Published: November 04, 2009 11:36 am      

Teachers get grants

Surprise visitors greeted 10 teachers with a bouquet of blue and yellow balloons and good news at school Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives from the Stillwater Public Education Foundation surprised the teachers in their classrooms to award them with educational grants, which the foundation gives each fall and spring. The foundation awarded nine grants worth $14,480 to Stillwater Public School teachers Tuesday.

SPEF is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide funding for educational opportunities and programs for students in Stillwater public schools. The foundation has awarded more than $700,000 to schools during the last 25 years, and more than $18,300 so far this school year.

Heather Mastin was excited when SPEF Director Jenifer Bartley showed up during a physical education class at Highland Park to give her the news.

Mastin and Margaret Coffee, a third-grade teacher at Highland Park who co-authored the grant, hugged and cheered. Their grant will provide for outdoor educational tools, including binoculars, magnifiers, field guides, GPS devices and backpacks. The tools will help students learn about science while engaging in physical activity, Mastin said.

Mastin said last year she borrowed GPS devices for a geocaching activity with third-grade students. Geo-caching is an activity similar to treasure hunting in which people use GPS devices to locate hidden containers, called geocaches.

Mastin said students had so much fun with the experience, they didn’t even realize they were doing physical activity and learning valuable lessons like how to work together.

Reading specialists at Highland Park and Will Rogers elementary schools received grants for a literacy program called the Fountas and Pinnell Level II Literacy Intervention program.

Mona Marble, Highland Park reading teacher, said she and other teachers are excited about the program. She said research has led them to believe that this program will help students improve reading sufficiency.

Other grants include funds for heart rate monitors and software that will allow high school students to monitor heart rate and transfer data to the parent portal for parents to monitor students’ progress and participation, a sound system for Richmond Elementary School, an after-school chess academy at Sangre Ridge Elementary School, musical instruments, science center materials and French language films.