Foundation For Allen Schools Funded Classroom Grants at

Rountree Elementary

2022-2023 Classroom Grants

Ready, Set, Play: Developing the Whole Child Using Games in the ECSE Classroom

This grant under Early Childhood Curriculum was awarded to Mariana Esparza, Stephanie Ruehlen, Vanessa Maxwell, Kelly Brosseit and Christine Norris and will benefit 140 students at Rountree Elementary.

The Allen ISD Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teams were in need of cooperative games to utilize in the classroom.  A grant that provides these games will combine Early Childhood learning concepts with cooperative play and turn-taking as our students develop their social and communication skills.

Adapted for the Love of Books!

This grant under Early Childhood Curriculum was awarded to Anja Bartke and Hannah Ayers and will benefit 100 students at Rountree Elementary.

Adapted books for our special needs students allow every student to interact with literature on their own learning level. Adapted books facilitate cognitive and language skills, such as matching, attention building, language comprehension, vocabulary building, as well as fostering a love for reading!

Building Early Language Skills

This grant under Early Childhood Curriculum was awarded to Elizabeth Hedary, Jeannette Dalton, Courtney Marines, Liliana Ascencio and Michaela Gray and will benefit 150 students at Rountree Elementary.

This grant provides for Rountree Pre-K to be use Scholastic's Let’s Find Out Magazines to help bring our Pre-K themes alive and ignite our early learners' curiosity!  Let's Find Out Magazine weekly subscriptions will help our students get excited to read and learn with  fun nonfiction science and social studies themes, plus videos, games, and more!

Hear Builders

This grant under English Language Arts (Elementary) & Dyslexia Curriculum was awarded to Andi Burns and will benefit 20 students at Rountree Elementary.

This grant will provide Rountree Elementary students with software access to a program called Hear Builders.  Hear Builders will be assigned to students participating in the SSI program at Rountree for the 2022-2023 school year in grades Kindergarten, 2^nd and 4^th grade  During Rountree’s Impact time, each student will be allowed the use of their one-to-one devices to complete custom assignments. They will work on foundational auditory skills to access academic success through Hear Builders. Students will enjoy the opportunity to engage in activities that will support their classroom goals.

Take Home Reading from Scholastic Magazine

This grant under English Language Arts (Elementary) & Dyslexia Curriculum was awarded to Mollie Brand, Jenna Timmerman and Latonya Williams and will benefit 40 students at Rountree Elementary.

Through the purchase of Scholastic Magazines students will grow in their comprehension of non-fiction text as they learn about a wide range of real-world concepts and current news. They'll go beyond the classroom as they discover fascinating events around the world while also navigating how to master key reading concepts.

Engaging Informational Text

This grant under English Language Arts (Secondary) Curriculum was awarded to Linea Villarreal and will benefit 50 students at Rountree Elementary.

Junior Scholastic Magazines provide students with relatable, engaging informational text. Students can grow in fluency, develop an appreciation for nonfiction reading material, and extend their learning beyond the classroom with this multimedia resource.

Readers are Leaders

This grant under ESL/Bilingual Curriculum was awarded to Liliana Ascencio and will benefit 34 students at Rountree Elementary.

Rountree Elementary celebrates language diversity and guides students to value the benefits of bilingualism through the inclusion of resources in their native language. 

Rountree Elementary recognizes the importance of the students' cultural background and language for instruction by incorporating resources in their native language. This grant allows us to include resources in their native language, and as a result Rountree Elementary enhances students' achievements.

1st Grade Math Manipulatives

This grant under Math - Elementary Curriculum was awarded to Elizabeth Salazar, Aerial Stanford and Lynn Greenfield and will benefit 60 students at Rountree Elementary.

This grant will impact all our 1^st graders at Rountree and will be used towards math manipulative resources. These resources will benefit the learning environment of the classroom to ensure that all students have materials for guided and independent practice.

A Camping We Will Go!

This grant under Science / STEAM Curriculum was awarded to Haley Vincent, Melissa Alvarez and Krea Lee and will benefit 36 students at Rountree Elementary.

5th grade students are immersed in hands on science discovery delivered in specially-designed outdoor classrooms, all while enjoying the experience of over-night camp.

Breakout Edu

This grant under Science / STEAM Curriculum was awarded to Hae Song Lee, Christi Gallagher and Charlie Middlebrooks and will benefit 500 students at Rountree Elementary.

This grant provides a school-wide subscription for BreakoutEDU which will allow all students at Rountree Elementary to develop problem-solving skills and work collaboratively to complete standards-aligned escape rooms, both digitally and in the physical classroom. Students will also have the opportunity to use their technology skills to think logically about their curriculum and develop their own digital escape rooms to be shared with their classmates, fostering opportunities for communication, teamwork, and rigorous thought.

Empowered Leaders

This grant under Counseling Curriculum was awarded to Jennifer Armentrout, Jennifer Springgs, Samantha Fields, Meredith Martin, Austin White, Solomn Boatfield, Harold Allen, Dylan Martin, Todd Fornadel and Tara Cassetty and will benefit 300 students at Chandler Elementary, Marion Elementary, Olson Elementary, Preston Elementary, Rountree Elementary, Vaughan Elementary, Curtis Middle School, Ereckson Middle School and Ford Middle School.

