 Grade Level(s) Affected: K-5 Mini-grant Amount Requested: $215.88 Project Start Date: 08/15/12 Project Completion Date: 12/15/12

Project Description:
Briefly describe your project and how it connects to your school's improvement plan and/or the system's strategic plan. (Limit 150 words) In the system's strategic goal of student achievement, there are three performance objectives: increase test scores, close achievement gaps, and increase progression rates. Our school has annual measurable goals, per the current school improvement plan, that 90% K-2 students will meet/exceed the local standard for oral reading fluency and 90% of 3-5 students will meet/exceed on the Reading portion of the CRCT. This project will serve to increase reading skills in students within both age groups. The project will allow for the purchase of "two can read" books. The books are created where the text on all left-side pages are at a K-1st grade level while all right-side pages are written at a 3rd grade level. By including older students reading with younger students, both participants will become better readers. Older students are able to read with a younger student, while both read at their instructional level. What do you expect your students to learn from implementation of your grant idea? How do you plan to evaluate student learning? ( Limit 150 words) Many students come in with little knowledge of books. Without this experience, they struggle in reading. The best improvement practice is guided reading (someone else listening, providing assistance, asking questions to check comprehension, answering questions for the child). It is difficult to for teachers to provide enough of this one-on-one time with a class of 18 students and keep the average or above-average students on track with their needs as well. I have found several sets of classroom, level reading books that could be checked out for homeroom teachers to coordinate with other grade teachers and partner students. These same books could be used in small guided reading groups within the classroom and with the older partner student. The media committee will work together to provide some additional activities to accompany the books that will be appropriate for both the older and younger student.

What partnerships do you plan to incorporate in this grant opportunity? Will your school's Partners in Education be involved in any way? If so, identify the partner(s) and explain how they will be involved in the grant. In implementing this proposal, will you seek assistance or support from organizations, businesses, community groups, etc. other than your school's Partners in Education? If so, how?(Limit 150 words)

County-wide Partners-in-Education Mini-Grant Application (up to $300)

This project would incorporate teacher/teacher multi-grade level. Teachers from other grade-levels would participate by allowing a partnership between students in different classes to interact and practice fluency. Struggling students to participate will be selected based on the fall STEEP ORF, STAR reader, and i-station reports for younger grades. I would like to pair these readers of different grade levels to form a reading partnership. This could actually be a struggling reader in an upper grade. Often, older students need reinforcement in phonics, which this experience could provide. Research has shown that by allowing a student to become the teacher, the education experience is greatly enriched for both students. Students could read in either teacher's room or could come to the Media Center to one of the reading areas.

Project Budget - $215.88

(Maximum Amount: $300)

A. Mandatory Items-Items you MUST have to support this grant. Item Description Two-can read books: animals (set of 6) Two-can read books: adventure (set of 6) Total of Other Items Total amount (Mandatory) B. Optional Items you would LIKE to have to support this grant. Item Description Qt Unit Cost y Qt y 6 6 Unit Cost 17.99 17.99 Total Cost 107.94 107.94 0.00 215.88

Total Cost

Total of Other Items Total amount (Mandatory plus optional) C. If the total cost of your project exceeds the $300 mini-grant limit, have you found other funding for the remainder of your project: ____ yes ____ no X _ Not applicable D. What other funding sources have you secured for project totals exceeding the $300 maximum? _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ ___