Each year, your support allows the Ocean Air PTA to distribute Mini-Grants to teachers and staff throughout the school. Classroom teachers and others, including speech pathologists, resource specialists, our school psychologist, and our librarian, are eligible for grants up to $400; STEAM+ teachers are eligible for grants up to $1,000; and administrative staff members are eligible for grants from $150 to $300.
Mini Grants have a direct and immediate impact on our students’ educational experience, because they give teachers the flexibility to purchase what they need most for their classrooms.
Teachers and staff use Mini Grants to purchase educational materials and tools that the school budget imply cannot provide. Some examples from our classroom teachers include:
- Guided reading books sets for reading groups
- Science materials and consumables for hand-on activities
- Math games and manipulatives
- Reading games
- Student dictionaries
- Tablet computers, for math, reading, and spelling practice
- iPods for listening to recorded books
- Curriculum to meet new standards
- Non-fiction books for class libraries to achieve the new standard of 50% fiction/50% non-fiction reading
- Art materials
In our STEAM+ classrooms, teachers have used Mini Grants to purchase:
- Musical instruments
- Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) software for creating advanced computer graphics
- Snap circuits, rocket launching kit, and solar vehicle materials
- Special glazes, reusable gel printing plates, art books, and a drying rack
- Basketballs, soccer balls, stopwatches, polo sets, yoga mats, and ping pong supplies