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Highlands Today

Teachers Innovate To Educate

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: January 5, 2008

SEBRING — Teacher Laura Sherley's students will be in jeopardy when they return from winter break on Tuesday.

The Lake Country Elementary third-grade teacher spent part of the holiday break programing a classroom version of the popular television quiz show, "Jeopardy!"

With a $845 mini-grant from the Highlands County Education Foundation, Sherley purchased Classroom Jeopardy! which includes computer software, a scoreboard and hand-held remotes to replicate the setup of the game show.

"I will be Alex Trebek," Sherley proclaimed.

Using the computer program, Sherley will program questions to help her students review material for tests including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

"If we are studying geometry, I can do all geometry categories," she said. Also, just like the television show, the 100-point questions will be easier and the 500-point questions will be more difficult.

Jeopardy! actually works backward with an answer being presented to the contestants who then try to identify the correct question.

Students will play the game in teams with each team member being required to answer a question, she said.

Small white boards were supplied with the setup, which students will use to write down their final Jeopardy! answers.

Lake Country Elementary physical education teacher Donna Nitz received a $733 mini-grant for her project – Action Based Learning.

Students will literally be in action – rolling, spinning, bouncing, balancing, walking and jumping.

As students move from fitness station to station with a partner or partners, their self awareness, self esteem and social skills are enhanced, Nitz said.

"Research supports that about 85 percent of school-age children are predominately kinesthetic learners – learners who use their bodies to learn," Nitz said. "They manipulate objects, act out a concept, count on their fingers, tap their feet ... ."

Nitz purchased ladders with the grant money for her program for kindergarten through third-grade students.

Lake Placid Elementary kindergarten teacher Jennifer Hester's project, Mission: Learning is Possible, was made possible with a $998 mini-grant from the Highlands County Education Foundation.

"We will be reading, writing, listening and speaking with the material I bought with the grant," she said. "And kindergartners love to play games, so I bought them games they can play, which will help them with their beginning sounds, middle sounds and ending sounds."

The foundation funded 44 mini-grants for a total of about $40,000. Also, 12 teachers received Progress Energy math/science mini-grants through the foundation totaling more than $10,000.

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