Robert P. Bell Education Grants Awarded to Local Teachers

MUNCIE, IN - The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. has announced that the following Robert P. Bell grants totaling $2,215 have been awarded to local teachers for the fourth and final grant cycle of the 2008-2009 academic year. It is estimated that nearly 750 Delaware County students will benefit from these grants.

• Melinda Sheffield, Garfield Elementary School, was awarded $316 for fourth grade students to study the history of the Indianapolis 500, its impact on the development of Indiana as a state, how technology has changed the race, and the festivities that surround the event. Students will each build a wooden race car for competition, calculate the mean, median and mode of race times, and graph the results for each of the fourth grade classes.

• Lance Brand, Delta High School, was awarded $346 for senior biology students to collaborate with Ball State University’s Biology Department to test the relationship between genetic control of finger length and athletic ability in women. The students will examine the handprints of students and test for the frequency of the gene that influences testosterone exposure during fetal development. The frequency of these genes will be analyzed through gel electrophoresis (DNA fingerprinting) and then compared to the handprint data. Finally, handprint and DNA data would be compared to the athletic ability of those volunteers being tested.

• Pamela Meier-Fisher, Wes-Del Middle School, was awarded $169 for eighth grade language arts students to make their own posters promoting character traits they have identified as important for students their age. They will photograph their own scene, starring themselves and featuring the school environment, and showcase their creations around the school. Students will also perform character education plays and take them “on the road” to the district’s elementary students.

• Joyce Parkison and Lisa Marsh, Southside High School, were awarded $173 for students to collaborate on a poetry recitation. The program will include a “poetry slam” where students will read their own poetry and receive audience feedback and votes. Refreshments will be served by students from the Food Preparation classes. Students will then create artwork on the school sidewalks featuring poems from the program.

• Pamela Meier-Fisher, Wes-Del Middle School, was awarded $299 for eighth grade English students to participate in a unit titled, “The Times of Our Lives.” The students will write essays such as “A Time I Challenged Myself and Won” or “A Cherished Time I Shared With…” and collect five quotes about time. The students will then create a working clock and decorate the four quadrants of the clock with the themes from their four essays.

• Sondra Siebold, Southside High School, was awarded $141 for freshman English students to study poetry and create “decorated matchboxes” featuring their original clerihews, diamantes, and cinquains. After writing their poems, students will choose their favorite poem and place it in the decorated matchboxes to create a permanent display of their work.

• Mary Bedel, Westview Elementary School, was awarded $188 for eighth grade art students to study the Italian American culture. Students will begin the unit by studying the Mondonnari, traveling artists that moved throughout the countryside. In a style similar to that of the Mondonnari, the students will create sidewalk drawings to share with their peers. Students will also create carnival masks, and their own chocolate sculptures of Italian churches.

• Deborah Brown, Storer Elementary School, was awarded $350 for second grade students to study various versions of well-known fairy tales. For instance, they might read the classic Cinderella as well as Yen Shen (the Cinderella from China) and Smoky Mountain Rose (an Appalachian Cinderella.) Students will then choose a fairy tale and tell it from another character’s point of view. They will make three-dimensional illustrations of their fairy tale characters and decorate them with appropriate accessories.

• Darlene Moorehead, Northside Middle School, was awarded $233 for eighth grade language arts students to read To Kill a Mockingbird and then interview senior citizens who grew up during the Great Depression. Groups of students will talk with twenty-five senior citizens invited to the school to enjoy lunch and participate in the project. After the interviews, students will give oral presentations and create a poster summarizing their findings. Students will focus on comparing and contrasting their own experiences with those of persons growing up in a different time period.

Bell Grants of up to $350 are awarded to teachers with innovative ideas, programs or projects designed to stimulate learning in their students. The deadline for the first round of grants in the 2009-2010 academic year is October 1, 2009.

For more information about Bell Grant applications, contact Suzanne Kadinger, Foundation Program Officer, at skadinger@cfmdin.org. Information is also available at www.cfmdin.org.