Education

The Tomball Education Foundation (TEF) awarded 35 grants to Tomball ISD educators across 16 different campuses and one Central Office department, totaling $125,430 to be used on innovative projects they submitted through the grant process.

The 35 grants awarded were the most since the Foundation’s inception. By issuing 35 grants, 84 staff members were celebrated. 

Founded in 2017, the TEF provides funds for educational projects and activities that are beyond traditional funding. As an independent, non-profit corporation, TEF was established by parents, local businesses, civic organizations, alumni and community leaders to make a positive impact on public education. Funds are used to facilitate student achievement and skill development, recognize and encourage staff excellence, and expand community involvement from individuals, businesses and civic organizations.

Since 2018, TEF has awarded over $395,000 in grants to employees of Tomball ISD. 

Congratulations to the 2023-2024 Grant Recipients: 

READ WITH THE STARS: $1,542
Tomball Star Academy, Tomball Elementary
Kelly Riley, Kaitlyn Adams
Read with the Stars - Kinder Technology grant enables Kindergarteners to connect with high school students by reading to them virtually. Reading to young children is an important way to help them develop cognitive and language skills. Through the generous grant from TEF, our high performing dual credit students can help provide literacy support to our developing young readers.

MOTOR LABS: $4,835
Student Support Services
Brooke Looney, Matt Marshall
Motor labs are more than just a “brain break” spot for students. Motor labs: help with learning readiness, improve task performance, stimulate sensory systems, create environmental awareness, build academic skill acquisition, and build a skill base for physical education. This grant will support student growth, providing numerous opportunities for participation and movement in age appropriate activities. Motor labs can be so much more than just a space for a “brain break” and we would love to support this for the students and teachers.

SPED MUSIC RESOURCE LIBRARY: $5,000
Student Support Services
Elizabeth Goodrich, Allison Landes
The special services music resource library will provide preschool and elementary special education teachers supporting students with the most significant disabilities with access to musical instruments to employ music as an instructional strategy to increase student engagement in specific instructional targets identified by the teacher. Additionally, these teachers will have access to consultation with the district Music Therapist to support the selection of instruments and modification of instructional strategies to address the identified instructional target.

FINE MOTOR STRENGTHENING BOXES: $5,000
Student Support Services
Vy Thai, Kimberly Keller, Patsy Ward
The special services fine motor strengthening boxes are provided for young learners who struggle with gaining academic targets with a daily routine of fine motor skill development activities. The activities will specifically target the development of grapho-motricity, dexterity, and speed-dominated skills as opposed to fine motor activities that target academic skills. By strengthening foundational fine motor skills, children will demonstrate improvement in activities that incorporate fine motor skills to achieve academic skills.

BLENDED LEARNING TOOLS: $2,798
Creekview Elementary
Evelia Benoit, Elsa Cordera, Patricia Heideman
Our "Empowering Every Voice for Academic Excellence" grant aims to provide students with the tools they need to succeed in a blended learning environment. By integrating cutting-edge technology, fostering language proficiency, and embracing inclusivity, we are shaping the future of education. Together, let's empower students to excel academically and express their creativity in innovative ways.

NOREDINK PREMIUM INTERACTIVE WRITING PLATFORM: $5,000
Creekside Park Junior High
Tammie Cox, Sheri Forbes, Victoria Hagan
NoRedInk Premium is an interactive writing platform that helps to develop strong writing skills in students by providing personalized, high-interest content and targeted skill-building exercises. This grant will enable us to enhance our students' writing fluency, align our curriculum with Texas essential knowledge skills (TEKS), and better prepare our students for the STAAR testing and their future as well rounded writers and leaders.

iPADS: $4,215
Lakewood Elementary
Tiffany Davila
My project aims to integrate iPads into the elementary curriculum, fostering engaging and personalized learning experiences. By leveraging interactive apps, virtual field trips, and collaborative tools, we equip students with 21st-century skills, preparing them for the digital future. Help us ignite curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in young minds.

BRAINball GAMES: $2,337
Lakewood Elementary
Janet Marek, Bianca Nobles
BRAINball games can be implemented during warm-up activities or for a whole class lesson with all grade levels. Our entire school will benefit from teaching literacy, math, and motor skills using the BRAINball program. I would love to see students completely engaged in BRAINball activities! This would be an innovative way to combine physical activity and academic learning. They will be getting exercise, practicing skills, while increasing their language knowledge and math skills; what a wonderful cross-curricular way to make learning fun!

