When the "ROOTS" are strong we learn lifelong

School:: North Naples Middle
Subject:: Science
Teacher:: Ellen Romano
: Todd Holappa
Students Impacted:: 180
Grade:: 8
Date:: September 9, 2024

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion For Learning - $1,250.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 160

I would like to begin by thanking the Education foundation for believing in my cause and trusting in me to make this opportunity both educationally successful and personally motivating to my students. This grant allowed for countless opportunities even beyond what I had expected at the beginning.

This grant allowed the purchase of supplemental material to reinforce roots words and how they apply in scientific vocabulary. This also allowed the purchase of materials to provide direct activities to reinforce new scientific ideas and concepts, as well as snacks, trinkets, stickers, and certificates to celebrate success and encourage working through the frustration of new material.

My focus group of students and assigned group of students are typically in the lower 25% of students and have struggles for years leading up to 8^th grade. These struggles through elementary school can encourage and build stamina in students to work hard and persevere, or the opposite. Often these academic struggles leave students feeling defeated and unmotivated. I have found working with 8^th grade the students have anchored in the mentality that they cannot and therefore they won’t. This increases negative behaviors and teacher frustrations. As the ESE inclusion teacher, I have a great opportunity to see these children in different content area courses and can interact often in an ability that the classroom teacher is unable to.

With this grant I focused on celebrating and building positive work habits, academic success, and self-esteem through intermittent, unpredictable, spontaneous celebrations. Each time this allowed kids to feel excitement and when I targeted a behavior for a period with spontaneous reward (at times a sticker-great comment-or candy treat) peers would follow in behavior.

We focused on vocabulary but celebrated the work that went into learning-not the outcome of success. Students get run down because often the end results are the recognized feature but by having flexibility I can celebrate the process. Examples of celebrating the process are having notebooks out and ready to begin class-starting on warm up questions- raising hand to take part- having homework done- …. The options are endless, and the reward is not daily for them to manipulate. It is spontaneous to build the habits, and each day celebrated verbally, but somedays an extra treat will come.

The results are excitement, fun and learning. Students in 8^th grade typically says they don’t care asking me with excitement, if I brought my stickers and stamps or letting me know that I missed them when they were working to get a sticker. In the halls students sharing that they finished their homework by a chance I would celebrate. The kids did not become expectant or rude about demanding rewards, they became energized when they would get one and were excited to share their next great habit.

The stickers and daily recognition increased science warm up participation by 95%. Students who don’t think work will matter will stop doing it, work not graded will fall below par. We as teachers cannot grade every item, but we can certainly confirm it. When work starts to slip, we celebrate those who didn’t allow themselves to slip. Iti gave an opportunity to set individual goals with individual students that were meaningful to them and positive for their learning habits.

Through direct teaching of roots and with root word sheets and rings that the students were given to practice, they began approaching questions and words as a puzzle rather than intimidation. They felt capable of approaching a word that would have intimidated them and made them not bothered to try.

Science scores and proficiency at NNMS increased by 10% this school year. There is still work to be done and I hope I can continue working with 8^th grade science to implement and continue the growth. I will collaborate with ELA teachers to reinforce the science roots as much as they can as well. We moved many level2 students into level 3 and 4 students. The amount of level 5 students jumped tremendously as they have the level of achievement to recall roots and apply them most effectively independently. Working on test taking and vocabulary development was a great success and seeing this through with treats and surprises made it fun and exciting.

I was able to share tickets and rewards with an Algebra class as well when I noticed, motivation to work was decreased and the work was becoming mundane. The teacher, who is not typically one to pass out rewards- said he had fun and so did the kids. The raffle tickets allow for recognition- and the more you get maybe your ticket will be called to choose an item.

The largest challenge is adjusting the mid set of teachers that I worked with to try and attempt the process. No one wants candy and food all over their rooms and many thought that is what this would look like. Teachers may also feel frustration and don’t want to celebrate the kids who are doing bad when they don’t celebrate the good. This too in a false mindset that needed to be adjusted before implementation could be authentic and consistent. Many also thought the kids would think stickers are stupid and they would care. Another false statement. I feel the same learned helplessness that developed of the years with students has affected learned teach defeat in adult who have felt defeated and run down year after year trying to force kids to want to do we.

We can NOT force kids to have desire to do well, we can only show that that when they show desire to learn good comes of it and in building the risks they often build confidence and reality that they can accomplish more than they gave themselves credit for. I have always believed in celebration and not setting rules to how you are celebrated. Celebration for all of us looks different and having the ability to have kids choose what motivated them and the ability to do class surprises brought life to the class and excitement to myself, other teachers, students and our day.

