Tucked between the end of a winning Jr. Varsity basketball game and the beginning of Varsity Basketball, a small group made their way to center court, all wearing matching grey shirts with the Tecumseh arrow and mini grant recipient insignia.  Kevin Harmon, President Board of Trustees spoke to the audience, “Tonight, we want to celebrate one of our school district’s best kept secret—the annual Mini Grant Program sponsored by the Tecumseh Education Foundation.” 
Named mini grants because they are aimed at small projects funding, up to $750, for supplies and materials.  Every grade level teacher is able to compete for these dollars. Out of twenty-three applications, eight were able to be funded at a cost of $4,659.  The New Carlisle Rotary Club has been instrumental in donating $3,000 annually to help support these projects.
Winning grant programs are:  Visual Communications; I Learn with iPads; Making Math Mobile; Community Members Lend a Hand in Raising Math Scores; iPad for Student Growth; Tag Reading Program for Inclusion;  Epson DC-11 Document Camera and Happy Handwriting;
Happy Handwriting is the project for Kathy Pond and Rae Lynn Massie from Donnelsville Elementary.  Their big smiles showed their pleasure of being able to obtain the needed program for their kids.  A quick search of Handwriting without Tears shows a small group of kindergarteners jumping and moving their finger to the frog jump letters.  “I’m a frog jump letter, jumpty jump!  Make a big line drop.  Start at the top!  A simple concept of all letters being groupings of  lines and  curves.  Kindergarten Teacher Kathleen Pond described how size differences are one of the hardest concepts for beginning writing.  “At this age the children are up and down all over the place.  The program encourages them to stand up and finger trace the Frog Jump Capitals in the air in time with the song. This multi-sensory activity is a great way to incorporate music and movement to make letters memorable.”  Both teachers wished to thank the Tecumseh Education Foundation for their support in helping their students learn and the community for helping support TEF and a sincere thank you to the New Carlisle Rotary Club for assisting in this project.  Massie said, “I know the kids will enjoy this fun way to learn their letters!”

Congratulations to all of the recipients!