Development and Enrichment Grants

Indoor Vertical Farming for All — Brittany Forgey
Students will learn about sustainable, vertical farming and food production by using a Garden Tower to grow crops.

Harmony Director and the band — Tim Zeiss
The grant will purchase a Yamaha Harmony Director, which helps music students build habits of good intonation.

Forensic Library Update — Michael Robinson
Funds will add books, memoirs, novels, poetry, and plays to the speech library of material used for enjoyment or competition.

New Fiction, New Faces — Shauna Burkeen
The grant will add books for groups of the student population who are underserved by the current collection.

Fourth Grade ELA RTI Program — Ashley Cox
Funds will help purchase an adaptive blended learning program that accelerates the development of literacy skills.

Mark Schmidt Technology Award for 2022-2023

Fourth  Grade ELA RTI Program — Ashley Cox
Funds will help purchase an adaptive blended learning program that accelerates the development of literacy skills. 

Mini Grants for 2022-2023

Murray Elementary School

Blossom and Learn Tiger Garden — Melissa Durham
Through a partnership with MSU School of Agriculture, MISD FFA and Kids’ Company, students will be taught the importance of sustainability and pollination by working in a garden they help plant and maintain.

“Look, Mom! I Can Read!” — Jay Stark
As they are learning to read, Kindergarteners need a wide variety of “just-right” books so they can practice. Having a classroom library with leveled, high-interest books, Kindergarteners can read while building fluency and confidence.

“Find Your Rhythm!” — Hunter Carter
Students need to explore and learn about new sounds and instruments from around the world.
Adding a diversity of instruments to the classroom will enhance a student’s musical experience and growth. “All students will be able to play these percussion instruments throughout the year. I know they will love them.” HC

“Numberblocks” to the Rescue — Nancy Newsome
Children will learn how numbers really work as they build their own Numberblocks from 1-10 and from 11-20 by connecting them with classic mathlink cubes. Students will be able to follow the Numberblock characters on Youtube videos to enhance their learning.

Building Numbers and Fine Motor in Kindergarten — Nancy Newsome
The materials purchased with the grant will reinforce beginning math skills-counting, comparing, adding and subtracting. In addition, the students will build fine motor skills by snapping, writing, using pincer grips and manipulating objects as they stack and drag while completing the math tasks.

Sanitizer+Students=More Learning — Beth Wood
The addition of a Touchland Smart Dispenser to the library will allow students to efficiently sanitize their hands before and after selecting library materials. Less time will be spent on manipulating the bottled hand sanitizer dispensers, thus increasing the amount of time devoted to learning in the library.

Flexible Seating While Increasing Communication Skills — Erica Shepard
Having flexible seating options within the speech therapy room allows students to control their physical environment and to find their “personal” best way to learn, allowing for more meaningful engagement. The increased focus will lead to improved communication skills to utilize with peers and teachers.

Basketball…Success for ALL! — Shauna Traylor
Students love BASKETBALL! However students at the elementary school struggle not being able to shoot the ball into the basket. Many become defeated time and time again. This grant will provide two portable five-foot basketball goals for younger students to use.

Food-Tag Frenzy — Shauna Traylor
With the responsibility of teaching health content and in an effort to incorporate both health and physical activity into a lesson, the PE program will use this game to teach nutrition while being physically active.

Everyday Speech — Billie Martin, Erica Shepard, Geneva Karanja
The Everyday Speech program uses games, videos, and activities that help children learn regulation strategies when dealing with their emotions. The program helps students vocalize and express feelings. It is appropriate for use in the special, collaborative and general education settings.

Farm to Fork to Food: Growing Healthy Food and Active Minds — Kandace Hutson, Chelsea Ryan and Matlene Perry
Students, again this year, will plant, grow, and harvest fruits and vegetables in raised beds while learning important knowledge and skills in life science. This grant will provide for a new bed that will allow access to children with different or limited physical abilities.

