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Spearfish Foundation for Public Education
PO Box 1351
Spearfish, SD 57783
605.717.1201
 
 
 
 
 
 
FISH Grants (Fostering Innovation in the School House):
The Foundation established the FISH grants for educators in the Spearfish Public Schools to encourage innovation and excellence in our schools. Awards are made annually in January.

FISH Grants Awarded 2007-2008
Project: SURFIN’ SANTA: AN ALL SCHOOL MUSICAL
Project Leader: Katherine Ewing, Music Specialist

Project Site: West Elementary School

This is an all-school project for the holidays involving the staff and students of West Elementary School. The entire school is enlisted in the production, singing, dancing, and acting, wearing costumes and performing on stage at Black Hills State University. Although many costumes and props are available from past performances, the FISH grant will subsidize props and costumes to be made and purchased. Performances are free of charge to the community. This whole-school effort is a wonderful experience for both the performers and their guests. All students are costumed and have the opportunity to “shine” for their audiences. Selected songs feature the girls and boys in each class, plus the program offers “enrichment” opportunities for students who give extra time during their lunch recesses for acting and solo parts. It is a wonderful and memorable experience for all.

Number of students impacted: 460
Project: EAST ELEMENTARY RECYCLING PROJECT
Project Leader: Chele Damuth, Fourth Grade Teacher; Project Team Members: Sandy Nichols, 3rd Grade Teacher, Kathy Kellogg, 5th Grade Teacher.

Project Site: East Elementary School

The East Elementary Recycling Program will allow for the recycling of tons of wasted paper through a school-wide recycling effort. All classrooms will participate in collecting used paper products, weighing the contents of their recycle bins, recording the amounts on a centrally-located chart/graph and delivering the recyclable to the designated drop-off location at the school. A local, independent recycling business will pick up our waste paper and transport it to the recycling center in Rapid City, SD.

Number of students impacted: approximately 400 3rd-5th grade students and the entire staff of East Elementary School.
Project: HISTORY OF THE BISON
Project Leader: Sandra Nichols, Third Grade Teacher. Project Team Members: Dan Olson, East Elementary Principal; Dianne Hemminger, Librarian; Judy Adam, 3rd Grade Teacher, Dawn Edwards, 3rd Grade Teacher, Annie Heltzel, 3rd Grade Teacher, Julie Reinert, 3rd Grade Teacher.

Project Site: East Elementary School

This project is a unit that looks at the history of the bison. With particular focus on the importance of the American Buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter for the Native American tribes. We will also explore what affected the decline in numbers of buffalo in the late 1800’s to its potential come back today. This unit goes along with our Social Studies curriculum in the area of history. Teaching history to young students is more beneficial if you can provide hands-on learning to compliment the textbook and other materials.

This project is intended for use every year at the 3rd grade level. Teachers may choose to use the unit in conjunction with Native American Day, Thanksgiving, or the “Communities Have History” section of the Social Studies Curriculum.

Number of students impacted: all 3rd grade students; approximately 130 in 2007-08
Project Title: HABITAT FOR BATS
Project Leader: Pam Gillespie, Fifth Grade Teacher. Project Team Members: Joel Tigner, SD Bat Biologist; Eric Ligtenberg, High School Woodworking instructor, parents.

Project site: East Elementary, Black Hills National Forest

Students will research bat habitats and the affect that humans have on this habitat in the Black Hills. Fifth grade students will be assisted by Spearfish High School woodworking students to build bat houses using kits from the Bat Conservation International. With the recommendations of the SD bat biologist, Joel Tigner, we will place the bat houses in ideal bat habitat areas. This project will help meet the new fifth grade science standards adopted in 2006. Students will gain real-life experiences studying interrelationships in ecosystems that include bats, the fascinating mammals with a huge appetite for mosquitoes. It is necessary to teach people the value of bats, to protect and conserve critical bat habitats and to advance scientific knowledge through research.

Number of students impacted: 34 students in grades 5, 10-12.
Project Title: “SPLASH” INTO GOOD CHARACTER.
Project Leaders: Lori Jeffery, Guidance Counselor; Connie Sheahan, First Grade Teacher.

