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2022 - 2023 Grants for Great Ideas

Grants for Great Ideas are awarded to educators for innovative ideas that support student achievement and classroom enrichment. They can be awarded to the district, a campus, or an individual or team of educators.

Through the generosity of our donors, sponsors, and community, the Tyler ISD Foundation was able to award nearly $86,000 in Grants for Great Ideas this year.

An Experience at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science - $658

Maria Sepulveda, Luis Soto, Richard Akers, and Mariah King - Austin Elementary School

Visiting the museum will give students hands-on experience and see firsthand the exhibits to help create a background and reinforce what they are learning in the classroom. In addition, this is an excellent opportunity for students who may need more means to visit a museum.

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Lobo Land - $3,500

LaToiya Smith, Joshua Currie, Sherille Huff, and Ashley Sneed - Austin Elementary School

This project will allow Special Education and 504 students to engage in self-stimulating, gross motor, and/or fine motor activities to help increase the student's skills in all areas. This will also promote an efficient academic environment while regulating self-stimulating behaviors.

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STEAM Education Successful Strategies Part 2 - $5,000

Joshua Currie, Molly Duran, Maria Araujo, Luis Soto, Maria Sepulveda, and Richard Akers - Austin Elementary School

The grant will enhance student learning by implementing TEKS and research-based STEAM experiences, providing an innovative and engaging learning environment with arts integration for their 4th and 5th-grade students.

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The VR Factor - $5,000

Jennifer Daniel and Edith Maldonado - Bell Elementary School

Students will experience virtual reality, augmented reality, and gamification. With ClassVR, students will be able to learn by taking part in an interactive experience with the Virtual Reality headsets that reach all types of learners (tactile, kinesthetic, visual, and auditory). 

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Middle School Maker-STEAM Stations - $600.18

Carley Smith, Mina Naranjo, Elizabeth Gomez, and Sarah Hancock - Birdwell Dual Language Immersion School

Middle School Maker-STEAM Stations will encompass aspects of Makerspace and STEAM to invigorate the middle school library experience.

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Advancing Communication Through Cosmo - $1,110

Amy Mahurin, Oralia Hall, and Melissa Dene - Boshears Center for Exceptional Programs

It will bring new, innovative hands-on learning opportunities for students through technology. Cosmo is a set of interactive and multi-sensory controllers (called Cosmoids) that work with the Cosmo apps. Cosmo offers an ever-growing selection of activities that motivate learners to develop motor, cognitive, math, science, and communication skills through play and music. 

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Music for Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once- $2,500

Melissa Dene, Jessica Dene, Elise Sicotte, and Shanda Warren - Boshears Center for Exceptional Programs

This project will create a sensory-based learning environment where Boshears students will access musical instruments in an engaging setting designed to enhance the learning of musical concepts- high sound/low sound, loud/soft, fast/slow, and other vocabularies.

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21st Century Makerspace - $4,600

Cory Whyte, Justin Simmons, and Angela Holman - Boulter Middle School

This grant will bring Makerspaces that help prepare students with critical 21st-century skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). These spaces will allow students to create and build projects with their own hands.

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Foundation Fun Zone - $657.30

Carley Smith - Clarkston Elementary School

This project will support classroom lessons and foundational skills while in the library. 

The "Foundation Fun Zone" will engage students by helping stories come to life with interactive pieces and give a fun way for students to work on their foundational skills, such as colors, shapes, numbers, and letters.

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Literacy STEAM Station - $1,819.25

Carley Smith, Sarah Cureton, Stacy Wild, and Jonnie York - Clarkston Elementary School

All aboard the Literacy STEAM Station as it makes its way around campus, visiting classrooms and learning areas to bring a literacy connection at the beginning of lessons. The mobile Literacy STEAM Station will bring elements of science, technology, engineering, art, and math to students. 

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Pre-K Puppet Parade - $788.45

Carley Smith - Clarkston Elementary School

This project will build the foundation of learning to love reading and love the library with their youngest patrons, their PPCD (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities), and Pre-K students.

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Navigating Number Sense - $4,500

Elizabeth Jones, Alfonso Palomares, Katherine Erwin, and Milette Parker - Dixie Elementary School

This grant will bring the Daily Math Fluency Centers Kit from Hand2mind for each grade level. The kits work on building number sense starting in kindergarten and going through 5th grade.

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Agricultural Literacy - $3,600

Jannette Gomez and Reyes Gomez - Douglas Elementary School

This grant will increase agricultural literacy by featuring 12 different crops and livestock and samples of these commodities and their by-products. They will utilize Be Ag Smart, which details the crops, livestock, and people who grow them. The Texas Farm Bureau developed the curriculum.

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Day at the Museum - $1,220

Dora Vasquez, Jeremiah Dollgener, Madai Gamez, Cristina Sanchez, and Bridgett Walker - Douglas Elementary School

This Day at the Museum will provide a hands-on experience for students. The project will allow them to visit a science museum giving the students exposure to an educational environment that can add to their wealth of knowledge.

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Decodables Make Us Unstoppable Readers - $3,975.99

Brandy Elliott, NaTasha Crain, Emilee Kubara, Amber Johnson, Kendra Meeks, Laura Wallace, and Kayla Ballard - Jones Elementary School

A decodable library that allows teachers to check out books to support their early literacy learners in small group reading instruction and during intervention. Bringing this new life into the literacy library will provide students and teachers with research-based resources that promotes quality instruction.

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Molding Music Makers - $2,352.94

Hannah Rosser and Dr. Natasha Crain - Jones Elementary School

It will provide funds to assist in the growth of their after-school music program providing in-depth piano and percussion lessons to students in a 1:1 to 1:3 small group setting at no extra cost to Title I families, with the instructional focus tailored to their personal strengths and musical interests. Funds will provide instruments, equipment, and piano curriculum books needed for the lessons.