INTERACTIVE SCIENCE LEARNING TOOLS: $4,500
Lakewood Elementary
Katy Gates
This grant would allow each of the 4th grade science classrooms at Lakewood to transform into an interactive, experiential place where students move beyond the textbook, lecture and teacher-led demonstrations. With classroom science tools, students will be involved in tactile experiments almost daily, gaining a deeper understanding of science concepts. This type of interactive learning is exactly what we want for all of our students.

TOUCH SCREEN MONITOR: $3,595
Lakewood Elementary
Kristi Donald
Having a large touch screen monitor at the small group table will allow teachers to use a multitude of digital resources to model and scaffold student learning. Additionally it will increase student engagement and collaboration during small group lessons. This type of interactive learning is exactly what we want for all of our students.

TUNING IN FOR SUCCESS PROGRAM: $4,667
Willow Wood Junior High
Jim Shaw, Debra Vandergriff, Makaela Martinez, Dawn Melton (NIS)
The Tuning in for Success program at Willow Wood Junior High will equip all band students with upgraded digital tuners, individual pick-up microphones, and tuner storage caddies to support development of intonation and rhythm. Band educators will place the new tuners with microphones at each student station housed in a storage caddy on the music stands, providing consistent access to tuners for 315 emerging band musicians. Students will grow in their tonal and rhythmic awareness by integrating hand-held tuner technology in every band class, enriching their growth as musicians and learners.

ELECTRIC INSTRUMENTS: $5,000
Willow Wood Junior High
Katie Haag
Electric instruments are redefining the world of orchestral string playing. As an orchestra director, I continually seek out new opportunities for my students to enhance their musicianship while also being an advocate about the importance of music education. Bringing electric instruments to the Wildcat Orchestra program will allow my students to perform at a multitude of venues as we serve the community through music.

UKULELES: $3,948
Willow Creek Elementary
Terri Nelli, Katie Jacobs
Learning to play the ukulele will be a unique and enriching experience for Willow Creek 3rd graders. It is a wonderful opportunity to build self-confidence, collaborate with other students, foster creativity and self-expression. This experience will challenge our students to step outside of their comfort zone and not only learn a new instrument but also compose and perform their own compositions. Lasly, learning to play the ukulele will foster a lifelong love and appreciation for music.

MYSTERY SCIENCE PROGRAM: $3,394
Willow Creek Elementary
Tracy Geiser
The Mystery Science program at Willow Creek Elementary School will have a profound impact on our students' educational experiences by providing high-quality, engaging, and inquiry-based science education to our diverse student body. Additionally, the program will support our writing goals by incorporating lab activities that require students to document their scientific observations and findings through written reports, enhancing their writing skills in the context of scientific exploration.

MAGNETIC WHITE BOARDS: $4,779
Willow Creek Elementary
Shannon Harl, Brandyne Finney
Magnetic whiteboards will be added to the classrooms providing collaborative working space for students. In addition, the magnetic manipulatives will be available for students to use on their magnetic whiteboards at their learning areas. Building a community of critical thinkers will occur through the implementation of practices Peter Liljedahl identified in his book “Building a Thinking Classroom.” Classroom teachers will utilize non-permanent vertical surfaces (NPVS) that include magnetic whiteboards and manipulatives to create learning spaces and experiences that promote collaboration among students- directly and indirectly.

SWIVL: $4,494
Willow Creek Elementary
Brandye Scotton, Brandyne Finney
Building proficient Emergent Bilingual students will be increased through the use of Swivl. Increasing Emergent Bilingual student performance on all Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System domains involved providing opportunities for students to produce and self-reflect on their skills. The implementation of Swivl allows students to read a text, record the text orally or conduct a retell, view their recording, and write a reflection of their recording.

PLAYAWAY AUDIOBOOK DEVICES: $4,891
Northpointe Intermediate
Lawanna Valenzuela
The "Audiobook Read-Along for Everyone" grant provides a wide variety of Playaway audiobook devices and books for all types of readers! Playaway audiobooks are a great way to encourage the love of reading, improve reading skills all while being screen free, and totally portable!

BLENDED LEARNING TOOLS: $4,107
Canyon Pointe Elementary
Daisy Martinez
Our "Empowering Every Voice for Academic Excellence" grant aims to provide students with the tools they need to succeed in a blended learning environment. By integrating cutting-edge technology, fostering language proficiency, and embracing inclusivity, we are shaping the future of education. Together, let's empower students to excel academically and express their creativity in innovative ways.

HEART-RATE MONITORS: $4,780
Canyon Pointe Elementary
Amy Keene, Brandy Tripp
Using the technology-based heart rate monitors, we will be able to reach a population of students we have struggled to reach before-our tech-savvy, video gamers. Using the monitors and the real time display will make exercising more engaging and interactive. We will also be able to provide a more personalized experience for our students. Instead of the old ‘one size fits all’ approach to fitness, using the data accrued from the heart monitors, we will be able to create tailored exercise programs to meet the individual fitness needs of each student.

