A total of ten instructors at Notre Dame Catholic School applied for and won grants from Michigan City Education Foundation to fund five different projects. Pre-School and Pre-K teachers Natasha Magnuson and Kate Bobillo will be completing outdoor projects involving a chicken coop and bird feeding station.
“We intend to build a chicken coop behind our beautiful building. The students will be active participants in building it! Measuring, holding and maybe nailing a nail or two. It will be loads of fun for the little friends. After completion, we will purchase the hay, food and of course the chickens! We will learn how to care for them, feed the chicks and clean up after them. We will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor by using the eggs in multiple ways. Cooking, Baking and Coloring Them!”
“Students will observe birds up close. Several activities are offered for observing/learning about birds. Students will also learn about bird habitats, food and behaviors. The teacher and students with construct a bird feeding station that will provide enriching teachable moments.”
Teachers Trish Baczkiewicz, Joe Bobillo, Joanna Cate, and Sandy Purcell will be implementing and overseeing technology integration through the utilization of Brain Pop, a web-based education program.
“Ideal for both group and one-on-one settings, BrainPOP is used in numerous ways, from introducing a new lesson or topic to illustrating complex subject matter to reviewing before a test. For example, a new component of the election process was added to BrainPOP for this upcoming month.”
Barbara Brandon and Jennifer Scriba will use instruments to teach art and science.
“Using Diatonic Boomwhackers, Sonor Glockenspiels, Chroma-Notes Handbells & Resonator Bells, we will develop active listening and pre-reading skills through games of pitch, melody, rhythm, meter, tempo, dynamics, harmony, ear-training and composing.”
Teachers Angela Ruiz and Nancy Donoghue will be providing an opportunity for enrichment to high-performing students. Students will be given an extra challenge with one of the reusable activity mats. These math activities will allow differentiation for the faster workers in the classroom. Students will be able to check their own work with the decoder provided. When they have checked and corrected their work product, they can wipe the card clean for the next student.
They will be able to practice decimal comparisons, rounding, adding and subtracting fractions, multiplying fractions, multi-digit multiplication, division, area and perimeter, factorization, classifying shapes, standard measure conversions, angle measurement, and multi-step word problems.
Notre Dame Catholic School, a ministry of the Notre Dame Catholic Community, fosters learning through an unsurpassed faith-based education that prepares young people for extraordinary lives.