SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Nearly $8,000 in supplemental grant funding will allow Spanish Fort Elementary School to provide additional resources targeting special instructional needs while increasing access to technology in the classroom for all students.

“All of these grants address areas of need for our school, and I am so very pleased to have this funding. We always want to do what is best for all our students, but none of these materials would have been purchased without the grants,” said Spanish Fort Elementary Principal Rebecca Comer.

The funding, made possible via the Spanish Fort Educational Enrichment Foundation’s Mini-Grant program, was awarded quietly in March while the larger Baldwin County Board of Education grappled with financial crisis and the subsequent countywide passage of a temporary 1-percent sales tax to offset the budget shortfall.

Spanish Fort Elementary was awarded four SFEEF grants—totaling $7,944—representing a little more than one-third of the $25,000 distributed to the feeder pattern’s four schools through 19 grants.

“We so appreciate the work that SFEEF does to provide us with the funds, through these grants, to enrich the education of our children,” Comer said.

In addition to the technology and special needs’ applications approved, SFEEF also awarded six SFES kindergarten teachers a collective grant for the purchase of six calendar math activity charts. The pocket charts are all-in-one learning charts, representing numbers in a variety of ways and designed to give daily practice with calendar concepts. Comer said the tactile charts, which correlate with the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative curriculum, encourage hands-on exploration.

Resource teacher Holly Colelough was awarded a grant for “Successful Sensory Sensations,” to assist students at all grade levels experiencing sensory deficits with the purchase of “manipulatives.” The specialized items purchased include Flag House squeezers, Joint Co’ Motion materials, a sensory belt, a Star Gel Tray, a Smart Talk System and card sets, Gel Sensations materials, a gel maze, an audible time timer, Flag House hop balls and  a Somatosensory Tube for the classroom.

Special-education teacher Sonya Yates was awarded funding for “Math for Everyone” for the purchase of a multisensory math program. The program, which incorporates a method known as Touch Math, uses a sequential approach to build understanding of math skills and  improve math scores.

Meanwhile, technology teacher Kelly Knapp, in collaboration with student Nick Smith, was awarded funding for “Twice as Nice” to purchase ActivArena software and Dual-Pens for 16 classrooms. The enhanced technology allows students to use classroom smart boards at the same time while giving the teacher pen control.

“Students will be able to work side-by-side solving the same problem showing different strategies using technology,” Knapp wrote in her grant application.