Mini Grants
$50-$1,000 Mini Grants are intended for a classroom level project. This grant will assist teachers with the out of pocket expense during a school year. Grant requests can be anything from a classroom library to a LCD projector. We suggest that you read some of our sample grants before applying.
Generally Mini Grants are reviewed during the last week of each month following submission, and notification will be mailed by the last day of the month. (i.e.-If you submit your grant in April, it will be reviewed the last week of May)
Additional guidelines for Mini Grants
- A maximum of $350 will be awarded for books or manipulatives per classroom. (Approximately 30 children)
- Each school can receive up to $3,000 per school year in Mini Grants.
Sample Grant
Grant applications are easy to write. Just take a look at the the text from a grant application that was approved in June 2007.
Mini-Grant Request
Amount: $350.00
Number of Students the project impacts: 15Purpose of the Grant
Every day in summer school, the children will begin the day with 15 minutes of independent reading. I would like to purchase mostly non-fiction, high-interest books that children who have just completed kindergarten can read independently. Each child will have his own box of books that he/she chooses from each morning. I want to have enough books that the children have a variety of genres and titles to choose from each day. This requires an extensive library of low-level books (levels 1. 2. and 3). In the school where I am teaching summer school, a library of low-level books, for the purpose of independent reading, is not available. Daily independent reading is shown to improve fluency and comprehension.Also, I have noticed as a teacher that children are not exposed to much non-fiction literature and yet the children are greatly interested in it. Many schools are limited in books at low levels, particularly non-fiction books. As a result, some children spend most of their independent reading time attempting books that are too difficult. I want to provide an opportunity for children to read successfully each day, building their confidence and reading enjoyment.
Describe how this project meets the Mini-Grant qualifications:
After summer school, I will keep these books in my kindergarten classroom and use them for the same purpose. This will help approximately 24 children each year. Just like in summer school, once my kindergartners are reading independently, they too choose from a basket of books leveled perfectly for them, that they can read with little difficulty. I teach at a Title 1, highly impacted school to a class of the lowest kindergartners who stay all-day because they have been identified as at-risk. If I leave the school, these books will stay at Geneva Elementary in the all-day kindergarten. This project relates to kindergarten curriculum because the district goal is that each kindergartner will be able to read a level 3 on the Developmental Reading Assessment. The children attending summer school will be those who have not passed this benchmark and I feel daily independent reading, of course coupled with daily reading instruction, will greatly improve their reading abilities.Total budget for project and detailed list of items. Be specific; list items to be purchased and approximate cost:
- $117: Rigby (publisher)--Flying Colors Book Pack (22 books, levels 1-2, fiction and non-fiction titles)
- $129: Rigby (publisher)--Rigby Focus Book Pack (24 books, levels 1-3, non-fiction titles)
- $47.95: Rigby (publisher)--PM Plus Book Pack (10 books, levels 1-3, fiction titles) Approved:
- $54: Sundance (publisher)--AlphaKids Book Pack (12 books, level 2, non-fiction titles)
If your request is granted, how do you plan to maintain the item(s) requested?
These items will remain in my classroom and will be specially marked to designate they were purchased with grant money and are to remain in the all-day kindergarten classroom.What is your school's current inventory of the materials applied for?
Currently, we do not have a library of low-level books intended for independent reading. The books for this purpose begin at a level above kindergarten. The low-level books in our school are in groups of 6 (of the same title) and may be checked out for the purpose of reading with a small group. In my classroom, I have a limited amount of low-level books (intended for independent reading) and most are fiction or too difficult for my students to read.What other resources have you looked into for funding this project?
I have been granted a supply budget for summer school with which I can purchase books, snacks, and supplies (such as paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc). In my opinion, the fund is insufficient to purchase enough books to create an independent reading library for 15 children, with which I hope to provide them exposure to several different genres and titles each day.