Project Site: West Elementary School

West Elementary is passionate about promoting character education in each classroom. This project is designed to infuse character education into the K-2 classrooms while at the same time meeting the South Dakota language arts standards. We strongly believe that character education, when addressed in early elementary grades, helps reduce the number of incidences of bullying and increases a child’s social skill development and self-esteem. By implementing character education early and frequently, we hope students will continue through the higher elementary grades, middle school and high school with good decision-making skills, high self-esteem, and problem-solving skills. Specifically, bullying, children playing all alone, and poor choices in regard to classroom behavior and social interaction, are among the problems to be addressed. Lori Jeffery, guidance counselor, will visit each classroom twice each month and work with classroom teachers to promote character education. In addition, social skills development groups (SMILE groups) will meet weekly to gain confidence and self-esteem. Sampling these programs, with the addition of materials to strengthen its effects, we hope to build upon present successes.

Number of Students Impacted: 430+, Kindergarten through Second Grade.
Project Title: SPRING WALK IN THE WOODS
Project Team Leader: Laurie Hayes, Fifth Grade Teacher. Project Team Members: Pam Gillespie, Kathy Kellogg, Susan Deichert, Jarrod Jankord, and Carole Dahl: 5th grade teachers

Fifth grade students will travel to Sawyer Memorial Park to study interrelationships and consumption of natural resources within a forest ecosystem. Students will assist the park with trail maintenance and tree planting if applicable and deemed appropriate by park coordinators. They will complete a cycle of learning of pre- and post- observations with seasonal patterns. Students will describe consumption of resources over time; define interrelationships; compare and contrast ecosystems at different seasons; and define parts of a tree and identify forest diversity.

Number of Students Impacted: 150 Fifth Grade students
Project Title: COGNITIVELY GUIDED INSTRUCTION, THEORY AND PRACTICE
Project Team Leaders: Brandy Vavruska and Annie Heltzel, Math Teacher Leaders for East and West Elementary Schools

South Dakota Math Counts is a focused statewide professional development program designed to build broad-based expertise and leadership for improving elementary mathematics instruction. The research is clear that a skilled teacher is the most important factor in improving student learning. Brandy Vavruska and Annie Heltzel have been trained through SD Math Counts and now are instructing colleagues on CGI approach. CGI is an inquiry based approach (questioning techniques) which allows student flexibility for learning. This project is designed to deepen and broaden teachers’ knowledge base about mathematics content, mathematics pedagogy, and student mathematical thinking. Teachers will have an opportunity to experience “best practices” in teaching mathematics including constructivist practices that promote reasoning, discourse, inquiry, and conceptual understanding for all students. As a district, we chose to participate in the first South Dakota Math Counts program to provide teachers and staff with an innovative researched based method of teaching mathematics. Exposing staff to the new innovative methods and practices will allow them to take skills and techniques back to their classrooms which will impact student learning. This approach has been shared with the School Board and community through presentations and Informative Parent Nights. This program will provide teachers with twenty-six hours of class time and four hours of classroom observation with CGI experts.

Number of Students Impacted: Average of 20 students per teacher, 37 teachers, total: 740 students, grades K-5.
Project Title: 3 P’S AND A POD
Project Leader: Kate Axlund, Seventh Grade English Teacher

This project will feature promulgation (communication), perspicacity (creativity) and participation in developing Pod casts. Pod casts will be developed to help students who need a verbal method of learning. Pod casts will include reviews in science, social studies, math and English, and will be created by students and used for studying. Pod casts will also be used to inform students, parents and the community of activities and of the curriculum in the seventh grade.

Students have used I Pods for listening to their favorite music for many years. This technology is beginning to appear in our classrooms whether we want it to be there or not. It is time to give it an educational slant for the students. By allowing the students to learn how to use them in different settings, they will be ahead of the curve when they get into the working world. Technology is progressing rapidly and by teaching students to use I Pods in more ways, students become more invested in learning by being in control of all aspects of the Pod cast production process. Students will work in teams with each team planning, recording, editing and finally posting their section of the class Pod cast; this section will be combined with those of other students in the class. The final outcome will be a full, completed Pod cast.

Number of Students Impacted: 85 seventh graders
Project Title: Technology for Graphic Arts
Project Leader: Lisa Howard, High School Art Instructor

This project will fund the purchase of a high PDI resolution scanner, photo quality ink jet printer, and four sets of color printer cartridges. This equipment will allow students to learn how to work with digital photography including color and image manipulation. It will make it possible for students to bring their own images into school, scan them and make the images part of a permanent catalogue for other students to use. This equipment will be a permanent addition to our classroom and will enhance the student experience both today and in the future.

Number of Students Impacted: 50 high school students