Peach Tree Times

The Dalton Education Foundation (DEF) awarded Grants for Instruction in all ten schools within the district this year. DEF Trustees recently announced a total of 54 grants will be funded, totaling $57,219.25.

The grants are given to Dalton Public Schools’ teachers who request funds to support creative instructional projects that aren't funded through the general fund budget of the school district. This year the grants will fund the purchasing of physical education equipment, sensory items to be used in Exceptional Student Circumstances classrooms, books and equipment for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes among several other projects.

Grant winners this year include: 

Blue Ridge School:

• Melanie Morgan (Brain Ball, Field Day Fun For Everyday Living!)
• Julius Garrod (Inside, Outside, Upside Down)
• Elizabeth Gregory (Sensory Items To Support Positive Behavioral Outcomes)
• Cynthia Martinez (Dig Down Dirty)
• Natalie Manget (Clay For Blue Ridge) 

Brookwood School:

• Jazmin Hernandez (Making History Come Alive)
• Peter Biermanns (German Marionette Theater)
• Julie Fischer (Critical Thinking Game Craze, Practical Pedometers)
• Ava Wyatt (Meine Neuen Deutschen Freunde)
• Claire Kyzer (Cooking with Germany)
• Lisa Cabero (Sensory Room)
• Isamar Fraire (How Does Your Milkweed Grow?)
• Jennifer Barmore (State of the Ecosystem Podcast)
• Jessica Clark (Continuing Giving Bees a Chance)
• Shea MacFadden (Aerogarden Hydroponic Farm System)
• Renee Mahan (Learning Through The Lens Of Zen)
• Susan Barlow (Second Grade Space And Earth Resources)
• Brandi Moore, Shauna Sanders (Old School Mathshark Facts)
• Annette Rojas (Macroinvertebrates Matter) 

City Park School:

• Josef Damasch (The River Mural)
• Liz Forberger (Math in Motion)
• Emily Jones (Empowering Through Embroidery)
• Jessie Vazquez (Panther Performance)
• Alecia Halman (On Board for Learning Fun)
• Lynn Wilbanks (Ga Environmental Educational Coastal Trip)
• Ward Satterfield (Choirchime Classroom Kit)

Park Creek School:

• Erin Roberts (Fraction Frenzy)
• Caitlyn Wooldridge (Meteorologists in the Making)
• Kay Dean (Pulp Fiction)
• Ashley Brindle (Nailed It!)
• Chanel Dean (Jurassic Fun) 

Roan School:

• Clay Fiesel (Native Songs, Orff to a Good Start, Musical Storytellers) 

Westwood School:

• Stephanie Montijo (Hear Ye! Hear Ye!)
• Idalia Paniagua (Circle of LIfe)
• Martha Thomason (Be You)

All Schools:

• Malissa Pedro (Kid City Camp)
• Christine Mullican (Just Like Me)

Hammond Creek Middle School:

• Sara Webb (HCMS Band Composition Commission, Never Board Leaning Theory)
• Jamie Gonzalez (Celebrations Past and Present)
• Julie Spurling (Hammond Creek Crafters For Wellness)
• Amanda Plavich (Sonnenblick Author Visit Workshop)
• Elena Jas (Soil Vs. Water)
• Courtenay Cholovich (Designing Curriculum 6 - 7) 

Dalton Junior High School:

• Daisy Cardona-Kay (Dalton Day of Percussion, Do You Want to Help Build a Program?)

Dalton High School:

• Annette Buckner (DJHS Symphonic Band Camp, Fish to Grow Food)
• Amber Dean (Guarding the Performing Arts) 

The Dalton Academy: 

• Paige Watts (Translation Academy) 

Additionally, each elementary school received funding to purchase books on topics relating to deaf or hard of hearing awareness to be used in classroom sets in classrooms of deaf students and programming from the Creative Discovery Museum.

Dalton Education Foundation, Inc, was established in 1987 to promote educational excellence in the Dalton Public Schools through education, recognition and enrichment.

The foundation provides “over and above” resources, both human and financial, to enable our educators to dream about how to build a truly superb school district and then, with foundation assistance, to follow that dream.

Original source can be found here.