Testimonials

Thank you for supporting the Pickleball Unit at Sky View!

We were able to do a complete Pickleball Unit in PE with skills practice, rules education, and team play. We were able to set up 9 courts split between our gym and cafeteria for students to play doubles against each other. We used the newly purchased nets, paddles, and balls throughout this unit.

The PE team is grateful for this grant to upgrade and supplement our pickleball supplies. We always look for ways to keep introducing new activities for the kids and it's all made easier with the proper gear!

Overall the pickleball unit went well! Kids took a bit to adjust to a new game with complicated rules. Students have a lot of fun in PE with the games and units we teach - pickleball was no exception!

I would just like to thank everyone at the Bend-La Pine Education Foundation and all of the generous donors. Without you and your hard work so many of us would not have the needed tools to serve our kids. What you provide for the students of Bend LaPine schools is immeasurable. You make experiences possible. It is because of those experiences students continue to be engaged and will continue to be curious long after they leave us.

The purchase of an additional four xylophones has provided my students at Bear Creek one barred instrument for every two children. We were able to explore music with these instruments in class to compose our own songs and connect chords that we have been learning with boomwhackers and ukuleles to the chords explored on the xylophones. Student participation and engagement was drastically improved when students had more time to be involved in the hands on creation of music.

This was our first year ever having barred instruments during my time at Bear Creek and it went very well. The kids were excited and engaged. They learned the process for moving around these instruments safely and efficiently. Next year I look forward to utilizing these instruments for more creative play and storytelling incorporating literature in the younger grades. For the older grades I would like to start more formalized ensemble play and possibly have recorded mini concerts that can be sent home to parents.

We were able to do do Sandra Silberzeig-Selfies using chalk pastels and Van Gogh and Charlie Harper-Springtime art. All students in the classroom where involved in the project.  Everyone left feeling successful and excited to do art as a community again.  The students were thoughtful, reflective, and kind to one another the entire time.  The neon supplies and black lights that were ordered will be used to do a neon art gallery at the end of the year. It was great to have enough supplies so that there was enough to share and no one had to wait while someone else finished.  We were able to do the projects as one whole group rather than splitting up.  We did a gallery walk after so that they could admire everyone's work.  They also took a picture of their art to share on Seesaw with their families.

Our Classroom Enrichment was about the butterfly life cycle, art (paintings, maps, butterfly models, fly craft projects). We were able to purchase butterfly eggs, lots of paint, paper, books, and milkweed. Students were able to verbally present and talk about the why butterflies are important. Thank you for your support again. This unit went really well. The students had lots of models and hands on activities to really bring this unit to life: from hatching butterflies, to painting large maps to mark the butterfly migration, to studying models, reading books, anyone one of these students has the confidence to tell anyone all about butterflies.

This grant money is very much appreciated. This year, it allowed me to buy materials that teachers could check out and take to their classrooms for students when needed. It allowed teachers to try new tools with certain kids. It also allowed me to purchase new sensory items like kinetic sand, putty, and essential oils that needed replacing from last year.   We were able to provide a lot more resources to tier one this year. I used a staff meeting to educate staff on different brain states (brain stem, midbrain, limbic, and cortex) to teach the tools and strategies to stay regulated at a tier-one level (classroom).  

I was able to loan out seat cushions, wobble chairs, noise-canceling headphones, fidget boxes for individual students, and timers to teachers for students in the classroom throughout the year. I made different sensory kits for students to use while taking breaks.  I was also able to buy books and feelings plush toys to help build students vocabulary around emotions and understanding.

This was appreciated by staff and allowed more students to get their needs met in the classroom instead of taking breaks in my space. THANK YOU!

We are very grateful for the opportunity to be awarded this grant to support our program and use the latest tools to support student social emotional learning and regulation. Through the use of the tools purchased with this grant money, students' sensory needs are better met, which allow them to expel negative emotions in a safe and appropriate manner, and then return to class regulated and ready to learn. By using the social emotional games purchased, students and staff made better connections and built stronger relationships, all while integrating social emotional learning content.

Students utilizing items and receiving Cub Cave services received less FYI slips (behavior data). Students are better able to identify emotions after utilizing the games and tools purchased. Students are also more skilled at naming and using social problem solving strategies.

‍