Winona Area Public SchoolsThe Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools awarded seven grants to help fund field trips, the Misato Ambassador program, additional learning materials and more.
Walk-Its Podcasts
Amount: $1,365
School Name: Goodview Elementary School
Education Purpose & Goals: The purpose is to incorporate The Walking Classroom Program into a third grade classroom at Goodview Elementary. The Walking Classroom is a national award-winning education program that provides students and teachers with an innovative way to get exercise without sacrificing instructional time. The nonprofit program’s “Walk, Listen, and Learn” methodology capitalizes on the favorable link between exercise and cognitive function. As the students walk and listen, they will be learning new concepts and ideas all while getting exercise! All of the podcasts are aligned to state standards and are appropriate for the third grade level.
Number of students to benefit: 25
Stop, Drop & Write!
Amount: $500
School Name: Goodview Elementary
Education Purpose & Goals: Goodview will begin a Stop, Drop & WRITE campaign as a whole school. This will be a spontaneous time for students to drop everything and work on their writing! Time devoted to writing in an integral part of language education. Getting time for students to write about whatever they want promotes creativity, stamina and hopefully a love of writing! Knowing that the entire school and staff is doing the same thing at the exact same time will be such a fun activity to share together.
Number of students to benefit: 200
Small Group Space
Amount: $204.93
Education Purpose & Goals: The small group space table will be used to meet with groups of students. Wobble seats and whiteboard stickers will be used on the table to make an area to meet with small groups of students for differentiated instruction during math and reading. The wobble seats they will sit on will help with focusing while learning with their teacher. The whiteboard stickers will be placed on the table to help reduce paper use.
Number of students to benefit: 25
Learning Games
Amount: $200
Education Purpose & Goals: A Class Set of Learning games will be purchased that is aligned with our 7th grade state science standards as a fun, and hopefully motivating way to get them to work with science terms and concepts.
Number of students to benefit: 210
Japan Trip
Amount: $1,600
Education Purpose & Goals: 8th grade students were chosen to travel to our sister city of Misato, Japan as ambassadors. It is a unique experience that creates a culture of world peace and friendships. In addition, when the Japanese ambassadors visited Winona in October, these students were host to them. They presented them to areas around Winona, immersing them within our culture and our city over the course of a few days. When our ambassadors return home from Japan, they will present their experience to the community as well as their journals will be available in the school's library.
Number of students to benefit: 16
Honors Economics Field Trip to MOA
Amount: $500
Education Purpose & Goals: The purpose is to show the impact of economic development geographically, comparison of urban v. rural areas, and the impact of economic investment by state and local governments on economic development of a region and state. This will also demonstrate how businesses change to remain economically relevant.
Number of students to benefit:
36
WALC College Visits
Amount: $500
Education Purpose & Goals: Special Education students from the ALC and LEO will be taken on college visits. We would like to go to Winona State University, UW-La Crosse, Western Tech and Rochester Community and Technical College. This provides them experiences that they may not get on their own, giving them opportunities to see college campuses, what the college atmosphere is like, meet with admissions and teaching staff, and meet with disability services. This will benefit the students immensely, by giving them an opportunity they might not normally be afforded. It will help prepare them for their post-secondary goals. It will benefit the school by the students possibly having a different mindset upon return and wanting to make more progress in school.
Number of students to benefit: 15-20 students
Other benefits (school, individuals, community): It will benefit the community by these students possibly attending one of these colleges and having a career in this community, benefiting everyone who lives and travels here.