Junior League grants give teachers a way to be innovative

The Junior League of Las Vegas provided $17,000 in education grants this month to 22 teachers to fund classroom projects.

The nonprofit organization has awarded more than $180,000 in grants to local teachers since 1985.

Projects are judged on creativity, learning, enrichment and presentation. This year 159 teachers applied for the grants.

Lisa Farrington, an Earth Science teacher at Desert Pines High School, says her grant gives her the ability to build 60 river experiments for 120 ninth graders at the at-risk school.

The idea came from the book "River Cutters," and this is her first attempt at the project.

Students will create models in bins replicating rivers on a small scale. A cloud-dripper system above the models will control the rate of water going into the rivers.

"They are doing experiments within this river model to see how water shaped the landscapes," Farrington said.

"Basically what they're looking at is what the water is leaving behind. The projects will demonstrate how (rivers) builds up land forms and tears them down again over geological time."

Students will design graphs and record their experiments in journals, then compare the models to land formations that have developed in Southern Nevada over the past 1.7 billion years.

As part of the study, other elements, such as dams or simulated toxic waste, will be added to the river.

"They'll be thinking scientifically and coming up with hypotheses," Farrington said. "It's very difficult in Earth Science to teach those concepts without materials."

The project begins in February and will last three to four weeks, she added. Near the end, students will come up with their own ideas for experiments.

Without the grant, Farrington said she would have been able to construct only two models rather than 60. She said she hopes to continue the project next year.

Jerry Villa, a Gibson Middle School teacher, is also breaking ground with the help of a Junior League grant.

Villa, who teaches eighth-grade English, has teamed with British author Jerome Fletcher to create an American-British writing project. The students will make artifacts belonging to a fictional civilization in Southern Nevada, then share them with students in England via the Internet.

The artifacts, which include photographs, objects and text, will be displayed in a virtual museum along with artifacts contributed by students in England.

"I think it's going to foster tremendous dialogue between these kids," Villa said. "The students will be able compare the lush green land of central England with the dry, rocky landscape of Southern Nevada.

The three-dimensional museum will let students "walk" into the museum and access the artifacts, said Tracey Willson, a computing strategist at Gibson who will create the museum with the help of others in the district.

"There is so much emphasis on the technical side of education -- they're going to be pushing the limits," said Villa, who has been looking forward to the project for three years. By studying the life-cycles of butterflies, Char Moffit, a first-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in North Las Vegas, will use her grant to take a more traditional approach to education.

Moffit will bring caterpillars for students to study and write about. She will also introduce tadpoles, lady bugs and chicken eggs, which the students will monitor as they hatch into chicks.

"I think (a project like this) is more meaningful to the kids because it's an actual experience," she said. "Instead of bringing in a book about butterflies, you bring in the actual butterfly."

Students will compile their writings and create a book to complete the project.

Moffit, who said she spends a lot of her own money on classroom projects, said grants really help build better programs.

"I don't think people realize how much teachers put into their classrooms," she added.

Other winning projects include "Clean Cars in Boulder City," where special-education students at Boulder City High School set up a business and learn to run it. Forensics will be tackled by students from Advanced Technologies Academy, and students at Martha P. King elementary school in Boulder City will participate in an anti-violence, anti-gang program.

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