2019 – 2020 School Year:

Music Department – String base acquisition will be a great asset to dozens of students at the Junior High/Senior High schools to participate in Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble and Fiddle Club.  It will also provide the opportunity to facilitate home practice.  We anticipate this instrument to serve students over many years.

Early Childhood School – Expansion of non-fiction library books will assist our dedicated teachers and staff to help students and staff achieve their learning and teaching goals with resources and support in a collaborative, open, and inclusive environment. 

Primary School – While the VPS library contains 30,000 materials serving grades K-3, the school continues to grow enrollment and has identified a requirement to expand our selection of fiction/non-fiction library books in 2020.

Intermediate School – VIS is paying for I-Ready virtual professional development sessions for our AIS providers (Academic Intervention Services) to provide I-Ready services to 25 students in each grade level.

Field Trips Forever Fund – The approved Field Trips Forever Grants included at Early Childhood School field trip to the Seneca Park Zoo, a Primary School field trip to the George Eastman House, and an Intermediate School 4^th grade field trip to the Ganondagan State Historical Site.  These trips were canceled due to school closure and this grant will be allocated for the 2020 – 2021 school year.

 

2018 – 2019 School Year:

Early Childhood School – The Early Childhood Physical Education staff were awarded a grant to purchase a portable projector that can be utilized to enhance lessons in the gymnasium for the students at the Early Childhood School. The portable projector will allow flexibility, accessibility, and creativity in presenting various topics or skills to K-1 and all-day Universal Pre-Kindergarten program students.  A portable projector will enhance the current teaching in Physical Education at the Early Childhood School by incorporating technology and allow differentiation for all learners through visual and auditory observations. It would be utilized to introduce new topics or skills (i.e. throwing or kicking), promote PTSA or other school sponsored events (i.e. Nutrition Month— Healthy Rainbow), or display current events related to physical activity (i.e. Olympics).

Primary School – A Victor Primary School classroom was awarded a grant for materials to create additional STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) Morning Tubs.  Morning Tubs offer a play-based opportunity for students to explore, create, and communicate.  Morning Tubs help get students excited about the day and encourage collaboration.  The students engage with their peers to problem solve and be creative in a fun way.  

Intermediate School – A sixth-grade classroom in the Victor Intermediate School was awarded a grant to purchase two standing desks.   This will help students with attentional difficulties who have expressed that they have a better focus when they are able to stand during instruction. This pilot will be able to be evaluated through observational evaluation.

 

2017 – 2018 School Year:

Primary School:

K-1 Professional Learning Group – Two Chromebooks were added to implement an integrated flex model using project-based learning for cross-curricular projects.  One of the student’s favorite units integrated insect science with an English Language Arts non-fiction unit.  Students had the opportunity to research through multiple domains including electronic and printed text.  They worked in cooperative groups to synthesize their learning of insect characteristics and facts to formulate an opinion on which insects were villains or heroes.  The students loved this unit and it helped them go beyond important computer skills and develop higher order thinking skills through inquiry and discovery.

Two Chromebooks were added to support This grant expanded access for her 24 students to work on collaborative class projects and she continues to see student enrichment in multiple ways.  Students were able to research on school approved websites, collect notes, and create a slide on Google Slides for a culminating class PowerPoint presentation for their Spring unit on Insects and the Environment.  Another student favorite was a creative writing project where students were working in groups of three to write a fictional story about a leprechaun.  The classroom was also able to leverage the additional capacity to use a program called Fast Forward that is a research-based learning tool for English-language learners that come into school with language deficits.  This program was founded on the principles of Eric Jensen and his work on brain research.  The program allows students to speak into the Chromebook on Google Docs to record their written work as they learn spoken English but are unable to put it in written from. 

Science Lab – Over the past several years, the young scientists at the Victor Primary School have participated in an incredibly unique opportunity.  Victor is one of the only schools in the area to house and maintain a science lab.  Scientists here learn about electricity, magnetism, physical & chemical interactions, simple machines, buoyancy, weather, insects, and our ecosystem among many other topics.  Of course, the most engaging part of science instruction is the inevitability of getting messy but, in the process, discovering something that will remain with them for a lifetime. 

This grant provided for the purchase of 5 compound microscopes, 5 tripod magnifiers, and insect and plant slide kits for Victor Primary scientists.  The grant has allowed students to make close-up observations of different plants and animals in a variety of ecosystems.  For example, when learning about insects, students explore different parts that all insects have: a head, abdomen, and thorax.  This concept, itself, is a basic demonstration of knowledge and comprehension skills.  However, when you look at different insect heads and mouths under a microscope, otherwise impossible to see with the naked eye, you will quickly realize that even just a head is much more complex than you ever knew.  Insects have many different mouthparts that each have their own purpose.  From sucking, chewing, to lapping mouthparts, there is a lot that scientists can infer about an insect, its diet, defense mechanisms, and even habitat.