TOUCHMATH PROGRAM: $4,867
Canyon Pointe Elementary
Nelly Garcia, Jennifer Hutto, Kaylee Zarate
TouchMath is a multisensory, explicit instructional program that has been proven to increase students’ number sense and computational skills. By utilizing existing programs like Star Renaissance and Freckle offered by Tomball ISD, we can effectively address the specific areas where our students are facing challenges and employ TouchMath to individualize teaching methods and promote progress in mathematics. Initially, this strategy will be implemented with our students who require special education support, but it can also be extended to intervention groups and small group teaching in the regular education setting.

HANDS-ON EMOTIONAL REGULATION ACCESSIBILITY MATERIALS : $566
Wildwood Elementary
Barbara Hurst, Courtney Cofield, Jennifer Johnson, Melissa Warren
Hands-On Emotional Regulation Accessibility will provide resource materials for our Special Education students who require access to tangible, hands-on items to assist with regulating their emotions, behaviors, and accessibility needs. It will increase their participation with their neurotypical peers as well as allow them a safe and comfortable place to reregulate with the use of hands-on materials.

iPADS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD SPED CLASSROOMS: $4,802
Wildwood Elementary
Meghan Janecek, Shannon Marshall
This grant proposal is for incorporating iPads into early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms to enhance the academic and developmental progress of students facing challenges with academic, communication, motor, and social skills. The grant's main goals are to promote independence in communication, provide tailored instructional materials, and ensure equitable access to technology for ECSE students. iPads are seen as a valuable tool to achieve these objectives by facilitating independent tasks, improving communication skills, and fostering academic growth. The use of iPads will be integrated into various aspects of the ECSE curriculum, such as circle time, small group workstations, and independent activities, with the aim of fostering independence, enhancing communication, and supporting academic development. Success will be measured through student progress, classroom observations, improved communication, social interactions, and increased independence.

GIZMOS: $2,995
Wildwood Elementary
Lauren Peterson, Nga Ngo
This grant would provide all students in third and fourth grades the opportunity to engage, explore, and extend their learning experience as a mathematician and scientist. Gizmos provide opportunities for STEM based learning that pushes critical thinking skills and problem solving beyond the normal classroom experience. Gizmos are an innovative program that supports in-depth, inquiry based activities to real world applications. In addition, our K-2 students will be encouraged to become young scientists and push their curiosity about the world around them through Science4Us.

iPADS: $5,000
Wildwood Elementary
Candace Bailey, Marsha Bright, Lara Davis, Ashley Estrada, Jennifer Guillory, Jennifer O'Neill, Sweta Parameshwaran
Overall, the implementation of the grant will create a dynamic and flexible learning environment where iPads are seamlessly integrated into daily instruction and activities, promoting engagement, creativity, and individualized learning among first-grade students. Students will use these during station activities to personalize their learning journey. Students will use iPads for interactive classroom activities. For example, interactive quizzes, digital storybooks, and educational games. These will reinforce learning concepts and make learning fun. iPads will create short videos and pictures to express their ideas and knowledge.

WIPEBOOKS: $2,200
Wildwood Elementary
Kenny Ho, Anne Collins, Melissa Noack, Michelle Brooks, Kristy Ahrens, Amy Hyden, Adrian Merchant, Kathleen Howell
Wipebooks will be used to implement practices from Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms. These Wipebooks will help us promote highly engaged, inquisitive, successful critical thinkers. Having Wipebooks will facilitate all campus teachers with implementing engaging and hands-on thinking tasks in the classroom, which will benefit all learning styles and students at every academic level.

GENERATION GENIUS: $1,795
Wildwood Elementary
Amy Hyden
A school subscription for Generation Genius for all Wildwood students would promote higher levels of student engagement and academic success. Active participation and hands-on lessons will support high student achievement now and in the future of STEM-related careers. Generation Genius will facilitate student learning through exciting, TEKS based activities that will contribute to critical thinking skills and will empower our student learners now and in the future.

POWER PENS + QUESTION CARDS: $1,215
Wildwood Elementary
John Angel, Loreta Garcia, Kellie Greenberg, Mason Carroll, Sarah Rumfield, Melissa Richards, Michele Taylor, Susan Renneker
The objective of this grant is to support our Raising Blended Learners (RBL) reading playlist, as well as our guided math stations, by providing students with self-checking, on-level resources to support their learning in math and reading. To accomplish this, we are requesting “Power Pens” along with their associated question cards. Power Pens are a unique educational resource that provides students with immediate feedback on their learning. This will allow students a chance to practice and apply their learning effectively while working independently.

