2011-2012 Henrico Education Foundation
2 grants were awarded from the Henrico Education Foundation to help continue and expand the Virginia Trekkers projects. The grants total more that $5300. The first grant funded the purchase of a new camera that is being used to film our podcasts and to take still shots from the places that we visit. The raw video is edited into one of the podcasts that can be found on the site and the still pictures are shared online, without copyright, so that teachers can use them in their classrooms. The second grant will fund a trip across the United States. We will be traveling during June of 2012 from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean by car. We will be making many stops along the way to make videos for our students as well as develop professional development materials for our teachers. We will be conducting interviews with strangers and educators that we meet at the International Society for Technology in Education Conference in San Diego, CA. The videos that will be create for our students will be standards based and will cover topics that include capital cites, geography, economics, and Native Americans.
2006 and 2007 Best Buy Te@ch Awards
Two grants were awarded from Best Buy to purchase instructional technology materials for Ward Elementary. Each of the grants was worth $2500. The money from the grants was used to purchase iPods, video cameras, digital cameras, projectors, and other necessary supplies. The materials purchase were spread across all grade levels at Ward (K-5).