Learning Links Grants

2007: 44 grants totaling $29,261

Avery County

• Avery Middle School: The "Attraction Action Science Lab" project will give sixth graders the opportunity to experiment with magnetism, identify rocks and minerals, study soil samples and explore the solar system. The science lab project is expected to serve 110 students. ($700)

• Avery Middle School: The "Celebration of Japanese Culture: Japan All Day Focus" project will serve approximately 100 seventh-grade students during a focus project on Japan. Students will learn about geography, culture, rituals and more. ($700)

• Cranberry Middle School: The "Cranberry/Shoujincun Communications" project will involve all 166 students in observing their community, taking notes, evaluating important aspects of N.C. mountain culture and American culture, writing a script and creating, producing and editing videos to send to Cranberry Middle's partner school in Nanjing, China. ($700)

• Crossnore Elementary School: The "Learning Through Butterfly Gardening" project will help Crossnore students in second and third grade create a butterfly garden. The 87 children will learn about different types of soil, using fertilizers, planting methods, gardening, building garden beds and conservation techniques. ($700)

• Crossnore Elementary School: The "Learning with Legos" project will explore simple machines, careers and animals with 37 first-grade students. Using Legos, the children will learn about pulleys, gears, levers and more as they build and manipulate vehicles and lifts. ($700)

• Freedom Trail Elementary School: The "Rhymes, Rhythm & Songs" project will be a literacy center aimed at 5- to 7-year-old children who will experience the rhythm of spoken language, especially poetry and song, and learn the differences and similarities in phonemic awareness. ($640)

• Newland Elementary School: The "Culinary Quests" project introduce elementary school children to curriculum subjects by seeing, touching, hearing, smelling and tasting what they are learning through the use of a classroom kitchen. ($700)

• Newland Elementary School: The "Reading by Myself" project will give approximately 40 first-grade students to enjoy books at their own level. By having books recorded on a MP3 player, students can access stories and read along with the corresponding book. ($700)

Graham County

• Robbinsville Elementary School: The "Building the Basics" project is a school-wide project that will serve all 700 students in kindergarten through sixth grades. At the center of the project is "StudyDog - Adventures in Reading," an interactive computer-based reading program founded on the principles of the National Reading Panel. ($700)

• Robbinsville Middle School: The "Model Rocket Project" will allow seventh-grade students at Robbinsville Middle to build model rockets as an integrated math and science project. Students will learn about the practice of forces of motion, be introduced to model rocketry as a hobby and consider the variety of careers in the aerospace industry. ($535)

Jackson County

• Cullowhee Valley Elementary School: The "Mountain Fretters Dulcimer Club" project will teach about 30 students from third to eighth grades to play the Appalachian dulcimer in group lessons in a relaxed, supportive environment. The project will help students express their musical abilities and teach them about their mountain heritage. ($698)

• Cullowhee Valley Elementary School: The "Solar Power" project will teach 580 students in third and fifth through eighth grades how to build and use a solar panel and battery to run a light bulb or other small appliance, allowing them to become acquainted with alternative forms of energy. ($671)

• Fairview Elementary School: The "Active Reading" project will involve 80 second-grade students and their families in a reading program that kicks off with a dinner served to parents. The project will provide themed reading kits to generate excitement and spark the children's interest in reading. ($678)

• Smoky Mountain High School: The "Local Legends in Literature" project will introduce the works of local writer and poet Carl Sandburg to students in ninth through 12th grades. A field trip will be scheduled to the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site to further create student interest in participating in the project. ($599)

• Summit Charter School: The "Weather Project" will allow 70 children in kindergarten, second, fifth and seventh grades set up weather stations in different areas of the school, giving them the opportunity to collect scientific data to study and analyze how global weather patterns affect local conditions and habitats. ($700)

Madison County

• Brush Creek Elementary: The "Hands-on Math" project will teach 20 first-grade students of varying levels and abilities to use manipulatives in order to gain a concrete understanding of math concepts. Studies will include measurements, identifying shapes, comparing and contrasting, counting, telling time, and sorting and classifying. ($600)

• Brush Creek Elementary: The "Me On The Map" project will use use visual, kinesthetic and auditory materials to help 20 first-grade students gain increased awareness of their world. Maps, globes, atlases and other manipulatives will enhance learning of the students' community, neighborhood, state, county and galaxy. ($698)

• Brush Creek Elementary: The "Pen Pals Have the 'Write' Stuff" project aims to have 21 first-grade students, including some at-risk and special-needs children, communicate with first grade students at a neighboring school. Each student will use various modes of communication - letters, video recordings, audio tapes - which will be saved to a DVD and sent to his or her pen pal. ($698)

• Hot Springs Elementary: The "Kicked Up Hands On Science and Math" project will use two outreach programs provided by The Health Adventure in Asheville . Fourth- and fifth-grade students will participate in the Robot Design Lab and sharpen their scientific-reasoning skills. ($700)

• Hot Springs Elementary: The "Magic Carpet Ride" project will allow 20 fourth-grade students to broaden their horizons by going on a trip to Raleigh to visit the NC Museum of History, the Science Museum and the Capital and Legislative buildings. ($700)

• Laurel Elementary School: The "Bird Watching Garden" project will place bird feeders at strategic points on the school campus so students can observe various birds. Pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students will help build the feeders and keep them clean and filled. ($692)

• Laurel Elementary School: The "Butterfly Garden" project will, with 17 first-grade students, use math and science skills to plot out a garden space, research what plants will do best, help plant the garden and learn about the life cycle of the butterfly. Students will be asked to keep a journal and to share their findings with the rest of the school. ($450)

