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  • February 7, 2024

In 2nd grade, students started to read chapter books, and it became important for them to read frequently to develop stamina and fluency. The best way to encourage this was to introduce them to series books, which captivated them to the extent that as soon as they finished one book, they immediately wanted to read the next in the series. This grant provided a cart and 24 new series books to PR 2nd Grade. It included the procurement of 3 copies of the first four books in each series.

The grant allowed students to access new stories and characters, thereby enhancing the learning and reading activities they were engaged in within the classroom. It expanded learning opportunities by offering more mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for students to learn from, enriching their educational experience.

  • February 7, 2024

This is a community partnership grant to bring best-selling author Julie Lythcott-Haims to speak to our community. Dr. Lythcott-Haims, a former dean of freshman students at Stanford University, shared insights from her New York Times best-selling book, “How to Raise an Adult.” Drawing on research, conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean, Julie highlighted the ways in which over-parenting harms children and prevents them from developing self-efficacy: the knowledge that one’s own actions lead to outcomes.

While empathizing with the parental hopes and, especially, fears that lead to over-helping, Julie offered practical strategies that underlined the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary to become healthy, thriving adults.

These topics were the exact struggles that many of us dealt with every day as parents when trying to raise our families in a world where their mental health seemed to be challenged on a daily basis. Our community and, therefore, our students, benefited from hearing her perspective.

  • February 7, 2024

Speed racks were used to place prepped materials such as dough in the refrigerator for storage prior to baking, as well as to house hot pans as they came out of the oven. These were utilized for summer Career Exploration Camps (Saline Elementary and Middle School students) and for Intro to Baking and Intro to Foods (Saline High School 9-12th grade students) and for SWWC Culinary (11th and 12th grade students). With the addition of two (2) speed racks, students were able to prepare a greater quantity of product during a Career Exploration Camp or during class. There were numerous times throughout the year when there were large events and projects that required the compact storage of many items that the speed racks provided.

The project related to the core curriculum and expanded learning opportunities for students in a creative and innovative way. Students in a summer camp or class prepared products from scratch. Therefore, students participated in the cooking/baking process by reading the list of ingredients (reading), learning about the why and how things occur (science), measuring each ingredient within the recipe (mathematics), documenting their progress (writing), and articulating steps and progress to the instructor and with their peers (communication).

  • February 7, 2024

The “Scaling up Decodable Text” grant allowed each K-2 teacher to have their own set of decodable texts to use with their students. Previously, teachers were sharing one set per grade level, which was challenging because the books weren’t always easily accessible when a teacher needed them, and they required a lot of advanced planning. With each teacher having their own set, they saved time and were able to be more responsive in the moment within small group instruction, as well as better match readers with the most suitable book.

The grant provided each K-2 teacher and student with access to books that were engaging, diverse, and decodable. Students received small group instruction and time to practice reading these books that highlighted the specific phonics skill they needed. Teachers could differentiate by matching kids to the book and skill they needed to work on. In the core curriculum, while teachers explicitly taught phonics, kids also needed practice reading books with those specific phonics skills in them. Decodable books gave kids the opportunity to do just that. The Jump Rope Reader series had taken what could be a very boring type of book and created creative storylines, engaging characters, and books that kids really enjoyed.

  • February 7, 2024

The Swim Unit Update will meet the needs of every student who passes through Saline High
School. As a part of our Basic PE Unit (which all students are required to take) our students of
all ability levels will swim during this time period for at least 2 weeks. Our students learn basic
swim techniques that will teach them life long skills to keep them and others safe in the water.
This equipment will also be used for our special education department as a part of their full year
exercise and physical fitness curriculum. This equipment will meet the needs of all students at
Saline High School.

  • February 7, 2024

This grant supplies all Y5-2nd grade teachers with magnetic letters and boards to support
phonics and phonemic awareness instruction. Word building is one of the most powerful
activities that teachers can do in small group instruction to support student learning along with
spelling. In order to do that, students need access to magnetic letters and sound magnets so
they can be actively involved in the learning. This grant would allow Y5-2nd grade teachers to
have magnetic letters (and a magnetic base to hold the letters) to use with up to 6 students at a
time in small group instruction. In addition, it will give 1st and 2nd grade teachers the resources
to have sound magnets to use as well. Sound magnets are important in 1st and 2nd to show
that sometimes one sound is made up from multiple letters. (Ex. digraphs, silent e, dipthongs,
vowel teams, etc.

Y5-2nd grade teachers are currently working on including more phonics and phonological
awareness into their instruction. This has been the focus of our PD all year and is tied to our
building goals in early elementary. In order to differentiate and give students more practice, this
grant would support students in having more hands on practice with these skills.

  • February 7, 2024

The Saline robotics community for grades 4-8 had been struggling with the setup and teardown of large competition fields and the management of tools and materials 4-6 times each week, which consumed much of their practice time and left them with less time to focus on planning, designing, and building their robots and other innovation projects. A separate space for practice would not only have improved their performance but would have made their meetings more about learning and preparing rather than moving supplies.

The grant was proposed as a partnership between the Saline robotics teams for grades 4-8 and the Saline Middle School Media Center to repurpose an old book storage space into a thriving STEM lab by moving the books out of storage into the Media Center where all students could access them.

The grant covered the cost of making the books in storage available to students in the Media Center while also repairing water damage and outfitting the space as a STEM space with storage and simple, second-hand workspace furniture.

  • February 7, 2024

Saline Live, a group of volunteers outside the school system with the necessary technical expertise and training, worked with the student’s family to identify their situation and needs. Saline Live assessed the options available to the family to provide access and the resources available to help reduce the financial burden if needed. The volunteers from Saline Live then collaborated with the service providers (ISPs), financial providers, and the family to install and activate access for that family. Once access was provided, Saline Live continued its relationship with the family to offer technical assistance and support when challenges arose.

This grant bridged the gap while discussions and decisions were made about the best options to ensure the grant’s continuation in perpetuity.

  • February 7, 2024

Inclusive Designs was a radically inclusive opportunity for the SHS Life Skills Program to collaborate and create special edition t-shirts, with additional opportunities for stickers, ornaments, etc., supported by the Cricut Software. Phases were implemented for students to create and share with the SAS district and community.

Inclusive Designs supported the students’ functional academic learning by providing opportunities to apply their functional math skills in selling t-shirts, handling transactions, and making change. It also gave them access to writing strategies and tools to design shirts with words, while utilizing the differentiation of technology supports through Cricut Designs. The use of Cricut tools in the preparation phase of the product supported and enhanced student fine and gross motor skills with bilateral movement, which allowed students from all ranges of motor skills to increase their occupational therapy skill sets. Social Thinking concepts were practiced as students worked collaboratively with peers and connected as a team through the following phases of design: Brainstorm, Design, Prep, Sell, Create, Finance/Final Sell.

  • February 7, 2024

The Saline Area Schools Foundation has awarded a grant for the acquisition of the Jump Rope Readers series to enhance early literacy development. Recognizing the limitations of the current leveled books, which do not adequately target specific phonological awareness and phonics skills, this grant will enable the purchase of targeted, culturally relevant, and engaging reading materials for young learners.

The Jump Rope Readers series is meticulously designed to introduce beginning readers to new letter-sound correspondences and high-frequency words in a gradual and systematic manner. These books not only support foundational word recognition skills but also offer memorable characters and exciting adventures that align with core curriculum standards in literary fiction.

This investment in foundational reading resources underscores the commitment to ensuring that students develop the essential literacy skills needed to fully engage with future educational innovations at Saline Area Schools.