Murray Middle School

Passport to Knowledge — Sheri Muehleman
Funding for this grant will allow PBS’s Passport to be utilized by many students. This platform allows students to access content at any time in many areas. It is an amazing resource to supplement classroom instruction.

Super Cymatics — Lindsay Koebbe
Chladni plates and an electromagnetic driver will be used to enhance student learning about energy and waves. Using these will allow the teacher to introduce the field of Cymatics (the study of visible sound and vibration) to students in a hands-on interactive way.

Flexible Seating for School Library — Kalyn Harris
The availability of flexible, inclusive seating in the library will give students a more workable and practical space to collaborate as teams. A more accessible workspace gives students a reason to visit the library more often.

Recorders and MORE!!! — Beth Stribling
Building on the experience of learning to play the ukulele in elementary school, having some ukuleles available at the middle school will allow students to accompany their melodies with the recorder. This will add the element of harmony, thereby broadening their musical ear.

Bring the Mountain to Mohammed — Beth Stribling
This Proven Excellence Grant allows for music educators to spend a day working with 7th and 8th grade band students at the annual “Get to Know Ya” Day Camp. This music educator serves as an incredible mentor and example for the students. It is also a valuable experience for students who cannot financially afford private lessons. In addition to these funds, the Band Boosters provide money to guarantee that all instrumental groups have instruction.

Academic Team Buzzers — Michael Koebbe
The academic teams at Murray Middle School will utilize new buzzers during season practices and matches. Working buzzers are vital for conducting academic team challenges. The current buzzers are worn-out and need to be replaced.

Murray Tiger STLP — Mechelle Morgan and Sheri Muehleman
The Student Technology Leadership Team (STLP) program promotes problem solving and project-based learning while empowering students to find solutions to school and community problems using technology. In the past, STLP teams from MMS have been successful at the state level. This grant covers the cost of supplies and travel.

Murray High School

Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) Class Library — Faith Haley
FVR is a proven method for language acquisition as it exposes students to comprehensible language in context. This builds vocabulary and grammatical skills allowing students to work under low pressure and at their own pace. Many novels include cultural elements. These books are written in Spanish FOR Spanish students.

Academic Buzz — Adam Pitman and Wesley Bolin
A wireless buzzer set will provide a portable, adaptable alternative to the academic teams current wired system. In addition to being used for academic team practices and matches, the buzzers will be used to review content in the English and World History Classes–often in Jeopardy-style games.

Go Green! A Greenhouse for Life! — Brittany Forgey
The NEW Murray Independent Agriculture and FFA Greenhouse provides opportunities for students to experience real world learning beyond the classroom. The project supports student based hands-on learning, research and growth. Having the greenhouse will benefit students from all schools. This grant will provide funding for some needed items to equip the greenhouse.

Artist Birthday Party End of Year Project — Emily Chipman
As an end of the year project, all MHS art students will create a box and table setting to match their artist’s style. The grant will allow for purchase of the boxes; each box will showcase artists from throughout history including today. There will be CAKE!

Creative Collaboration Year 5 — Emily Chipman
This collaboration between third graders and high school art students has been successful for the past four years. Third graders design a creature and high school art students make them come to life as a sewing project. This project develops problem solving and hand sewing skills while promoting meaningful interactions between older and younger students.

New Fiction, New Faces — Shauna Burkeen
While updating the high school library by analyzing the current book collection, it became apparent that there are several groups of students who are not being served by the selection of books currently available. Giving students access to books they want to read and not just have to read will encourage them to become life-long readers. Activities will be planned to encourage students to get excited about reading.

Sounds Like Learning — Michael Robinson
To encourage creative expression in the classroom, the Sounds Like Learning grant will allow for the purchase of a record player and the start of a music library. A vinyl record library will provide unique forms of music, artwork and creative writing for students to enjoy and discuss together. Music is also a means for students to calm down and to cope with stress.

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