Jefferson County ESC

Grants Given at Indian Creek

WINTERSVILLE-Teachers in the Indian Creek Local School District are focusing on many facets of improving students, and they are getting some financial aid to make it happen. Erin Alloggia, Alyssa Lollini and Emily Gault were lauded during the regular school board meeting at Cross Creek Elementary School on Nov. 17 for gaining Best Practice Grants from the Jefferson County Educational Service Center. Linda Lenzi, JCESC gifted coordinator, congratulated the trio and said they will each receive $660 to put their projects into practice. Alloggia, a preschool teacher at Hills Elementary, will use her portion to promote her project, “Enhancing Emotional Development of Children” The grant will help purchase valuable resources from Conscious Discipline to benefit more than 195 preschoolers at Cross Creek and Hills. She said teachers and support staff can utilize strategies that could change the course of a student’s life. Conscious Discipline, which was created by Dr. Becky Bailey, teaches skills for children and adults and also focuses on creating a classroom family where optimal development of all members can be achieved. “Through the grant, my project will impact not only the 75 preschool students at Hills Elementary, but also the 120 preschool students at Cross Creek Elementary,” she said, adding that she has received previous grants and was appreciative to earn another. “I am so thankful and grateful to be a recipient of one of the grants. Through this grant, the preschool teams at both elementary schools will now have the tools to aid the students in learning about feeling, empathy, resilience, impulse control and school family.” Lollini, a kindergarten and first-grade intervention specialist at Hills Elementary, aims to incorporate “Hands-on Learning for Hardworking Students.” Her plan is to purchase learning resource activities so students can learn new skills that move away from the traditional pencil-and-paper concept. She said students will not only improve upon their academic skills, but also learn how to take turns, wait and work together as partners and team members. Items within the grant range from alphabet recognition materials to math manipulatives and may also be shared with the general education teachers to use in their classroom settings. “For many of my students, learning new academic skills can be hard and frustrating, which ultimately can impact them wanting to come to school and learn. My hope is that if I can make learning fun, engaging and captivating, students will be excited to learn new skills and build upon their weak areas,” Lollini explained. “This project will allow me to bring in as many hands-on learning items for reading and math as possible to give my students additional opportunities to work on different skills that step away from paper-and-pencil activities. When having activities that make learning fun and engaging, students may be more willing to participate and step out of their comfort zone. When learning is fun, the impact that it may have on students in regards to retaining the information increases because it becomes an enjoyable and memorable experience.” She added that the project would impact about 30 students throughout the week; however, the items will be available to general education teachers for their classrooms. She is a prior grant recipient and plans to put her latest allotment to good use. “I am very excited, grateful and thankful to the Jefferson County Educational Service Center for picking me as one of the recipients of this grant. I cannot wait to tell my students and begin using the different materials during my sessions with them.” Gault, a speech and language pathologist, will assist more than 100 speech and language therapy pupils at both Cross Creek and Hills with her project, “Everyone Deserves a Voice.” Her allocation will fund a one-time purchasing license of Boardmaker 7, which is downloadable onto a maximum of two devices, or one for each therapist to assist students with verbal communication issues. “Students will now have access to picture communication symbols and books that can be used as an alternative means of communication for those who are non-speaking, highly unintelligible or those who just struggle in certain instances to communicate their wants and needs,” Gault said, adding that it was her first grant award. “I am very thankful and excited to receive this grant. So many students will benefit from this project and I’m excited to implement it for many students.” JCESC Superintendent Dr. Chuck Kokiko congratulated the recipients and said the Best Practice Grants helped bring grant ideas to fruition for the betterment of student learning. “There are certain events or occasions that folks look forward to each year. At the JCESC, one of those events is when the board and staff can read the innovative teacher Best Practice Grant applications that have been submitted,” he added. “Our schools have many great teachers with ground-breaking lesson plans and out-of-the-box instructional strategies, and we are happy to be able to fund many of those ideas so they may become reality for the students in the classroom. Congratulations to our winners and we look forward to seeing what unique ideas will be submitted next year.” This year, JCESC awarded more than 20 Best Practice Grants to teachers at Buckeye Local, Edison, Harrison Hills, Indian Creek, Steubenville, Southern Local, Toronto and the Utica Shale Academy.(Photo Caption: The Jefferson County Educational Service Center Gifted Coordinator Linda Lenzi presented 2022 Best Practice Grants to three educators at Indian Creek Local School for their innovative projects during the regular ICBOE meeting on Nov. 17. Pictured, from left, are Erin Alloggia and Emily Gault with JCESC Gifted Linda Lenzi while recipient Alyssa Lollini was absent from the photo.)