Gifts Came Early to Nebo Teachers in December 2018

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.

Canyon Elementary – Angela Perkins
“The sixth-grade team at Canyon Elementary set a goal to have at least three class sets of Chromebooks by the end of this school year. Thanks to the Nebo Foundation, we have reached our goal. My classroom design includes technology. This tool will assist in motivating and engaging the students to become reflective, risk takers and problem solvers on projects and assignments. They need to be able to access Google Drive daily, where they can build a growth mind set working with Google Classroom, forms, documents, and slides. They will also access other social media and research/knowledge sharing tools. They will learn what a credible and worthwhile website is and how to bookmark and tag it. I love the challenge of making them feel safe in an engaging 21st century classroom with technology tools that assist in motivation, thinking and performing in a critical, creative, collaborative and cooperative way," stated Angela Perkins, sixth-grade teacher at Canyon Elementary. “I am grateful for the Nebo Foundation and the people, businesses, donors and volunteers who come together to support our school community. Many teachers and students have benefited from the goodness of this foundation. I thank you!”

Landmark – Brian Davenport
“I would like to thank the Nebo Education Foundation for providing funding for new technology for video cameras to be used as part of the Broadcast Journalism and Yearbook production class,” stated Brian Davenport, yearbook and journalism teacher at Landmark High. “Over the past several years we have been using equipment that been donated to Landmark High School. The equipment that had been donated has allowed students to learn skills needed to work with Video production and create a weekly newscast for Landmark High. However the age of the equipment has been a limiting factor with the quality of the work produced. The new cameras will allow the students to produce better quality of work. The students in the classes will also be able to learn skills that will allow them to find employment in the video production filed. Students will be able to produce better video production work, for assemblies, graduation and other events that we want to share with other students, faculty and the community.”

Maple Ridge Elementary – Scott Bates
“Last year my students struggled with year-end testing in nonfiction reading. As I searched for ways to help them, I had a hard time finding books in our leveled library that supported our fourth-grade core. My goal this year was to purchase high quality, nonfiction, leveled books to use in my guided reading groups to enrich reading informational text that follows the fourth grade core. I wanted to spark an interest in reading informational text. These informational books have been highly recommended. It will allow developing readers to make real life connections to the world they live in. To also draw connections to what they read and what they learn in class is an added bonus. My guided reading groups usually hold seven or eight students, which will leave the teacher one book. I plan to use the nine books during guided reading to reinforce nonfiction, higher level thinking skills.fourth-grade teacher at Maple Ridge Elementary.

Payson High – Marilyn Miller
Marilyn Miller, physical education teacher at Payson High, said, “The snowshoes will be used in the individual lifetime activities class, so they can experience activities we can do in the winter to stay healthy. (I hope we get some snow during Christmas break.) Also, I won't have to borrow the junior high snowshoes.”

Springville High – Keith Lue
“Thanks to the Nebo Foundation, my classroom at Springville High School will acquire new resources to bolster classroom learning and stimulate computational thinking. Microphones and headsets have become essential communication tools in today's open-office, co-workspace environment students enter into today,” stated Keith Lue, CTE teacher at Springville High. “I believe digital tools add an element of ‘fun’ that facilitates classroom management and transforms student learning. Voice-recognition technology such as Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google has become a primary interface we use to connect with artificial intelligence (AI) in ‘the cloud’. I express my appreciation to the Foundation for helping bridge our digital gap and enrich student learning.”

Santaquin Elementary – Hannah Camit
Hannah Camit, fifth-grade teacher at Santaquin Elementary, said, “Thank you so much for funding my grant for Chromebooks and a Chromebook cart. I am so excited to have a full class set of Chromebooks. We use them every day in class for math and often for reading and writing. My students are so grateful and excited to use them. I am also grateful for the cart and the ability to charge all of the Chromebooks at the same time, so they are ready to be used each day. Thank you so much for supporting my classroom and for all you do to benefit the education of each child.”

Apple Valley Elementary – Krystal Taylor, Kayli Weeks, Michaela Blackhurst, Ashleigh Middlebrook
“We, the fourth-grade team at Apple Valley Elementary, are truly grateful for the wonderful opportunity in receiving this grant. We are looking forward to what it will do in helping our students further their knowledge. We are going to use this grant money for purchasing chrome books to help our students with math by using Aleks. We will use it to help their knowledge in science; and, last but not least, in writing by using it for Utah Compose. We are so very excited in the new and exciting adventures that this grant money will bring to our team. Thank you one again!” exclaimed the fourth-grade teachers at Apple Valley Elementary.

Sage Creek Elementary – David Makin
David Makin, special education teacher at Sage Creek Elementary, said, “Thank you so much for the grant that will be used to purchase Chromebooks for special education students. More and more we rely on technology rather than printed materials and having adequate and up-to-date equipment is always a challenge. It's great that the Nebo Foundation is there to help us meet that challenge.”

Hobble Creek Elementary – Michael-Ann McAfee
“Thank you so much for awarding Hobble Creek Elementary's sixth-grade team $200 for leveled library books that correspond with our social studies or science curriculum. These books will enable us to reinforce social studies and science curriculum during reading in ways that are interesting to the students. Matching funds come from our principal ($100) and from parent donations to our grade level ($100). We will purchase $400 in new books. We appreciate your generosity in awarding this grant,” stated Michael-Ann McAfee, a sixth-grade teacher at Hobble Creek Elementary.

Salem Junior – Kjirsten Keetch
Kjirsten Keetch, speech specialist at Salem Junior, said, “These devices help students feel how to correctly articulate the ‘R’ sound, which is one of the most difficult to teach because it is not visible. It is almost always the lingering sound that students still have in error by junior high, and by that time, the sound in error has become a well-established habit. Because of this, it is difficult for students to make the correct placement and then to generalize this placement to words and, eventually, conversation. The speech buddy has helped two previous students who were not able to make any progress on the ‘R’ sound in previous years, and, once they used it, quickly moved up in complexity levels. Because I have around eight students who are working on this sound each year and this device can only be dedicated to one student at a time, it will be so helpful to have a few of them available for different students. Thank you, Nebo Foundation!”

Goshen Elementary – Courtney Adams
“Thank you so much for the grant! My students are I are so excited to receive our own set of Chromebooks. We are fortunate enough to have web resources that encourage literacy and math skills. I am thrilled to be able to use them more frequently in my classroom. I am very grateful for the opportunity to work in a wonderful and supportive district. The Chromebooks will help many students in the coming years!” exclaimed Courtney Adams, third-grade teacher at Goshen Elementary.

Spring Lake Elementary – Brenda McFarland
Principal Teresa Jordan said, "I would like to sincerely thank the Nebo Education Foundation for awarding the grant of $996.72 for our Kindergarten teachers to buy alternative seating for their classrooms.  We will use the money to purchase "Wobble Chairs" which are chairs that allow students to move and wiggle while also remaining seated while working and learning.  With changing student dynamics this type of seating will be more developmentally appropriate for our kindergarten students.  We are sincerely grateful for all the foundation does to support our school!"

"I cannot even begin to thank the Nebo Education Foundation enough.  My students absolutely love their new wobble chairs.  The day they arrived it was like Christmas all over again in Kindergarten.  My students were cheering, "The wobble chairs are here!"  I can't wait to see how these chairs will help with learning by allowing my students to wiggle and work at the same time.  I am grateful to the volunteers of the Nebo Education Foundation who raise funds for our classrooms in the Nebo School District.  I appreciate your kindness to me and my students," said Brenda McFarland.

Another grant given:
Riverview Elementary – Christy Nielson

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.