Teacher Appreciation Week is May 8-12, 2023, but twenty-nine Tomball Independent School District educators’ ideas are being appreciated – and rewarded – today. In February, Tomball educators from the central office and fifteen campuses were awarded grants totaling $100,948.
To qualify for these grants, applicants must be permanent Tomball ISD employees involved in student instruction or student support services. Only one application for a grant could be submitted by individuals or teams.
Other application objectives for ideas included:
- Encourages a higher level of accomplishment/performance
- Has been reviewed by school principal
- Identifies measurable value/benefits
- If applicable, has been reviewed by technology dept. operations dept., etc.
- If applicable, includes district-approved vendor estimates for services/supplies
- Improves the quality of education/educational experience
- Includes an itemized budget
- Offers a solution to a need
- Positively impact students’ thoughts and/or actions
- Provides a new/improved approach to an opportunity or a way of doing something
- Redefines a problem-solving process
- Represents a fundamentally new/original idea
The grants were made possible through the efforts of the Tomball Education Foundation. The organization provides funds for Tomball ISD educational projects and activities that are beyond traditional funding.
Congratulations to the 2022-2023 grant recipients!
- $5,000 – CHROMEBOOKS
Giselle Reyes, Veronica Silvas, Tomball Junior High
School 2 Home Connection provides students with the opportunity to access their primarily online curriculum at home using Chromebook. - $5,000 – DOUBLE ADJUSTABLE MAGNETIC WHITEBOARDS & MANIPULATIVES
Stacey Race, Decker Prairie Elementary
Double adjustable magnetic whiteboards and manipulatives will be used to allow students to collaborate, not only in a small group but as an entire class, as their knowledge becomes visible to all. Making knowledge mobile in the classroom is the primary goal. - $5,000 – DOUBLE ADJUSTABLE MAGNETIC WHITEBOARDS & MANIPULATIVES
Carrie Wilkins, Decker Prairie Elementary
Double adjustable magnetic whiteboards and manipulatives will be used to allow students to collaborate, not only in a small group but as an entire class, as their knowledge becomes visible to all. Making knowledge mobile in the classroom is the primary goal. - $5,000 – GARDENING MATERIALS
Megan Johnson, Mary Lytwyn, Elizabeth Smylie, Thomas Smylie
of Creekview Elementary
Tomball students can learn the economics of growing native Texas plants. - $5,000 – PEDAGOGICAL AIDES AND ADJUSTABLE SEATING FOR BEGINNING ORCHESTRA
Amber Shah, Oakcrest Intermediate & Northpointe Intermediate
String instruments demand physical contortions that even seasoned professionals strive to master. These pedagogical aides and adjustable seating allows individuals to tackle the complexities of beginning orchestra technique. - $5,000 – READING FOR ALL BOOK VENDING MACHINE
Samora Davis & Myriam Khan, Tomball Intermediate School
The Reading for All Book Vending Machine would allow students to select over 200+ chapter books to share and read with friends and family. - $5,000 ROSEHILL READERS VENDING MACHINE
Ashley Loftin, Rosehill Elementary
Students set individual reading goals with their teacher. Once they have met that goal, they are rewarded with a special golden token which allows students to choose available vending machine books in English and Spanish. - $4,994 – BOOK BAGS
Nathan Henze, Clayton Smith. Northpointe Intermediate
Customized, on-level book bags will offer students the dignity of choosing books they can succeed at without the pressure to perform on-level with peers. Allows the teacher to guide students into a love of reading tailored to their specific needs. - $4,990 – WIND TUNNEL SYSTEM
Jennifer Bourgeois, Tomball Memorial High School
Testing objects in a wind tunnel is at the heart of aerospace engineering. The impact it will have on our future engineering students would make this purchase well worth it. - $4,973 – UNIQUE LEARNING SYSTEM
Tabitha Garrett, Eileen Garza, Samantha Hoffman, Alicia Means of Tomball Elementary School
This project creates interactive and accessible learning materials that support students with low vision, cognitive impairment, and physical limitations. - $4,800 – KEYMASTER’S LEARNING LIGHTS EDUCATIONAL KEYBOARD TECHNOLOGY
Jack Bruso, Marianne Kosik, Grand Lakes Junior High
Students learn the natural way to type on a seemingly “normal” keyboard. However, this newly keyboard technology allows teachers to control what students can and can’t see on their keyboards at the press of a button. By removing obscurities and distractions, students will master their keyboarding technique faster and better. - $4,500 – DOUBLE ADJUSTABLE MAGNETIC WHITEBOARDS & MANIPULATIVES
Nancia King, Beth Pitts, Willow Wood Junior High
