“A Visit with Patricia Polacco: Weaving Lessons from the Past into Stories for the Future”– Hoover-Wood School and Alice Gustafson School
Re-known author/illustrator Patricia Polacco will visit both these schools for an assembly and related classroom activities. Ms. Polacco will also offer a teacher in-service open to all teachers of District 101. This speaker’s visit focuses on family heritage, multi-cultural aspects, and the richness each of us possess within one’s own family.

South Field Amplification of Kindergarten and First Grade – Alice Gustafson School
Infrared sound field amplification systems will be used in six primary level classrooms. This amplification allows the teacher’s voice to be amplified and heard throughout the classroom at a uniform level that is louder than the ambient noise in the classroom. Each student will hear the teacher’s voice as if they were sitting side by side.

Early Childhood Center Outdoor Learning Area – Alice Gustafson School
An Outdoor Learning Area is being created on the campus of AGS as part of the new Early Childhood Center. All equipment will feature accessible play surfaces as well as safe and appropriate playground equipment designed to enhance the educational experience for Batavia’s special needs, at-risk, and underserved preschool children.

Stepping Through Batavia – Alice Gustafson School
This grant will provide pedometers and heart monitors to enhance the current physical education curriculum by allowing participation and exertion levels to be assessed. Students will learn about their own physical fitness and bring this knowledge to their families and link their school experiences to the home with pedometers that can be checked out of the LRC.

Elmo TT-02s Teacher’s Tool – Rotolo Middle School
The purchase of this Elmo document camera and SD Memory Card would enable math teachers to bring to the classroom the innovation students interact with on a daily basis. The Elmo machine would allow for students to share their work on the “big screen”; allow the instructor to print off any work done in class for absent students or students who struggle to keep up with the pace of the class; and allow all students to see hands-on demos.

Science Olympiad – Rotolo Middle School
A new after school club has been formed called the Science Olympiad Club based on the national organization that was formed to promote science education in a fun, hands-on interactive way that is an alternate approach to a science fair. The students compete in divisions of their choice to show teamwork, sportsmanship and scientific knowledge. Practice sessions are held after school while preparing for a final tournament and winning teams can move onto regional, state, and national tournaments.

Read-Aloud Companion Program – All District 101 Schools
The Read-Aloud Companion Program includes the purchase of ten MP3 players for each of the eight LRCs and a 1-year subscription to AUDIBLE.COM that would allow the LRC Director to download up to 24 audible books for the year. This program offers students a new way to read a book because the MP3 player holds a recording of each chapter in a book, and students could listen to the story as they follow along in the book. Students in grades 4-12 will be given the opportunity to check out the MP3 players from their LRC.

Wellness Stations – Rotolo Middle School
This proposal will purchase a variety of instruments to show students how healthy they are at a specific point in time and increase their understanding of body awareness. Sixth grade students will learn about their individual health status by using the measurement instruments and will visit the seven-wellness stations designed to check specific health factors.

Language Line Services – Rotolo Middle School
To meet the need of students and to be able to communicate with their parents is an ongoing concern. The Language Line service is an over-the-phone interpretation service that can translate via a 3-way phone conversation with a “personal interpreter”.