The Downers Grove Junior Woman’s Club (DGJWC) awarded four $500 grants to District 58 teachers for innovative programs and continuing education opportunities that will benefit both students in their classroom and throughout the District.
“In the past DGJWC has sponsored various programs honoring our District’s teachers. This year we opted to change the initiative to one that awards innovative thinking more directly by sponsoring grant/scholarship opportunities,” said Karrie Donat, DGJWC teacher grants chair and District 58 parent. “We want to thank all the teachers who took the time to research programs that would benefit their students and apply. We were thrilled with the number and diversity of the applications. We love that we were able to help some of our District teachers enhance the learning experience for their students.”
The winning 2018 applicants are:
- Calm Classroom Training, awarded to Tracy Capraro (Highland), Caitlin Choinski (Highland), Jennifer Gorman (Kingsley), Carli Hochstetter (Kingsley). This grant funds a research-based program that provides classroom/school-wide mindfulness curriculum. The goal is to increase engagement, empower students and enhance emotional wellbeing.
- Leveled Literacy Intervention Training, awarded to Christina Gamboa (Kingsley). This grant provides a leveled literacy intervention training entitled, “Teaching Readers Who Struggle” and “Teaching Within LLI Lessons in the Primary Grades, K, 1 and 2.”
- Biology Kits, awarded to Jessica Atkins (Herrick). This grant provides BioRad Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Kits for eighth grade science students at Herrick.
- Illinois Reading Council Conference, awarded to Bernice Homel (O’Neill) and Genevieve Hahn (Herrick). This grant will give these two teachers the opportunity to attend The Illinois Reading Council Conference in Peoria. They hope to attain knowledge and strategies at the conference to benefit middle school students at O’Neill and Herrick.
Photos provided by the Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club