Belton Educational Foundation
Grants
The Belton Educational Foundation is in the process of receiving new grant applications. New grants will be awarded in February of 2012.
March 2011 Grants
The Belton Educational Foundation awarded over $in grants during the spring round of funding. This brings the total amount of grants the foundation has awarded since the beginning of 2007 to over $200,000.
Jill Brown at Kentucky Trail received $1,000 to purchase two laptops with software for her classroom.
Marla McMillen, kindergarten teacher at Hillcrest, received $1,000 to purchase recorded books for her students to take home and listen to the stories in order to expand their speaking and listening vocabularies.
Linda Lewer and Mike Williamsen at Mill Creek received $1,584.50 to operate a science fair at Mill Creek.
Brandi Pope at Cambridge received $700 to purchase five Tag Reading Systems which both monitor students reading as well as read books to students.
Travis Gowen at Cambridge received $939.04 to purchase a classroom computer for student use.
Lauren Reusch at the Freshman Center received $945 to purchase five kindles for use in the library. Students will check out the kindles for use at home.
Tori Hollis at the Freshman Center received $1,320 to purchase software that will provide an opportunity for all instrumental and vocal music student to compose and transpose music.
Connie French, Melissa Gillen, and Melissa Hudson at Grace Early Childhood received $1,150 to provide two family events that bring families and special needs students together for opportunities to gain more knowledge on helping their child at home by practicing developmentally appropriate skills to reduce regression and recoupment time needed upon return to school.
Parents as Teachers, Grace Early Childhood received $2,500 to purchase 2,000 books to be distributed to infants and toddlers for use in their home to promote literacy.
Rachele Williams, counselor at Kentucky Trail, received $860 to purchase an iPad for use while carrying out the school's comprehensive guidance program.
Pam Pressley and Gwen McVey at Mill Creek received $2,205.99 to provide an alternative form of writing to students with Autism in order to ease their frustration and escalated behavior related to expectations of written expression and furthermore to help them become independent learners.
Carrin Timmins at Scott received $1,000 to purchase five Kindle readers and approximately 100 eBooks for use during reading and language arts time. Kindles address the challenges students face with vision problems, language barriers, lack of reading fluency and comprehension skills and access to high-interest/appropriately-leveled books.
Shannon Watt and Kim Frank at Scott received $2,500 to purchase iPads and applications that will be used to assist reading intervention groups to assist the students with fluency, comprehension, and vocabuloary.
November 2010 Grants
The Belton Educational Foundation awarded over $18,000 in grants during the fall round of funding.
Laura Fievet, Cambridge Kindergarten teacher, received $940 to purchase stability balls for her students in her classroom. Stability balls have been proven to improve concentration and focus.
Sarah Birk, Megan Carroll, Kristin Cummings, Danielle Hickam, and Sandra Smith received $1,529 to purchase sensory intervention tools for their preschool students. These items will allow the students to participate in more classroom activities.
Heather Friend received $1,000 to purchase books for her classroom that follow the district adopted workshop model.
Kristie Farris and Tyler Britt received $1,181 to purchase books that tie math concepts into the worshop model.
Kim Mauck and Tricia Trutzel Betts received $2,774 to continue a after school reading tutoring program that provides students with experiential learning opportunities directly tied to literature.
Denise Gaynor, Prinicpal at the Freshman Center, recevied $9,959.40 to purchase 20 iPads for use in all curriculum areas at the Freshman Center.
Donna Wieser, teacher at the Freshman Center, received $1,000 to purchase two iPads for students with specific learning disabilities in written expression. The students will utilize the voice recognition dictation program within the classroom in order to complete written assignments.
April 2010 Grants
The Belton Educational Foundation awarded over $20,000 in grants durings its spring round of funding.
Alice Correa and Debby Patton, teachers at Grace, receive a grant for $2,000, which will be used for purchase scientific tools and materials "to increase curiosity, interest and excitement for science" in their classroom. 
Megan Carroll and Angie Ekberg plan to incorporate audio and video documentation of students’ book writing, storytelling and story acting to provide additional evidence of learning for families. Their grant totaled $850.