BILINGUAL PICTURE DICTIONARIES: $759
Wildwood Elementary
Alison Love
The purpose of this grant is to supply our emerging bilingual students with bilingual picture dictionaries to support their English language and home language skills as they navigate through their school day. Our students are our superheroes, working every day to achieve success in not just in one, but two or more languages. The goal of this grant is to provide support for over 30% of our students as they seamlessly transition between languages to achieve academic and social success, as well as excite English language students to learn about other languages.

SENSORY LAB: $2,527
Grand Oaks Elementary
Dana Carter, Jessica Oakes, Kayla Clarkson
The Sensory Lab is a unique environment not typically found inside a classroom that will be a safe place for students with sensory differences to regulate their emotions in order to remain engaged and ready to learn. It will provide innovative opportunities for sensory integration by providing tools and materials that support the various sensory systems - auditory, visual, tactile, vestibular, and proprioception. This grant will provide access to sensory experiences that will enhance student’s communication skills, social interaction, and cognitive skills by enabling them to better engage with their environment and understand their own sensory needs.

KAMI FOR KIDS: $3,790
Grand Lakes Junior High
Melissa O'Brien, Eloise Traw, Lisa Stoyak, Rachel Page, Jill Moreno
   Kami for Kids provides the Google Kami Extension for the students and core curriculum teachers for one year at our campus. Kami allows students to use tools previously only available on paper (writing, highlighting, drawing, coloring, etc.) and digital tools (dictionaries, text-to speech, video comments, etc.) for students to use in all subjects across our campus. This extension continues to support our school's commitment to lowering our environmental impact by lessening the need for copies of passages, worksheets, and notebooks. By having the KAMI extension available to all students and teachers, the goal of cross curricular learning is able to be achieved in a meaningful way for students.

INNOVATIVE BOOK LIBRARY: $2,200
Rosehill Elementary
Maria Alejandra Martinez
We will be using books where the students will have money in exchange for books which will align with financial literacy. The variety of topics will also allow students to have access to different resources for different subjects like research projects in science and social studies. We will not only be using them for read alouds, but also for student book clubs, stations, small group instruction, and class projects. Two Way Dual Language Literacy Library; to English, Spanish and beyond! By providing an innovative and exciting reading environment, we hope to significantly impact our student’s educational journeys.

LIGHT TABLE: $1,575
Early Excellence Academy
Tammi Cruise
The light table will be used to introduce new concepts in an engaging way and also to provide enrichment with material already learned. The primary use of the light table will be as an extension during our multiple daily station rotations. It will enhance our learning across all subjects. We can sort colors and shapes, match letters, make and solve word problems, make patterns, build words and sentences, examine x-rays and so many, many other things... the options for learning are limitless. A light table is a fantastic way to engage young learners to explore and learn while they think they are playing! A light table is a translucent, flat surface, such as a tabletop with a light source underneath, which shines up towards the top of the table. It engages learner’s sense of sight and is also a great sensory option for young learners

HIGH-QUALITY PRINTER: $507
Tomball Junior High
Regina Garceau
If the Printing in Style grant is funded, students will have access to a high-quality printer for printing their unique designs and heat press onto t-shirts or other items. Additionally, they will have hands-on opportunity to use the t-shirt press machine along with the high quality inkjet printer. This grant aims to support digital media students in producing impressive and visually appealing creations.

OZOBOTS: $5,000
Tomball Elementary
Nathalie Tilley
Ozobots allow for students to learn programming with easy to do lines. They, also, show students that a combination of color lines will make the Ozobot do different functions. Finch robots allow for students to learn to code with either an easy to use block system on their chromebook or with the start of programming languages. What better way to shape our futures than to expose all Tomball Elementary students to robotics? This grant brings that wish to reality. The addition of Ozobots and Finch robots to the specials rotations opens our kids' eyes to the world of possibility that hasn't been opened yet.

DEBATE GOES DIGITAL: $5,000
Tomball High School
Kami' Faldyn
The Tomball High School Speech and Debate Team is a rapidly growing, co-curricular student activity that enhances students' writing and speaking skills beyond the walls of the classroom. The students spend countless hours researching, preparing and practicing for tournament competitions held at local high schools with the goal to compete at district, regional, state and national competitions. Technology at debate tournaments is essential to success. The Debate goes Digital grant provides equal access to technology for all students in order to prepare speeches, analyze current events and evaluate research while participating at debate tournaments.

Source: Tomball ISD

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