Xenia Community Schools
Foundation Grants Program
ENHANCES LEARNING FOR XENIA COMMUNITY
STUDENTS
ALLOWS CREATIVE IDEAS TO BE PUT INTO
PRACTICE
OVER $21,000 WAS AWARDED TO CLASSROOM
TEACHERS FOR THE 2013-2014 SCHOOL YEAR.
Renaissance Learning—Accelerated Reader Enterprise
Stephanie Johnston
$13,727.28
Thanks to the Foundation, Stephanie Johnston
was able to purchase Accelerated Reader for all
the elementaries.
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated Reader is a reading program where
students read books, take quizzes, and earn points.
Books that are more challenging earn more points.
All elementaries are competing to see
which school can read the most books.
Current standings are pictured to the right.
Raise a Reader
Kay Gerspacher
$2,000
Kay Gerspacher is the head librarian for Xenia
Community Schools. With the funds for the Raise a
Reader grant, she purchased a variety of books for
beginning readers.
In an effort to support teachers with the Common
Core State Standards, Kay ordered many nonfiction
books stating: “Nonfiction is so much better today
then when I was little. These books have great
picture support, which young readers need.”
Raise a Reader
“With the adoption of the new
Common Core State Standards,
students are reading more and more
nonfiction texts. My class and I
were very excited to read the new
nonfiction books that recently
arrived at our library.
During our science unit on living
things, the students read and wrote
about the parts of a plant. The first
graders were able to use the new
books that were purchased from this
grant to learn more about roots,
stems, leaves, and flowers.”
-Denise Garrett
Raise a Reader
Pictured left is Kelley Wright, who is
the librarian at McKinley
elementary. She is sharing one of
the new stories with a kindergarten
class.
Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School
Kay Gerspacher
$2,000
Kay Gerspacher was able to increase the middle school’s library
circulation by purchasing new books with help from the Xenia
Foundation.
“It is nice to put new books in the hands of kids” Kay commented.
Top Shelf Fiction
This year in particular,
the middle school has a
large population of
readers. Having books
to appeal to a wide
variety of interests helps
to make young readers
into life long readers.
Top Shelf Fiction
Rachel Deramus
(pictured right) gave a
book talk to her peers
about R is for Rachel.
Rachel mentioned, “If
you want to know how
it ends, you have got to
read it yourself.”
Top Shelf Fiction
Teachers at Central Middle School are getting in on the excitement of
having new books too. Pictured above is a bulletin board display featuring
book reviews for many of the new books. Students wrote reviews to entice
other classmates to read the books as well. The playful title is parodied off
of the popular hit song, Call Me Maybe, by Carly Rae Jepsen.
Xenia High School Chemistry Club
Bill Richey
$700
Bill Richey runs the high school’s Chemistry
Club. It is the largest extracurricular club at
the high school.
Mr. Richey makes the students excited about
science and makes learning fun. “He is my
favorite teacher,” one student boasted.
With funds from the Xenia Foundation, Bill
Richey bought materials for the high school
Chemistry Club to create a science show that
would turn kids on to science.
Xenia High School Chemistry Club
The Chemistry Club
visits each of the
district’s elementaries
for an hour and a half
session. The first part
of the visit involves a
show that the club
members wrote and
performed. This
year’s topic is about
what would happen if
Phineas and Ferb met
Einstein.
Xenia High School Chemistry Club
After the show, the elementary
students go back to their
classrooms where Chemistry
Club teams lead the students in
a science activity.
The chemistry club shares a
story with each classroom, and
then, performs a demonstration.
Xenia High School Chemistry Club
The students get
to experiment
with the science
concepts too!
Leveled Literacy in the Middle
Jennifer Chapman
$1,000
Jen Chapman co-teaches Language Arts at
Central Middle School. She knows that all
learners do not read on the same level and
believes strongly that the students need books in
their hands that is appropriate for their reading
level.
With funds from the Foundation, Mrs. Chapman
was able to buy books of varying complexities to
reach all learners in her classroom.
Leveled Literacy in the Middle
Mrs. Chapman likes the Guided Reading program
used in the elementaries and wanted to adopt a
similar approach to reading at the middle school.
By providing leveled books on similar themes, Jen
is able to differentiate lessons based on each
student’s level of readiness.
Here you see students interacting with
text specifically prescribed for their
learning needs.
Independent Learning Centers
Katie Cronin
$355
Katie Cronin is a kindergarten teacher at Arrowood
Elementary. Centers are a great instructional strategy
for keeping students engaged. She was happy to
purchase a variety of premade centers that targeted
specific skills for today’s kindergartener.
5th Grade Book Club
Jill Miller
$200
Jill Miller purchased multiple copies of high interest books with funds from
the Xenia Foundation.
Fifth grade students brought their lunches to the library and discussed the
various novels over their lunch and recess times.
Bright Buccaneer Club
Kathy Patterson
$194
Kathy Patterson is an intervention specialist at Central Middle School.
Her Bright Buccaneer Club is geared toward helping students who
struggle. She developed a Check In/Check Out System. This system
allows for students to make contact with an adult each day and to
make sure he or she has the needed materials to meet with success.
Students can earn rewards for demonstrating responsible behavior
over a consecutive number of days.
Our Heartfelt Thanks
Thank you Xenia
Community Foundation
for helping us to better
serve our students!