Burk Elementary Teachers Receive Mini Grants

Gilbert, AZ – Twelve Burk Elementary teachers were named recipients of the Gilbert Education Foundation’s 2008/2009 Mini-Grant program, bringing monies to an assortment of different programs, specifically, and impacting hundreds of students campus-wide.

Burk’s Social Worker, Kathy Horlacher, and P.E. teacher, Becky Rayburn, will be sponsoring Fun-4-Girls, a weekly after-school program aimed at helping the thirty-plus participating girls learn healthy habits and a variety of creative, fun, and essential skills.

Sixth grade teachers Katie Reifel, Lori Rogers, and Renee Wagner will use their grant monies to assist with the expense of Science Camp, a 3-day, 2-night learning experience in Prescott where the students will have opportunities for team building and exploration through a variety of activities and scientific experiments.

Intermediate Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) teacher, Lori Gallas, received monies to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Club activities. Her students will be able to build models of the solar system and create aliens suited to specific planetary environments.

The grant will also pay for transportation to ASU’s Mars Education Center, where the students will be studying the polar caps of Mars.

The Special Needs Preschool department (Lynn Marble, Colleen Lynch, Alicia Kessler, and Jill Snow) received monies to construct a garden on the PS/K/1 playground. A garden will provide endless opportunities for student learning across the curriculum, spanning the developmental domains. They look forward to working with the school community as they develop this project, and make it a reality for Burk’s youngest students.

Finally, Special Ed teachers Dana Jean and Mari Weiss will purchase two sets of Touch Money for their SCILLS classes. Touch Money uses a proven kinesthetic approach to make learning to count coins quick and easy. The Touch Money Kit includes a software program that uses a combination of teaching activities and games to help students master the necessary life skill of counting money.

The school wishes to express their sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Gilbert Education Foundation for the teacher grant program that makes these outstanding learning opportunities a reality for students.

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