Making knowledge mobile in the classroom is the primary goal for this grant. Double adjustable magnetic whiteboards and manipulatives will allow students to collaborate, not only in a small group but as an entire class, as their knowledge becomes visible to all. - $4,500 – SWIVL CAMERAS
Kelly Marchiando, Tomball Star Academy
Swivl cameras can expand students’ abilities to communicate ideas and opinions effectively. Public speaking skills development can impact students, the classrooms, the campus, and the greater community. - $4,450 – IPADS WITH CREATIVE APPS
Laurie Taylor, Lakewood Elementary
Students will shift from consuming digital information to creating their own digital products through using multiple creative apps. - $3,872 – 3D PRINTERS
Holly Ellis, Rachel Grimes, Oakcrest Intermediate
Adding 3-D printers to our art classrooms allows students the opportunity to advance and explore their understanding of mathematics, technology, collaborative work and art elements such as form and space. - $3,849 – HEADSETS WITH NOISE-CANCELING MICROPHONES
Betsy Castille, Lakewood Elementary
This grant is written for headsets with noise-canceling microphones to be used in learning stations within a dynamic and lively classroom. Students create recordings to practice using new vocabulary. The degree of challenge can be scaffolded up or down to suit students learning at all levels across all content areas. - $3,150 – KAMI FOR KIDS DIGITAL LEARNING TOOL
Jill Moreno, Rachel Page, Lisa Stoyak, Eloise Traw of Grand Lakes Junior High
Kami allows students to use tools previously only available on paper (writing, highlighting, drawing, coloring, etc.) and digital tools (dictionaries, text-to speech, video comments, etc.) for all subjects across our campus. This 1-year supports our commitment to cross-curricular learning in a meaningful way. - $3,016 – TOUCHSCREEN MONITOR
Kristi Donald, Lakewood Elementary
A large touch screen monitor at the small group table will increase student engagement and collaboration during small group lessons. This type of interactive learning is exactly what we want for our students. - $3.016 – TOUCH SCREEN MONITOR
Jennifer Gigout, Lakewood Elementary
Increases student engagement and collaboration during small group lessons. - $3,016 – TOUCHSCREEN MONITOR
Amber Smith, Lakewood Elementary
Having a large touchscreen monitor at the small group table will allow teachers to use a multitude of digital resources to model and scaffold student learning. - $2,805 – POWER MOBILITY DEVICES
Whitnee Drake, Student Support Services
Innovative technology allows mobility for physically challenged students to facilitate independent, exploratory self-learning through interactions with peers, teachers, and environment using developmental play. - $2,232 – UKULELES
Joan Heinrich, Amber Holt, Lakewood Elementary
Playing the ukulele helps our students gain self-confidence in a fun, stress-relieving, and creative way. Our students will be encouraged to compose and perform their own compositions. - $1,577 – IPADS AND APPLE PENS
Brooke Looney, Student Support Services
Would introduce technology into the Adapted Physical Education environment. iPads and Apple® pens could give students physical education opportunities through yoga apps, music, etc. - $1,043 – OUTDOOR GARDEN
Wildwood Elementary
2nd Grade Team: Mickey Angel, Candace Bailey, Mason Carroll, Loreta Garcia, Kellie Greenberg, Susan Renneker, Sarah Rumfield, Michele Taylor
School gardens are an outstanding, research-supported way to give students hands-on experience with environmental science topics. This project will create a garden outside our school! - $930 – LEGOS AND GAMES FOR ENGINEERING EMPATHY
Lauren Heinrich, Alison Love, Wildwood Elementary
Engineering Empathy provides students with guidance lessons focusing on empathy, utilizing a scientific process to demonstrate their understanding of others’ needs, collaborating with a team, and building relationships. - $800 – HEADSETS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS
Courtney Hill, Barbara Hurst, Wildwood Elementary
Special education students will have daily access to quality headsets. - $789 – SHIRT PRESS MACHINE
Regina Garceau, Tomball Junior High
Students will learn about clothing design using digital media and industry-standard equipment. - $640 – BOOGIE BOARDS (LCD WRITING TABLETS)
Jennifer Balter, Kristie Brawley, Willow Creek Elementary
Incorporating “boogie boards” (LCD writing tablets) into our daily classroom activities, will engage students with new technology. - $466 – MOBILE GREEN SCREEN
Ashley Douglas, Decker Prairie Elementary
Our Call to Excellence is a live broadcast showcasing various Great Expectations components for other classrooms across our campus. Students will also receive the opportunity to exhibit creativity using a mobile green screen during their broadcasting sessions.
