Educational Grants

Money is always a topic of conversation when it comes to implementing new tools in a classroom.  There a tremendous amount of grant opportunities out there, and two of these may be very realistic for me in my classroom.  The first is going to my district’s Education Foundation.  The Olathe Public Schools Foundation (OPS Foundation) offers grant opportunities for a variety of uses.  To quote from their site: “The Olathe Public Schools Foundation awards grants up to $1,000 for innovative classroom projects, $2,000 for visual arts programs, and up to $5,000 for projects impacting multiple classrooms, grades, or schools.”  This opportunity can make an impact immediately when implementing the flipped class in my classroom since devices are needed to make the flips work, including the equipment to make the flips and the computers for kid’s use.

Another site worth looking into is Donors Choose.  I had the privilege of seeing this organization in action at my previous high school in Bonner Springs, Kansas.  The grant was for a flat-screen TV for the “Brave Cave”, the student lounge run by the Business Department and the Entrepreneurship classes.  One of the donating businesses provided the TV for the lounge and the business program took photos of their setup and showed the organization how they were using the donation.  This is an incredible way to gain access to some pricier options for the classroom, which again would include several laptop devices for my class for student use. 

Once more, the options are abundant with the multitude of websites out there willing to offer up grant money.  This will be something I will be looking into this next semester, for certain.