Saline Area Schools is dedicated to developing 21st-century learners who can collaborate, think critically, communicate, and be creative. Students who have difficulty reading, who have a challenge with focus, who can’t see, and are English language learners have a difficult time keeping up in school. When collaboration and being self-directed is expected to occur and reading is involved the challenge is magnified tenfold. Capti Voice is the award-winning reading tool that will dramatically reduce this imbalance.
Compass Connected Classroom Library
In an effort to promote understanding of Social Justice and help students learn how to positively contribute to the lives of others while demonstrating empathy for differences in peers and community, it is essential for our Saline Middle School students to be exposed to texts that showcase diversity and include individuals acting with empathy in situations where social issues, or conflicts due to inequity/unfair treatment, occur. While many 8th grade students at SMS have heard examples of Social Injustice in the news, due to our demographics, it is not common for these teenagers to have deeper personal experiences that help them build empathy about differences in peers. Bringing in novels and non-fiction texts that explicitly show how Social Justice situations impact characters, both real and imagined, and affect the world (outside of Saline/Michigan/the US) will help our students develop greater understanding of social issues which will lead to more empathy being shown and an increase of positive contributions to the lives of others.
Red Glasses Movement
Being inspired by The Red Glasses Movement, a living legacy of a little girl who was not defined by her disability, I would like to purchase a pair of red glasses for each student and staff member at Woodland Meadows. It is my hope that these red glasses will inspire the WM community to do more things for others, spark a good deed, reach out to someone who needs a friend, think about more than just ourselves and our close friends, and pass acts of kindness forward to those around us, even if they may not be people we are familiar with. The earlier that kids can learn and grasp this concept, the more likely it is to be ingrained within them, so that they are able to continue it into adulthood without having to think twice about it. If everyone in our society LIVED BOLDLY, LOVED BIG AND PASSED IT ON, it would make the world a kinder and better place and we will spread the love regardless of typical boundaries.
AP Spanish Language & Culture Headsets
In AP Spanish Language and Culture, students are constantly listening to authentic sources to help with their listening comprehension. In addition, they have to be able to record themselves speaking in Spanish for other activities. An example is the informal speaking portion in which they have the schema of a conversation and then need to respond. They do not know exactly what the person will be saying but rather an idea so their responses are impromptu responses and they need to be recorded. These headsets will allow them to record themselves without all of the additional noise that is around them—including other students.
Visible Heart-Health in Physical Education
We are requesting funds to purchase large television monitors in order to display critical education materials for our PE classes, as well as our studentsÛª heart rates while they are exercising. This would coincide with our new Polar Heart Rate monitors that the students are wearing during physical education classes. With these monitors, the teachers can display all of the information from each student and entire classes at the same time, similar to the current set up at Pleasant Ridge. The district has put a lot of time and finances into these monitors, and without a way to display the information, we cannot use them to their full capacity as an educational tool.
Classroom Calculators
We are in need of a classroom set of calculators. Students are encouraged to have their own, but that is not always possible for families. Also, 8th graders may forget their personal calculator at home and need one for that day’s class period.