Hillcrest Elementary teachers Marla McMillen, Michelle Castle, Tracey Redfern and Stephanie Hiegel received a grant for $2,368.62 for their students' reading, language arts and literacy development. They plan to offer students the opportunity to select books to put in individual book bins to be read at school or at home.
Cambridge principal Michelle Biondo accepts grants for teachers Kristin Corbin and Travis Gowen who together received $1,419.63 to purchase books and other items that make reading more interactive and fun.
Mill Creek Upper Elementary received three grants this semester, the most in the district. Tricia Trutzel-Betts and Mill Creek principal Kim Mauck received $2,667.56 for the school's gifted program. The money will help provide students with problem-solving activities that focus on collaboration, cooperation, communication and creativity.
Deanna Feeback plans to purchase a classroom library of 200 content area picture books and magazine holders to categorize those books to promote literacy within the curriculum. She was awarded $1,000.
Pam Pressley received $988.45 to create a classroom library with picture books and guided reading books.
November 2009 Grants
The Belton Educational Foundation awarded over $15,000 in grants during its fall round of funding.
- Funding for an after-school tutoring program for Kentucky Trail Elementary school. This program will pair real life experiences with reading as teachers and students explore fiction and nonfiction books and visit various locations across the community that tie to their reading.
- Personal CD players purchased for a class at Mill Creek to use during their reading time. These CDs will allow students to work on reading individually.
- Mill Creek received a school grant to assist with their after-school tutoring program. This innovative program will target students reading below grade level. It will provide these students with experiential learning opportunities directly linked to their literary focus on reading and writing.
- Kindergarten teachers from Hillcrest received funds to expand to five ABC Nights where kindergartners and their families can work on key kindergarten skills.
- A team of teachers from Mill Creek received funds to take four fifth grade classes on field trips tied to classroom curriculum.
- The Title One and Special Education Preschool Classrooms at Grace received funding to attend several community-based field trips. These field trips will allow the students hands-on learning while they learn new vocabulary and concepts.
March 2009 Grants
- Read Naturally Online Program purchased for Yeokum middle school. This program will continue our work at Mill Creek to ensure that students who struggle with reading are given the opportunity to improve their reading skills.
- Two computers for a Resource Classroom at Mill Creek Upper Elementary School. These computers will give the students who utilize this room access to several different types of specialized computer software to assist them in their learning process.
- One LCD Projector and Two Document Cameras for the art rooms at Belton High School. This technology will allow the teachers to better demonstrate specific art techniques to the entire class at one time.
- Props for the Language Time program at Grace Early Childhood and Care Center. These props will be used by the Speech-Language Pathologist to help children with special needs or children who are English Language Learners acquire language skills.
November 2008 Grants
- District-wide grant to fund interactive computer software programs and curriculum for students with autism and special needs in Kindergarten through 12th grade. The programs include language development, reading, and math curriculum, and are designed specifically for children with autism and other disabilities.
- Belton High School Freshman Center – funding to assist with the purchase of a multi-media system for the common area
- Kentucky Trail Elementary (two grants) – funding awarded to purchase science equipment for all grades
- Belton High School – funding to purchase a hovercraft kit for the advanced physics class
May 2008 Grants
- Grace Elementary School (four grants) – funding to provide transportation and admission to educational field trips for one Title One Pre-Kindergarten classroom; funding to purchase literacy and math take home bags so that student can practice these skills at home with their families; fund the purchasing of five computers for the newly created library; fund the purchase of a smartboard for the blended preschool classroom
- Belton High School Freshman Center - fund a comprehensive health education class with hands on curriculum that will focus on hygiene, healthy eating, substance abuse, exercise, stress, and other health topics
- Scott Elementary School – fund the purchase of hands on curriculum to assist with counting money, telling time, measuring, and comparing and estimating
- Yeokum Middle School – fund the purchase of classroom performance systems
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program – fund the purchase of three video cameras and blank DVDs in order to enhance the educational achievement of deaf students; teachers will videotape themselves signing instructions and study materials so that students can better prepare for tests and complete homework assignments successfully
