Christmas Comes to Nebo Teachers December 2017

Submitted by lana.hiskey on

The Nebo Education Foundation gives gifts in the form of grants to various Nebo teachers across the district.

Congratulations to the following teachers that continue to bless the lives of students. 

Spanish Fork High – Carli Wright
Carli Wright, English teacher at Spanish Fork High, wrote, “Santa and his elves came into my classroom while I was teaching on Friday to surprise me with a big check!  THANK YOU SO MUCH to the Nebo Education Foundation and their very generous donation for two sets of 30 different wordless picture books for my English 10 classes!  We will be reading a graphic novel called American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, about an Chinese-American teenager who is struggling to reconcile differences in his family, history, traditions, and identity--something students of ALL backgrounds can relate to.  Many students have never read a graphic novel before, so I will begin the unit by having students read these wordless picture books to analyze how authors and illustrators use images to create a complex visual narrative.  They will learn to articulate their inferences, supporting them with visual support-- a skill they will then apply as we transition to reading the graphic novel.  It meant the world to me to have several members of the Nebo Education Foundation award this grant in person and express their excitement and appreciation for the things I am doing with my students!  Thanks again!”

Springville High – Emily Adams
Emily Adams, math teacher at Springville High said, “Thank you so much for giving us a grant to provide two classrooms with a full set of scientific calculators.  My students and I use calculators everyday in class, and I am excited that now every student can participate and be involved in the learning process. I now have the ability to take my students to the next level in their understanding and learning of mathematics.  I am thrilled that I can challenge my students even more and help them become better problem solvers. I am so grateful to the Nebo Education Foundation for making tools available to my students so they can be successful.”

Westside Elementary – Maya Stevens & Pam Knowles
“The speech team at Westside are so grateful for the generosity of the Nebo Education Foundation. The materials we will be able to acquire through this grant will help speech students who currently have or will have an IEP in the future. Some of these items target grammar goals, comparing and contrasting, describing, among others. We are very excited to be using these resources and hope to use them as different forms of therapy to target different IEP goals,” stated Maya Stevens, speech pathologist at Westside Elementary. 

Mt. Nebo Junior – Kjirsten Keetch
Kjirsten Keetch, speech specialist at Mt. Nebo Junior, said, “Thank you so much for the receipt of this grant that will be so helpful toward making improvements in the speech and language services we offer our students at Mt. Nebo Junior. With the SKILL program, I'll be implementing the strategies to improve comprehension of all types of reading and spoken narratives for students with language impairments. This will also help in areas such as vocabulary, sentence complexity, and comprehension. For me, this means a lot because language impairment is so complex, and if students don't have a solid foundation for the parts and flow of narratives, it is difficult for them to build on other language skills.  The students will be directly benefited from this generous donation.”

Salem Hills High – Justin Bills
“Thank you so much to Lana Hiskey and the amazing board of the Nebo Education Foundation! I am beyond thrilled to receive the funding I needed to purchase music for our upcoming Broadway's Best concert in February. Sheet music for choirs is very expensive, and individual copies of each song have to be purchased for each student. The cost incurred can be up to several thousand dollars a year,” exclaimed Justin Bill, choir teacher at Salem Hills High. “With the support of the foundation, I will be able to purchase new music for this upcoming concert that will excite and challenge the students, and be interesting and enjoyable for our audiences.  The funding we have is often tied up in so many other essential purchases, leaving sheet music for whatever is left. This music will remain in our music library for many years to come, with countless choral students who will benefit from it. Thank you so much for being my partner in offering a world-class music education to the choral students at Salem Hills High School.”

Orchard Hills Elementary – Clay Craig
“Thank you Nebo Foundation for awarding me with $315.00 to help purchase class sets of some of my favorite shared reading books. Many of the books that I use each year are falling apart or missing pages. My students, as well as other fourth-grade classes, will enjoy reading from new books. I have seen over the years that when students read from rich text, their reading fluency improves, comprehension is strengthened, and they find out that reading can be exciting. I will put these books to good use for many years,” exclaimed Clay Craig, fourth-grade teacher at Orchard Hills.”

Goshen Elementary – Carrie Norton
Carrie Norton, teacher at Goshen Elementary, said, “I just want to say thanks again to the Nebo Education Foundation for this amazing grant! I am so excited!! I will be using the grant money, along with matching funds from my principal, to buy a class set of Chromebooks. These Chromebooks will be used on a daily basis to help enhance all around student learning. My students will now be able to readily access technology and utilize programs to strengthen their skills in math, literacy, science and countless other areas. This will be a gift to my classroom that will truly keep on giving as future students will be able to benefit from these for years to come!”

Sierra Bonita Elementary – Sarah Gordon
“Thank you so much for the grant! This is fantastic! We are going to be using the SKILL program to help students learn how to communicate more effectively. Specifically they will be able to retell stories or experiences to others. The SKILL program provides an amazing framework for the students to communicate their experiences with and it also enables them to think about cause and effect- connecting events with feelings and responses. This is also great because the kids bring these skills and this framework into the classroom when they are writing and reading as well as in social situations (with friends or family) when they are asked to retell an experience. This can be used even in response to "How was your weekend?".  The Impossible R articulation book is a great help for us as therapists to approach our many "R students" with a clear foundation. This book helps us to take all the necessary steps in helping students achieve and stabilize a true R speech sound and carry it into conversation. We are so grateful for your help!” exclaimed Sarah Gordon, speech specialist at Sierra Bonita.

Brookside Elementary – LeAnn Andrews
LeAnn Andrews, fourth-grade teacher at Brookside, said, “We are so excited to get the new books for our classroom.  We will be ordering them this week.  We are learning good writing and grammar skills from these great authors. We really appreciate the Nebo Education Foundation for helping to enrich are mentor text library.”

Oakridge – Jason Shelley & Peta Clar
“Thank you for awarding us the grant.  We will use the funds to buy Ipads for two students.  Over the last several months we have collected data that supports the need to purchase more sophisticated communication systems for them.  They will use it to participate more in classroom routines using more types of language than simply requesting.  It means so much for our students to be able to communicate in the way.  We are very pumped and excited!” exclaimed Jason Shelley, educator at Oakridge program.

Barnett Elementary – Jennifer Nettleton & Sherrie Westover
Jennifer Nettleton, special education teacher at Barnett Elementary, said, "Technology is everywhere and being able to effectively use technology it is a part of the state standards in Utah.  As a class we have struggled with integrating technology into our learning because it has not been easily accessible to us.  This grant is an exciting opportunity for the students in my class to use and learn about technology.  Our class has just recently started using google classroom and we are really excited about all the individualized learning possibilities that are available with google classroom.  My students have a chance to use another tool to practice their individual learning goals.  These Chromebooks will help the students in my class access education in another engaging way."

The Nebo Education Foundation continues to need funds to give these worthwhile learning grants. Anyone interested in donating to Nebo District schools, classes or programs can do so through the Nebo Education Foundation which is a 501 (c) (3) organization created to bring businesses and donors together for the benefit of Nebo District school children.  Your contribution is a tax deductible charitable gift as provided by law. Contact Lana Hiskey at 801-354-7400, email lana [dot] hiskey [at] nebo [dot] edu or mail to 350 South Main, Spanish Fork, UT 84660. 

Attributions
Lana Hiskey