| Dec 06, 2007


Feature Article - December 6, 2007 Back toHome Feature Article - December 6, 2007 Area schools receive Learning Foundation grants by Jeff GreenA specialised bike building project at Sydenham High School; Rock ’n Rollers at Hinchinbrooke School in Parham; and canoe builders at North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne will all benefit from some of the $60,000 that has been allocated by the Limestone Learning Foundation.

The School of Rock at Hinchinbrooke Public School will no longer be dependent on teacher Julia Schall’s drum kit. Thanks to a $1,494 grant, the school will have its own drum kit and bass, as well as an amplifier, some microphones and a mike stand.

Julia Schall started the School of Rock for the Grade 7 and 8 students three years ago.

“In the first year we had a single band, and last year there were two bands - a boy band and a girl band. This year we are going to have a beginners’ band and one for more experienced players,” Julia Schall said.

The program starts up in January. “The first months are painful for some of the other teachers in the school, but by the spring we will be ready to put on a show.”

Local _boys_BMX

YARD PALS Michelle Doyle, another teacher at Hinchinbrooke, received a $250 grant to help set up a mentoring project for school recess. Students from the junior and intermediate grades (5-8) will undergo training to teach games to younger students. The older students will also learn about conflict resolution. Younger students will learn new games, and the entire project encourages a fun, safe environment during recess times at the school.

“I didn’t invent the program,” Michele Doyle said, “but I sort of adapted it from a similar program at Truedell School [in Kingston] where I taught previously”.

The $250 will help add to the school’s stock of equipment and will also go towards vests to identify the older students that will be doing the teaching.

CODY BIKE PROJECT – This project came together quite quickly, but it is not surprising that it appealed to the Learning Foundation. About a month ago, the mother of a student named Cody from the School to Community classroom at Sydenham High School approached Mike Mol, who teaches in the manufacturing technology program. Cody is 15, and one of the challenges he faces is one of balance. In order for him to ride a bicycle, it needs to be one he can sit in to ride.

Mike Mol’s Grade 12 class took on the project and worked out some preliminary designs for a bicycle.

“They wanted to build something that would be kind of cool, because Cody is 15, and they came up with a chopper theme that will be safe and easy for Cody to ride,” said Mike Mol.

But the manufacturing technology class was lacking some equipment, and there will be material costs for the bicycle. With the deadline for the Learning Foundation only one day away, Mike Mol stayed up late on a Thursday night to fill in the application.

The program will be receiving $3,200. The money will be used to purchase a tubing bender for the class and for material and parts for Cody’s bike.

A prototype will be built from steel, and the actual bike will be made from aluminium. Hopefully, when the snow finally melts next spring, Cody will have a new bike.

THE CANOE (Phase 2) – North Addington Education Centre has been working to develop a shop for its elementary students, and last year received a grant from the Learning Foundation to help with the shop and with a canoe-building project. This year, they are receiving another $3,650 to support the Grade 7 and 8 students in building a cedar strip canoe. The money will go towards a cedar strip kit and some equipment, and plans are to launch the canoe by the end of June. The canoe itself will be donated back to the Limestone Foundation to be auctioned off.

The students are also going to be building their own personal paddles in the shops

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