• Laurel Elementary School: The "Orff Program" project will teach the ORFF Xylophone to 107 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. They will learn about putting note study into practice, learning musical notes and melodies and trying them on different instruments. ($440)

• Madison High School: The "Voices from Hills: Learning About Ourselves with Southern Appalachian Literature" project will, with 30 11th -grade students, explore historical novels set in Appalachia. The program aims to teach students about cultural heritage, race, ethnicity and social mores, and help them develop a sense of cultural pride and identity. ($700)

• Madison Middle School: The "Mountain Jamm" after-school program aims to teach sixth- through eighth-grade students an appreciation for traditional music and their cultural heritage by introducing clogging and traditional mountain music instruments. ($700)

• Mars Hill Elementary: The "Learning at Home to Make Learning at School More Fun!" project will allow a class of 20 kindergarten children to work with family members on key skills they are learning in class, with the use of take-home learning bags that include a storybook, a journal and whatever other materials they need to complete assignments. ($687)

Mitchell County

• Buladean Elementary School: The "Art Meets Application" project will teach 25 seventh- and eighth-grade students about measuring, geometric applications, temperatures and chemistry through crafts, including earthen clayware production, book-making and basket weaving. ($700)

• Buladean Elementary School: The "Explore Biltmore!" project will teach 48 children in fourth through eighth grades about the Biltmore House, by reading Carol Marsh's "Mystery of the Biltmore House," taking an interactive internet tour and creating a timeline. The project concludes with a visit to the Biltmore House and grounds. ($624)

• Buladean Elementary School: The "Spectacular Science Fair" project supports 28 fourth- through sixth-grade students' participation in a science fair. Students will learn the steps of the scientific method, including synthesizing and presenting results, as they engage in physical and biological science experiments. ($700)

• Deyton Elementary School: The "Destination: Moon" project will teach 18 third-grade students about the moon. Students will design and make moon journals at Penland School , watch the moon phases, build models and conduct experiments. ($527)

• Deyton Elementary School: The "Everybody Start To Sing" project will expand an after-school choral program that is open to all fourth- and fifth-grade students and those in sixth grade who participated in the past. Children will have the opportunity to improve individual self esteem by singing in a group ensemble. ($700)

• Greenlee Primary School: The "Character Corner" project serves all 324 students, giving them the opportunity to experience a book's setting by dressing as their favorite character. The project aims to bring reading to life and incorporate curriculum areas such as science, art and social studies. ($700)

• Greenlee Primary School: The "Music - The 'Center' of It All" project will serve approximately 315 students in kindergarten through second grade by using classroom centers to connect the music curriculum with other subjects such as art, reading and technology. ($700)

• Greenlee Primary School: The "Stepping Stones" project will allow 17 first-grade students to blend science, math, writing and reading in an art project as they design their own creations using shells, marbles and rocks. ($576)

• Harris Middle School: The "Festival Masks of Latin America" project will allow sixth-grade students to learn about the culture of Mexico and its ancient history through creating a festival mask. Students will also study ancient myths and stories to further their knowledge and appreciation of this culture. ($678)

• Harris Middle School: The "Get Fired Up About North Carolina" project will allow 15 eighth-grade students to make clay tiles to graphically represent North Carolina 's 100 counties. Individual tiles shaped as counties will be placed on the wall at the school's entrance, creating a giant mural depicting North Carolina . ($628)

• Harris Middle School: "The Mineral City Sand Mandala" project will allow a sand mandala artist to lead students in creating geometric mandalas that will be incorporated into a large sand mandala in the school's foyer. ($689)

Swain County

• Cherokee Middle School: The "Counseling through Clay" project will allow approximately 100 eighth-grade students to read the story "When Clay Sings," by Byrd Baylor, and learn the importance of pottery and design symbolism to native peoples. This will be followed by Betsy James's "The Mud Family," the story of an Indian girl who creates a mud family which she then tries to save from a flood. ($700)

• Swain County East Elementary School: The "Animals, Animals Everywhere!" project will allow 16 kindergarten students to study a wide variety of animals, including insects, spiders and fish. They will create a variety of habitats for these animals to live, eat and grow. The children will also observe and record the experience in their journals. ($694)

• Swain County East Elementary School: The "Becoming a Bird Watcher" project will help all 367 students from kindergarten to fifth grade set up different kinds of bird feeders and bird habitats in the schoolyard. ($684)
• Swain County High School: In the "Teaching History Through Novels" project, 25 female 10th - through 12th -grade students in a gender-specific U.S. history class will be encouraged to study history and develop the confidence to speak and present before others. Through reading historical novels in specific time periods, these students will be able to discover that history is about people, relationships and passion. ($700)

• Swain County Middle School Cultural Designs: The "Appalachian Song Writing & Music" project aims to teach 33 middle school students about the cultural heritage of Cherokee and Appalachia through the study of musical scores from around the world and composing their own songs. Students will present local nursing home residents with a multicultural performance of their original songs. ($675)

• Swain County West Elementary School: The "Diversity in the Kindergarten Classroom" project will, with 40 kindergarten students, share family heritages through music, crafts, celebrations, skills, stories and traditions. The project aims to teach children the importance of learning from each other and helping everyone preserve a peaceful, hospitable way of life. ($700)

• Swain County West Elementary School: The "Global Child" project will give 18 kindergarteners and their families the opportunity to study multicultural materials and increase their awareness and acceptance of other cultures around the world. Each unit will end with a celebration to which families will be invited. ($700)