Thirteen public school teachers from the Santa Clarita Valley were granted materials they applied for through the Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation to support their classroom activities and innovative teaching on Friday at the Saugus Union School District office.
Out of 20 applicants, the SCV Education Foundation awarded 13 teachers, and almost $16,000 in materials were given to the ensemble of educators from various local elementary, junior high and high schools.
Heather Haggart, a third-grade dual language immersion teacher at Old Orchard Elementary School, applied for the grant asking for more Spanish reading material.
Because the program at the elementary school is fairly new, they don’t have enough Spanish reading material for her students to begin reading independently and continuing to develop their second language, said Haggart.
She was granted a variety of books with different plots and themes, all in the Spanish language.
“We have such a desire for working with a dual immersion program. For students to truly become biliterate, not just bilingual, but to be able to read and write in that target language, there’s only so much vocabulary I can teach standing in front of students,” she said.
Some other materials gifted to the teachers were robots, microscopes, wobble seats for students who have a hard time sitting for hours at a desk, and gardening materials to teach students about healthier lifestyles and how to develop everyday skills.
SCV Education Foundation Vice President Renee Marshall emphasized how many students the materials can potentially impact.
“We don’t want you to say these consumables are going to be good for 25 years. But maybe these robots might be good for five years, and they’re going to reach over 100 students each year. So that has the potential for 500,” said Marshall.
The SCV Education Foundation estimates that with the materials gifted on Thursday afternoon to the 13 educators, a total of 1,300 students will be positively impacted, according to Joe Satorhelyi, executive director of the foundation.