I will continue to write grants to serve this purpose, and I will continue to use my teacher lead money and personal monies to bring learning alive, build bridges with students and increase excitement in the classroom. There are times I have an idea in the morning and go with it celebrating all the kids who…… If I find someone appears to look down, I ask them what ius happening and find and intention soon to recognize something great. The 8^th grade students appear so big and many say things like they should know-or there is no reason for they to not care and in reality, they are babies in life and want to be celebrated but aren’t sure if it is “cool” or not. They are so scared of the fact that they are growing up and are not sure about their peers, social life, and school that they cannot manage it alone and often they feel like they are. Everything is becoming expected of them in life as they see that they feel tired of “doing everything and not one cares.”

Well celebrating people for doing their job is essential, as adults, we know it as well. If we never felt celebrated, would we want to stay in that workplace? The idea that they are in school and should do it- if the same concepts as you are at work AND GET A PAYCHECK SO YOU SHOULD DO IT. Life can be so much more fun than living like that.

Thank you again and I hope you enjoy the letters and pictures.

I know you made this a wonderful year for us and thank you again.

grant photo

Day Day back with recognitions

grant photo

Bringing science Hands on

grant photo

Ticket winners

grant photo

Cake celebrate

grant photo

Making the

grant photo

Dance it out to learn

Original Grant Overview

Goal

To increase students confidence & excitement in learning content area material through motivational strategies, real live experiences, connections and word attack skills to limit resistance and hesitation in understanding new concepts and vocabulary.
I desire to enhance learning by lessening and eliminate learning barriers for all learners that are created by limited English, Limited confidence, limited root word understanding, limited experiences......
This will increase their academic achievement in science and all content areas.
Students will engage with new concepts and vocabulary using word attack using Scientific Root Words, Prefixes, And Suffixes, making connections, engaging in experiences while increasing their motivation to increase their learning and practice with new words.
These extra hands-on experiences, colorful depictions or words, and connections to previous words through intentional study of root words prefixes and suffixes will open opportunities for word attack in science to bring back their confidence in learning difficult scientific words. This will capture English Second language learners, students with disabilities, average and gifted students.
Incentives will encourage their participation and connect effort and attitude with success.
This Extrinsic gratification will initially bring them into the learning and will quickly transform into intrinsic motivation to succeed as they learn more and increase their learning the hard work turns into fun challenge!!
Hard work pays off every time!

What will be done with my students

Students will be introduced to new content and vocabulary in a multi level approach using word attack skills with the knowledge of scientific roots, visual aids to help learners understand the concepts that are often abstract in a middle school experiences, provide hands on connections when applicable with mini representations of concepts. Concepts and vocabulary will be presented in their home language alone side the English meanings to allow the concept to be built in primary language then be transferred to the English words.

Research shows that students learn new words best when they encounter them in meaningful contexts, such as stories, articles, or classroom discussions, life experience, and providing pictures related to the word to created connections

Students will gain confidence in their learning and show academic growth in science to engage in their school journey with positive work habits and awareness. I will incorporate the 7-C’s with learning content word attack skills to master new vocabulary and scientific concepts
Challenge - Personal and group competitions to break down words and discover meaning to words that would have previously made them nervous or they would have settled with “I don’t know”
Competition - Personal and classroom weekly challenges
Curiosity- students interest will increase as they participate in word attack knowledge they will challenge themselves and others in words they have found that contain similar roots and meanings. They will set up classroom challenges.
Controversy (healthy and safe)- the students find their voices and will need to come to agreement on meaning and understanding and cooperate in challenges.
Cooperation- they will cooperate with each other to reach their goals and set challenges.
Connections- As the students work together, they will form connections to help and encourage each other. They will also connect all academic areas as they discover the connection in words used everywhere.
Choice- this entire challenge is personal choice in effort, participation, setting goals, choosing rewards, and having fun.
Creativity - designing challenges and setting their goals and finding more opportunities to work on science concepts and connect them to all areas of academics. They will carry these skills throughout their day and homework time.

We will have classroom challenges with new concepts and individual goals will be set to show personal growth that they can track on their own and will turn into their motivation to continue. SUCCESS is motivation. Often we need to activate their success through motivation techniques, but in the end their success continues to drive them.
Students will be set personal and classroom goals.
My intention is to track the progress of 6 classrooms in science. All 6 classrooms have struggling learners, English second language speakers and the average and above average students. Many have begun to shut down due to feeling defeat in their learning progress.
I desire to take the fear out of learning by teaching them word attack skills and context skills to make meaning out of words and sentences, they would not have attempted previously.

