CHARLESTON — Help to bring “a unique opportunity” to the Charleston community joined the traditional classroom materials and projects that received grants from the Charleston school district’s Excellence in Education Foundation.
Grants the foundation recently awarded included $5,000, the group’s largest grant amount, to help fund the appearance of the replica Abraham Lincoln funeral train scheduled to be at the Coles County Fairgrounds next week.
Jefferson Elementary school sixth-grade teacher Pam Evans applied for and received the grant and noted there are times set aside for school groups to view the train during its Tuesday-Thursday visit.
The train is re-creating the trip that took Lincoln’s body from Washington, D.C. But the foundation was willing to award a grant for the Lincoln funeral train because it will benefit several students and the community, board member Jackie Goddard said.
“We’re always looking for those grants that stand out and make a difference to the most people,” she said.
Goodard also said the foundation board is excited about the projects the grants will fund. She said she wants to encourage more teachers to apply for grants and the size of the project doesn’t matter.
The foundation’s other grants this year went to:
Jodi Cline, teacher in the district’s gifted student program, $2,443.40 for computer coding equipment.
Cline said the grant will go to buy credit-card-sized computers called “Raspberry Pi” along with monitors and keyboards. They’ll be able to write in one book at school, take another home and donate a third to a community service project, she said.
It was “such an awakening” at the start of the school year to hear that many of her students didn’t like to read and write, Larson said. The students have “grown over time” and now many of them write for fun, she said.
Holly Pantle, media specialist, and Chris Bily, social studies teacher, Charleston Middle School, $1,032.70 for materials on World War I.
“We wanted to provide students with some sources from the period,” Pantle said.
