Wireless carrier grants
classroom wish lists
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
GETTING DIRTY FOR LEARNING – Kindergartners in Tammy Willey’s class at Pine Street Elementary School can now make letters out of Moon Sand to help with the learning process. Willey’s grant proposal, “Get Your Hands Dirty,” was recently funded through U.S. Cellular’s Calling All Teachers campaign. Willey purchased art supplies like finger paints, sand, molds, and paper mache supplies so her students could work with their fingers and hands and learn at the same time. Shown making letters are, from left: Jocelyn Parlin, Jonathan Staples and Mia Casavant.
PRESQUE ISLE — For a second year, U.S. Cellular has partnered with philanthropic website DonorsChoose.org to fund $1 million in creative and effective classroom projects submitted by public school teachers.
Seven teachers in Aroostook County received news that their classroom projects had been funded through the company’s Calling All Teachers campaign. The local schools will benefit from a donation of more than $10,000 that will assist more than 540 students in Presque Isle, Washburn, Frenchville, Hodgdon and Houlton. More than 70 teachers throughout Maine had their projects fulfilled by the wireless carrier’s campaign totaling more than $41,000.
U.S. Cellular focuses its giving on education and the pressing needs of schools. Lack of funding has caused many of them to eliminate critical programs and operate on limited resources. Calling All Teachers is one of the initiatives the phone company developed to offer schools help with these financial challenges.
“Teachers play a big role in the future of our children,” said Eric Conlon, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in New England. “We are glad to support them because we know they work hard to make every child’s learning experience meaningful and fun.”
At Pine Street Elementary School, two teachers received funding.
Special education teacher Karen Seeley received almost $900 to fund her proposal, “Listen Up.”
“I ordered CDs and books for my listening center,” she said, “that work on phonics, letter sounds, phonemic awareness and word families to help enhance listening skills. They’re little activities that the students listen to with headphones and then they have activities that they need to do with wipe on/wipe off markers.
“Typically what I’ve had for my listening center are stories on tape, so these are actual activities that they have to listen to and do,” said Seeley. “The whole purpose was to get them to be listening to directions, and then being able to follow those directions independently.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
LISTEN UP! – Taking advantage of the new CDs and books in Karen Seeley’s K-2 resource room at Pine Street Elementary School are, clockwise, from left: Destiny Burby, Chauncey O’Connell and Joe Bicknell. Seeley was one of two teachers at Pine Street who received funding from U.S. Cellular’s Calling All Teachers campaign. Seeley said by improving her learning center, students will be able to work on phonics, letter sounds, phonemic awareness and word families to help enhance listening skills.
Seeley said the students are enjoying the new listening tools.
“They really like using those things,” she said. “They’re actually able to hear some of the rhymes and follow the directions and do the activities that are laid out, and it gives them a break from having to do some paper-pencil activities. It’s more hands-on and it’s different for them.
“I was very excited to get notification that my proposal had been approved,” said Seeley. “The whole process is very easy and it doesn’t take that long. I really appreciate U.S. Cellular’s commitment to education.”
Tammy Willey, a kindergarten teacher at Pine Street, received about $400 to buy tactile materials so her students “could work with their fingers and hands.” Her grant proposal was called “Get Your Hands Dirty.”
“I purchased Moon Sand and letter molds so that they could make the letters that we were learning and practice the sound and also use their hands. I purchased glitter finger paints so that they could practice writing the letters that we were learning with their fingers, and liquid starch and glue so that we could make gloop,” she said. “The idea was to help the children learn while their hands were busy. If their hands are busy, their brains are working and they’re going to remember better.”
Willey’s students have already used paper mache supplies to make a Wetu, a domed hut used by some northeastern Native American tribes such as the Wampanoag.
“We made the Wetu to help with social studies, and we also made a little plate that we gave to Mrs. [Angel] Casavant’s class as a gift prior to our Thanksgiving feast,” she said. “I’m hoping that my students will connect with what they’re learning and remember it better. I’m hoping that because they all came and had a part in building the Wetu, that they’ll remember it more because they were doing it with their hands.
“I’m hoping that the letters and the sounds will connect more with them and they’ll learn them better and remember because that’s the foundation for reading,” said Willey. “If their hands are busy making the letters from sand or finger paint, they’re more apt to remember it. My goal is to make learning more meaningful and fun.”
Willey, who also received funding from the Calling All Teachers campaign last year, said it’s wonderful that U.S. Cellular thinks enough of teachers and students to help the classrooms financially.
“It’s awesome because I have so much stuff that I never would have been able to have,” she said. “This allows you to get those extra things like Moon Sand. I would feel guilty about wanting that and putting it in the budget when there are other things that we really need, or I know there are other teachers that need other things, too. It’s great that U.S. Cellular does this and it helps a great deal.”
Another local project included a teacher at Washburn District Elementary School who received an interactive white board to get students out of their seats and participating together in learning.
Teachers across the country posted classroom projects that ranged from the basic to the technically advanced. Some asked for novels, bookshelves and calculators, while others requested LCD projectors, digital cameras and a TI Navigator system.
“U.S. Cellular’s continued support of education is definitely making an impact in schools across the nation,” said Charles Best, founder and chief executive officer of DonorsChoose.org. “The company’s donations from both last year and this year allow teachers to do more in the classroom, and our children reap the benefits.”
U.S. Cellular made the commitment to invest millions in education during 2009-10 through its Calling All Communities and Calling All Teachers campaigns.