I will work with them to set their academic goals and celebrate weekly for the completion. We will have weekly individual celebrations and monthly classroom challenge celebrations for students who are showing an increase in their use of vocabulary and word skills.

The classroom community celebrations each month for the class showing the most progress and participation.
There are tracking goal charts for each class and students will be able to track their individual progress each week.

Weekly individual progress will be monitored on Fridays to be immediately rewarded each Friday.
Quarter celebrations will be determined each quarter based on the highest academic priority. They will be monitored weekly, so the students stay motivated and on track.

Working with 8th grade I will collaborate with the science teachers to assure the rigor, and standards are met and celebrated. All competition will be positive and not used as a consequence or negative outcome.

Working alongside the classroom teachers we will differentiate and set individualized goals for students to assure they are all able to achieve their goals and have ability to participate in celebrations according to their learning goals and needs.

Students will vote on their Quarterly celebrations, and I will have them create a list of individual rewards that will be motivating such as; certificates, treats, school supplies, healthy vending foods, ect.

Vending items in the past have been the students favorite items. They earn a mini bag of chips, granola bars, candy items, fruits, all voted items.
Small items like jolly ranchers and dum-dum lollypops will be used as intermittent or spontaneous rewards to increase class participation and excitement.

Student recognition is key to maintain motivation and increase participation. Student will be a part of determining their excitement and end of year Trophies and certificated will be handed out to reinforce and recognize the students and their gains.

Benefits to my students

Gaining the knowledge of Scientific Root Words, Prefixes, And Suffixes will be a lifelong skill for the students. The confidence and skills they will gain will live with them as learners forever. Incorporating specific word attack confidence will increase their learning in all content areas. It is also very effecting in second language learners as they can often find similar roots in their home language specifically Spanish.
The incentives and treats reinforce and maintain excitement for the students. This increases classroom participation and homework practice to show what they know by the end of the week.
I completed a similar grant last year and the students gained a direct correlation to their effort and their classroom success. Their confidence increased and their weekly participation increases as the year progressed.
They recognized the time and effort put in became easier for them and the success in the classroom motivated them to work and exceed their goals.
This initial extrinsic motivation transferred to their intrinsic desire to do well in the classroom and feel prepared each day.

Last year all the students who participated in the ALEKS math grant rewards increased 1-3 levels in their learning and were in tears when they passed the FAST math test as they had never passed before. This recognition of effort and their success I hope will follow them in their journey to high school and as lifelong learners.
To connect the idea that putting in the effort and work does lead to success is a lesson and gift that will last a life time.

I hope to bring science to life and have similar excitement and gains for this group of students. I have started this already and the students are already excited. I have bought stickers, mints, cookies and they light up when they see them and the work in the room increases considerably. I can not maintain this on my own for the year with out the help of the community.

Budget Narrative

Goal awards are Items that will be purchased and set up on a cart to travel around the room, all items are individually wrapped and easy to select from the Victorious Vending cart. Students select options they would like to work for, and the items are purchased and interchanged to provide variety and excitement.
The class competition celebrations are typically ice-cream sandwiches, floats, cake, or cookies.
The incentives and treats reinforce and maintain excitement for the students. This increases classroom participation and homework practice to show what they know by the end of the week.
Stickers, small mints, candies are always a part of me and the kids never know what might come out of my bag and when. This keeps the work rewards spontaneous and exciting. They love any moment of recognition for the work and efforts they put into themselves.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Vending reward Items - SAMS-Costco-	$500.00
2	Trophies and certificates - AMAZON	$50.00
3	cardstock	$45.00
4	Lamination	$65.00
5	vocabulary rings	$40.00
6	Scientific Root Words, Prefixes, And Suffixes Copies Color and practice items	$50.00
7	Color copies for real life pictures and language connections (Office Depot)	$150.00
8	Materials to bring experience to life (endo and exothermic) hand warmers or ice packs to hit to create the reactions 1 each per class	$75.00
9	Materials to conduct experiences for the students – many have never seen camera film, roots of plants, stars without light pollution, growing items in water for absorption… the experiences have only begun to be introduced and when they can’t connect them, I want to bring in the items to show t	$125.00
10	Daily & spontaneous motivators – stickers, candies, stamps, mini cookies,	$150.00
	Total:	$1,250.00

Please share this page to help in fulfilling this grant.

When the "ROOTS" are strong we learn lifelong

Investor

Impact to My Classroom

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Category

What will be done with my students

Benefits to my students

Budget Narrative

Items

Share

Email to a Friend

Special Thanks to Our Presenting Partners