r The Nebo Education Foundation has awarded grants to several Nebo School District teachers to support a variety of programs and projects that will help improve students’ education.
The foundation is made up of 20 volunteer board members who live in cities served by Nebo School District. Board members meet each month to review and award grant requests, consider fundraising avenues and discuss other items that advance the educational opportunities of Nebo School District students. Many of the donations received are for selected projects, yet a substantial amount is available for the greatest need. Greatest-need monies are considered for grants submitted by area schools.
Anyone interested in the Nebo Education Foundation or who wishes to make a donation for education is encouraged to contact Lana Hiskey by email at lana.hiskey@nebo.edu, by phone at 801-354-7400, or by mail at 350 S. Main, Spanish Fork, UT 84660.
Congratulations to the following teachers that continue to inspire the minds of students.
Spanish Fork Junior High School – Travis Moss
Travis Moss, a Spanish teacher at Spanish Fork Junior High School, said the grant for his school will help expand a collection of Spanish language novels. “Our junior high Spanish P.L.C. has been working hard to research and implement new techniques in bringing the language to our students, and these novels will be used within the group as we continue to move away from the traditional textbook methods of instruction. Students have responded very well to the few novels that we already have, and this grant will help countless students in the district as they begin their language learning experience.”
Diamond Fork Junior High School – Susan Anderson
Through its grant, Diamond Fork Junior High School was able to obtain a classroom set of the novel “The Wednesday Wars” by Gary D. Schmidt. Set during the Vietnam War, this book is a coming-of-age narrative of a seventh-grader’s experiences. “Through much humor, it teaches compassion, tolerance, loyalty, history and Shakespeare. I have also been known to shed a few tears in front of my students while reading certain passages out loud. I am so excited for the opportunity to teach this book to my seventh-graders at Diamond Fork,” said Susan Anderson, an English teacher at Diamond Fork Junior.
Mt. Loafer Elementary School – Nikki Trythall & Jen LundquistrNikki Trythall, a fourth-grade teacher at Mt. Loafer Elementary School, said, “We are going to be using this grant in so many different areas in our day. In reading, we are analyzing fairy tales. We are going to read ‘The Witches’ and ‘The BFG’ together as a class identifying the fairy tale elements. After we finish, we will do a unit on drama and how drama works in our reading. After our drama unit, we are going to integrate our fairy tale analysis with drama. The students will rewrite a classic fairy tale as a drama.”
Barnett Elementary School – Krissy Johnson
Fourth-grade students at Barnett Elementary School use Chromebooks in class every day for reading comprehension, to extend math skills and understanding, to research and write papers and to do interactive activities in science and social studies. Until now, the Chromebooks had to be shuffled around between students to give everyone an opportunity to use them. “Through this generous donation, we will no longer have this problem. We will have enough Chromebooks to fully utilize the programs available to us,” said Krissy Johnson, a fourth-grade teacher at Barnett Elementary.r
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Brockbank Elementary School special education teacher Kristi Jensen teaches in an elementary-aged self-contained special education classroom. Her class focuses on academics, but her students are developmentally behind. She has been able to obtain enough iPads for each student to have one in class, but her students struggle in the use of headphones. Students find large, bulky headphones hard to keep on their heads and they don’t like the feel of ear buds in their ears. With both, the cords get tangled easily.Brockbank’s grant money will be used to obtain headphones in a headband. “The students will be able to easily slip on the headband and the headphones will be in place,” Jensen said. “I think it will be very easy and quick and also very comfortable for the students. I anticipate that it will enhance their learning and also create more independence for my students.”
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