Education grants

2015-2016 WP PTSA Educator Grants

1. End of Year Update to the PTSA Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Through your membership dues, donations, and fundraising, the West Potomac PTSA granted over $8,000 in Education Grants, p rofessional development, and community outreach. This funding spanned 15 departments and clubs, 25+ teachers, and touched the lives of over a thousand students. THANK YOU!

2. Monthly Update to the PTSA September Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Brian Chavers is implementing interactive Student Response Systems in his Biology classroom. The response clickers are used to engage students during class notes. In addition they provide immediate feedback to the student and teacher during assessments. Kelsey McGlynn, English teacher, is teaching a debate class this year. She has requested funding for books for independent research projects related to the students’ chosen topics of study. Titles TBD

3. Monthly Update to the PTSA October Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Kerry Cooper, English teacher, requested funding to pay for busses to take her Developing Literacies classes to the Manassas Recycling Plant while they are reading the novel Trash. This gives students the opportunity to connect reading to real-life experiences. On Veteran’s Day, JROTC instructors Gary Bullard and Clinton Pearson take 52 students to NYC to participate in America’s Parade. PTSA funding helps pay for transportation, food and lodging.

4. Monthly Update to the PTSA October Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   The English Department requested funding to pay for three Document cameras for their teachers that are floaters. The camera permits the teacher to be very versatile while modeling best writing practices.

5. Monthly Update to the PTSA October Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Jessica Landon, librarian, requested funds to help fund her attendance at the Virginia Association of School Librarians in Williamsburg. This helps her to continue her learning process about maker-spaces in the library and reaching our students with lower reading levels.

6. Monthly Update to the PTSA January Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Guitar/piano teacher Rosemary Gano started an after school Mariachi Ensemble. She asked for a grant to help pay for instruments and ended up adding this guitarron to their collection of instruments. getting thej

7. Monthly Update to the PTSA February Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   The Black Student Union organized numerous activities for Black History month. Shari Terry requested funding for t-shirts so the students were prominent while promoting activities.

8. Monthly Update to the PTSA February Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   The Pyramid Art Show had a huge turnout with lots of fun for all ages. Bridgette Dwyer, Kristina Nosal, and Amy Stoll ordered art supplies to get all ages engaged in ART.

9. Monthly Update to the PTSA February Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016  

10. Monthly Update to the PTSA March Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Physical/Occupational Therapy students head to Williamsburg to compete in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) state competition. Three of them placed.

11. Monthly Update to the PTSA March Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Tia Kucera, English and Teachers for Tomorrow teacher took her class to attend the 2016 Educators Rising Virginia State Conference. This state conference is an excellent opportunity to involve educators and businesses in supporting students who aspire to become teachers.  

12. Monthly Update to the PTSA April Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   History educators Julie Cruz, Pete Ranney, and Jeff Feinstein took a group of students to the Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia to relive historic moments.

13. Monthly Update to the PTSA April Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   With this added piece of technology, TV Production students will be able to use small video cameras and transfer their videos straight to a DVD. Nancy Mantelli thanks the PTSA for helping her students use this 21 st century piece of technology.

14. Monthly Update to the PTSA April Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   My students have loved reading Eleanor and Park and are so grateful for the books. I started out wanting to do small sections of the novel paired with Romeo and Juliet , but my students loved it so much that many of them had finished it in the first week I handed it out. We connected the themes in the novel to various aspects of psychology, specifically during the adolescent years, and did research on various cognitive biases that affect the average teenager. Students researched everything from the bandwagon effect and negativity bias, to childhood amnesia and planning fallacies, in order to get a better understanding of what makes them and others “tick”. The text was also crucial for fostering open conversations in Socratic seminars and class discussions. All in all, it was a huge success and I am so thankful to the PTSA for making it happen . J   Sher Miller West Potomac High School Class of 2018 Sponsor English 9H & 12F Room 405

15. Monthly Update to the PTSA May Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Educator Jay Ruelas took 18 students from the Men with a Vision and Purpose Hispanic Leadership Class (MVP) on the metro to the Smithsonian museum and lunch. For many it was the first time on the metro.

16. Monthly Update to the PTSA May Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   English teacher Jackie Fleming, along with other English teachers, created a Reading Center where students have a place to get help with difficult reading or just a quiet place to read. The PTSA gave them a grant for new bean bags and replacement stuffing!

17. Monthly Update to the PTSA May Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Marianne Vannatta, along with several other teachers, organized a field trip to Jamestown with over 50 ESOL students. It was a huge success. PTSA helped fund the bus.

18. JAMESTOWN

19. Monthly Update to the PTSA May Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Amy Stoll & Kristina Nosal learned the art of enameling thanks to the PTSA! Enameling will be incorporated into several advanced art classes next year including Ceramics, AP Studio Art and Sculpture.

20. Monthly Update to the PTSA June Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Jeff Feinstein will attend a high impact training conference for classroom teachers by classroom teachers on Practical Pedagogies . He will also head a workshop and share his expertise with his colleagues. His attendance was made possible by WP and the PTSA.

21. Monthly Update to the PTSA June Educator Grants West Potomac High School 2015-2016   Brittany White, Spanish teacher, wrote this in thanks to her grant for much needed financial help to make this happen. Phew! What an afternoon it was yesterday! I cannot express enough how GRATEFUL and APPRECIATIVE I am for all of the help and assistance that you all gave in support of the 5th Annual World Languages Co-ed Soccer Tournament! Whether it was in helping with organization and preparation, spreading the word, collecting and submitting papers on behalf of your students/teammates, or making the sacrifice to give up your afternoon and stand out at the field under the sun doing any of the various tasks that you were assigned, NONE OF THIS would have been possible without YOU !