The annual fund has awarded $6,089.64 to enhance reading and fuel a passion for literacy among AAPS students
Five Ann Arbor elementary schools have been awarded grants from the Karen Thomas Fund to support exciting new literacy projects at their schools. the grants were made possible through the Karen Thomas Fund through the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation in partnership with Wacker Chemical.
Named for the late wife of former Board of Education Trustee Andy Thomas, The Karen Thomas Fund provides grants to Ann Arbor public schools each year to fund innovative literacy programs, books, technology, and other resources to get students excited about reading and writing. This year, the fund awarded a total of $6,089.64.
These grants mean more resources to support literacy for AAPS students, says Nancy Shore, the district’s director of strategic partnerships and community engagement.
“Every one of the projects funded this year enhances student literacy in fun and engaging ways,” she says.
Abbot Elementary
At Abbot Elementary, the grant will be used to purchase high-quality STEM toolkits and books to foster learning opportunities in STEM.
“I wanted to make sure that my students had access to equitable, high-quality STEM education, and one way to do that was to get resources in the library for all students Y5-5 grade to support their skills in STEM,” says Dana Gartland, librarian at Abbot and Angell elementary schools. “Each and every student belongs in STEM and they deserve to have educational experiences that empower their full potential as contributing members of the workforce in the future. It felt natural to do this in the library, as this is really where research, information acquisition, and life-long learning happens.”
The library is a place where deep learning happens that connects many subjects, she said, noting that this grant will ultimately help students learn more, as well as succeed in school and beyond.
“The hands-on activities that we will do in library with the STEM resources purchased with funds from the grant teaches children more than science, technology, math, and engineering,” says Gartland, “but also helps develop their creativity and problem-solving skills.”
Allen Elementary
The Allen grant is titled Narrative Nonfiction: Engaging Facts.
“My students love informational books,” says Allen School Librarian Christine Woelmer. “There is always something they love and can learn more about. They also love a well-told story, so once they get a taste of a good read, they gravitate to those books. I am using the Karen Thomas grant money to purchase more than 30 informational books written in a narrative, engaging format that grabs my students’ attention and keeps them reading.”
“The Karen Thomas fund centers on literacy, and I am grateful to be chosen for a grant that puts books directly into the hands of children who are eager to read and learn. In this scenario, everyone wins. I hope students enjoy the books, I hope students bring them to the classroom and share their new knowledge, and, like all library books, I hope families sit down with these stories and read them together at home. “
Allen School Librarian Christine Woelmer
Woelmer said that as students become more comfortable and responsible with their book checkouts several months into the school year, she starts offering students the opportunity to check out an extra book if that extra book is an informational, non-fiction title.
“This complements what many grades are focusing on in classrooms right now, so it can be an exciting, fun time,” she says. “The Karen Thomas grant will give us some fantastic new reading choices.”
Ann Arbor Open
Ann Arbor Open will use its grant to purchase fluency intervention resources.
“The teachers at Open have been hard at work implementing the district’s new resources (UFLI and Morpheme Magic), and as the Literacy Coach, I had many teachers coming to me asking for ideas to improve reading fluency alongside the new phonics and morphology tools,” says Ann Arbor Open Literacy Coach Lindsay Andrade. “In our regular meetings as a Building Support Team, I brainstormed along with our TC Anna Courage, and she shared a program called “Read Naturally.” She and I started using a sample she requested and loved the way it fit into our Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. We applied for the grant hoping it could be used with our students and as a coaching resource for teachers across our Y5-8th grade building.”
The program, Read Naturally Encore, accelerates reading achievement by combining three research-based reading strategies for struggling readers: teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring.
“The resources we were able to purchase with the Karen Thomas grant money helped us to purchase the entire phonics selection with audio resources and print masters for teachers and our intervention teams to access.,” she says. “I am using it with my own reading intervention students, along with our reading assistant, Kahlia Chiv, and her students. I will also use the resources as part of our PE/Kindergarten Collaboration called “Abs and ABC’s” where I co-teach with our PE Teacher Jesse Deucher and incorporate literacy and movement three times a week. The goal is that with the new fluency interventions, students will improve their reading fluency which is an essential foundational component of literacy.”
Andrade says she was thrilled to learn she’d won the grant.
“Everyone—including parents—was excited that we will have this opportunity for students,” she says. “Our teachers have been super intentional in their literacy interventions and differentiation this year and this is a great resource that I can support them with as a coach. Ann Arbor Open is an amazing place and this positive attention and resource will be a valuable support for our school community. We are grateful to the Karen Thomas Foundation for this opportunity for our district and for choosing Open to honor this legacy.
Bach Elementary
Bach Elementary School kindergarten teacher Melissa Svastisalee Hart wrote the Karen Thomas grant proposal with her multilingual students in mind as she is enrolled in the Masters of TESOL program through the Michigan Department of Education’s Grow Your Own grant.
“I have four students in my class that English is not their first language,” she says. “At the start of the school year, we read the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” by Eric Carle and we created our own classroom book using student photos to help students learn each other’s names. I noticed several students did not know the book. There are several classic books that we read in kindergarten where it is typical that a student with a literacy-rich environment has heard these stories over and over. Many of these books have repeating patterns, rhyming words, and storylines of friendship and family that appeal to young children.”
She says she applied for the grant to make these titles accessible for families in my class as well as the other two Kindergarten classes at Bach, selecting titles to be used as mentor texts for reading or writing, such as “The Hungry Caterpillar,” “Rainbow Fish,” “Corduroy,” “The Snowy Day,” and “The Kissing Hand.”
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to give these books to my students,” she says. “With this grant, each student will bring home 14 books to read and enjoy as a family.”
Carpenter Elementary
Carpenter Librarian Liz Clark says the Karen Thomas grant money will be used for new nonfiction books including those on the topics of Chinese mythology, Egyptian mythology, Norse mythology, Greek mythology, world religions, biographies, tribal nations, history, and more.
“All Carpenter students will benefit from these updated and accurate nonfiction titles,” she says. “This grant provides the necessary funds to get quality literature into the hands of my students. Without this grant, it would have taken several years to buy these books due to budget limitations.”
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