A grant Battlefield Primary School was recently awarded is already paying dividends in the classroom, according to Principal Geoff Rhodes.
The school won a $5,000 grant through State Farm Insurance with the assistance of Erin Crane, a local State Farm agent who has a student at the school. The grant has been used to further STEM activities and improve reading and math comprehension for students who are struggling, Rhodes said.
The biggest purchase for the school was a series of intervention kits. The kits are a series of extracurricular learning materials designed to help teachers identify specific needs in students who aren't performing at their grade level in reading or math. With the aid of the kits, the teacher can instruct students either one-on-one or in a small group setting to target their needs and help the students understand what they've been missing.
"Our sole goal with these is to get as many kids reading below grade level up to at least grade level," said Rhodes. "The math intervention kits are the same story."
For example, Rhodes said a student might be struggling with phonetic awareness, or how to break a word down into its specific sounds. The corresponding kit would include scripted materials and visual aids for the teacher to better explain the concept to the students.
In addition to the intervention kits, the school purchased Osmo programs for students' tablet devices designed to introduce them to the basic concepts of computation and coding to better prepare them for a technological world. The school experimented with the software on a small scale last year, and Rhodes said it was a smash hit with the kids.
"They love it. They don't realize they're learning while they use it," he said.
Progress has already been visible. Based on benchmark tests the school does three times a year, there has been improvement in reading and math comprehension above what the school saw last year. Rhodes credits at least part of that to the intervention kits.
Rhodes has more goals to further improve Battlefield Primary's STEM offerings, including e-book Accelerated Reader programs for every student, and a variety of lessons and activities centered around the school's community gardens. Hopefully, with additional grant money down the road, he said, the school will work on making those a reality.