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Happiness Hangouts - $750

Christy Reyes, Heather Forsyth, and Aubrey Ballard - Moore Middle Schoo

Happiness Hangouts are monthly meet-ups designed to equip students with the tools needed to develop skills and strategies for social-emotional health. Each month will focus on a specific topic. Students will learn strategies for dealing with a variety of topics and engaging in creative activities that they apply in their life. 

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The STEAM Lab: Inspiring Cub Creators - $4,500

Ashten Ordmandy and Lauren Smith - Orr Elementary School

Enhance the STEAM lab's student learning experience by adding more Makerspace materials, flexible seating, and innovative projects. The additional materials will provide students with more opportunities to discover things that they are passionate about and expose them to a higher level of thinking in problem solving situations.

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Future Ready Makerspace 2.0 - $4,872.49

Victoria Dennie and Weldon Davis - Owens Elementary School

A few years ago, Owens won a Grant for Great Ideas called Future Ready Makerspace. It provided robotic, coding, and Makerspace items. Currently, it’s hosted in the library, where students have access during their library time. With 1:1 devices, they removed the old computers from the computer lab and transformed the space into a STEM, Makerspace, and Sensory lab all in one.

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STEM Project-Based Community Center - $2,549.91

Carmen Martinez, Irene Bermejo, Kami Hayter, Kellie Keltner, Ann Moore, Cheril Valdez, Asjah Boyd, Brenda Larzabal, Alicia Guajardo, Abby-gail Encarnation, Ashley Mcbrayer, Anja Williams, Ana Basurto, Larry Duque, Abigail Larano, Alba Guzman, Alex Lopez, and Hope Chandler - Peete Elementary School

This will complete their STEM Project Based Community Center by purchasing STEM project-based learning kits (STEM in Action-Hands2mind). This community center will provide students with opportunities to construct new knowledge and develop problem solving skills introducing STEM project based learning activities while developing an interest in STEM careers. 

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The Literacy Bus: A Learning Adventure - $1,000

Mandy Gillispie, Kimberlee Baiza, Lisa Robertson, Laura Landes, and Marlis Havard - Plyler/Administration

An adventure in literacy! Adults and students have loved the experience of The Literacy Bus during its multiple stops this year at campuses. Students can choose a book to take home, read a book while relaxing on the bus, and enjoy having books read to them by a volunteer. This grant will help extend learning by adding games, puzzles, alphabet activities, sensory toys, and an area rug for outdoor activities. 

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Gator Gals - Gorgeous Inside & Out - $1,300

Tristan Arrington, Rachel Sherman, Erin Lamb, Marcie Fowler, and Rebeka LaBeau - Three Lakes Middle School

The program teaches middle school girls what it means to be loved, worthy, and true to who they are. The goal is to create a club for any 6th-8th grade girl to attend once a month.

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Virtually Immersed - $5,000

Marcie Fowler, Tristan Arrington, and Erin Lamb - Three Lakes Middle School

They will be getting ClassVR headsets to use in various ways. These virtual reality headsets will allow students to "become" a character in a story and create their own worlds that they write about.

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Our Honey is the Bees Knees - $2,722

Whitney Cleghorn, Jerrod Tomlinson, and Christi Morton-Stepp - Tyler Legacy High School

Tyler Legacy students will learn to maintain and take responsibility for checking on the bees, feeding them, and making sure the hive boxes stay clean. They will even harvest the honey the bee hive boxes produce each spring and fall. Harvesting the honey will help sustain the future of beekeeping on campus.

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Alternative Fuel Project - $5,000

David Harris and Jedi Operiano - Tyler High School

A student organization will work with the Alternative Fuel Foundation by redesigning and rebuilding an engine optimized for ethanol-based fuels. The student organization requested funding to purchase the required components for the conversion and optimization process.

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PASTE Engine Lab - $5,000

David Harris and Lakesha Brown - Tyler High School

The Practical Application of Science Technology and Engineering (PASTE) initiative aims to connect STEM concepts across the curriculum through practical applications and project-based learning. The PASTE Engine Lab provides the required infrastructure to permit the assembly, modification, and testing of automotive and light industrial engines on campus.

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Campus Content Creators - $4,997.69

Allison Winspear, Jerrod Tomlinson, and Skyler Hefley - Tyler High School

This grant provides cameras and equipment for high school journalism, photojournalism, and yearbook students to work as communications and marketing engines (Campus Content Creators) for their campus through social media and website news. 

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Gamifying Algebra 1 - $1,150

Felipe Muncada and Salazar Espanola - Tyler High School

Gamification includes game design materials in non-game environments to increase user experience, motivation, and interest. They have been applying gamification to their Math classes and during Benchmark and STAAR reviews. The students loved it; it showed in their faces and test scores! Starting this school year, they will level it up and hopefully spread the virus of change to the whole Math department and across other disciplines or courses in their school. 

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School Literacy Groups - $4,601.70

Lisa Kokenes, Hilary Hodges, Jenifer Lemke, and April Griffin - Tyler High School

This will add an expansive literary element to all of their English classrooms. Teachers will be able to create small group instruction through literary circles.

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Tyler ISD Foundation Mission

The Tyler ISD Foundation provides resources to inspire learning, enrich teaching, and enhance opportunities for Tyler ISD students through the support of exemplary programs.

Purpose

The Tyler ISD Foundation is an independent non-profit corporation promoting quality education in the Tyler ISD. The Tyler ISD Foundation was created by the community in 1990 to provide additional support for Tyler teachers, students, staff, administrators, and family members associated with the public school system in Tyler. The work of the Foundation is simple: seek funds to grant those funds in meaningful and impactful ways within Tyler ISD.