Empowered Leaders takes place in six elementary schools and all three middle schools in Allen ISD who participate in this unique after-school leadership program which focuses on building leaders in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Students participate in field trip, leadership skills training, and serving through volunteer efforts.

Kodaly Training for Elementary Music Teachers

This grant under Fine Arts Curriculum was awarded to Jeff Turner and will benefit 10,000 students across all AISD Elementary Schools.

Two Allen ISD elementary music teachers will attend 3 weeks of intensive Kodaly training at SMU. The strategies, techniques, and resources from this training will be an incredible asset to the teacher to better deliver the elementary music curriculum and will be shared with all our elementary educators across AISD.

ALLen Reads 2022

This grant under Library / Makerspace Curriculum was awarded to Kelly Clewell and will benefit 20,000 students across AISD and benefits every campus in Allen. 

ALLen Reads encourages the entire Allen community to read the same book or the grade-level appropriate companion book. The grant provides copies of the selected books to all campuses in Allen ISD, and the students have access to community events related to the books, such as author and illustrator speakers, writing presentations, and musical performances.

Math by the Book

This grant under Math - Elementary Curriculum was awarded to Michelle Stewart and Katie Snider and will benefit 2,898 students in Kindergarten and 1^st grade at EVERY Allen ISD elementary campus.

This grant will provide read aloud sets of books that link literary and math skills.   We know many students love stories but may have a fear of math or even math anxiety.  Students are able to connect concepts to context providing an increased level of engagement and retention. Stories bring math to life!   House Bill 3 puts a focus on early literacy and math skills. This resource would be helpful in integrating math and literacy in the early grade levels. An integrated experience creates deeper learning connections for students. Science and Social Studies have already embedded read alouds for K- 3 curriculum documents and this grant will support integration in math as well.

BRAINball

This grant under Physical Education Curriculum was awarded to Geoben Johnson and Katie Snider and will benefit 16,500 students across Allen ISD in grades K – 9^th.

BRAINball is an innovative and unique physical education learning system that merges physical activity and academic learning through play. In addition to the physical benefits, significant improvement will be seen in gross and fine motor skills, cooperative and cognitive learning.  Brainball has proven to produce positive changes in letter recognition,  students read better, improve mathematical skills, movement and writing skills. Research also shows positive changes in graphomotor skills, eye-hand coordination, and temporal-spatial orientation improvement when used on a consistent basis. The Brainball set includes 100 premade games/activities for K-6 that can be adapted for grades 7-9. Training will be provided to allow easy integration into district curriculum and to academic classroom teachers that want to use it for enhancing learning in their class. The brainball set is appropriate for Kindergarten through High School and can be adapted for students with special needs and learning deficits.

I Can See Clearly Now!

This grant under Special Education Curriculum was awarded to Patricia Reyna, Sherri Idbeis, Karen McCrary and Colleen Dunphy and will benefit 45 students across Allen ISD who have a visual impairment.

Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments serve students throughout the district and provide consult and direct instruction for teachers and students with blindness or visual impairments. An iPad Pro is a tool that makes accessing learning material possible for students that struggle with seeing on a regular iPad screen. An iPad Pro also serves as an evaluation tool for TSVI's and our Orientation and Mobility instructor in the district.

ByrdseedTV

This grant under Advanced Academics - AP/IB/GT Curriculum was awarded to Kari Lockhart and will benefit 1,474 students that are in our GT programs in years K-6.

ByrdseedTV provides gifted and talented teachers and learners with resources that foster deep and complex learning. Activities from Byrdseed are designed and used by a teacher of gifted students, and facilitate critical and creative thinking, inductive and deductive thinking skills, as well as encourage creative individual investigations.

2021-2022 Classroom Grants

Rountree Rockstars!

This grant under Counseling Curriculum was awarded to Paige Zettler and will benefit 50 students at Rountree.

Just like students need extra support to master academic skills, they also need extra support when it comes to mastering social skills. By participating in Roadrunner Rockstars, students will become equipped with the social skills need to improve social interactions and become the rockstar of their class.

Building Early Language Skills

This grant under Early Childhood Curriculum awarded to Ruby Dalton along with Courtney Marines, Elizabeth Hedary, and Lilliana Ascencio and will benefit 150 students at Rountree.

Let's Find Out will help prepare our Pre-K students for Kindergarten with alignments to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. This program will provide resources, such as a magazine and on-line connections that will address a wide range of school-readiness skills, including social and emotional development, early literacy foundation skills, math, science, and health and safety.

As the book-page turns...

This grant under English Language Arts (Elementary) & Dyslexia Curriculum awarded to Tanya Castillo along with Sara Johnson, and Halle Ulfsrud will benefit 120 students at Rountree.

It?s a page-turner of an investment in that seeing black is as simple as the words on a page and a red-letter day is to help develop successful readers!

 Find Your Hero

This grant under English Language Arts (Elementary) & Dyslexia Curriculum was awarded to Rachelle Privett and will benefit 240 students at Rountree.

Thank you, Foundation for Allen Schools for supporting our 3-6 grade students. Reading the biographies that this grant provided has enabled us to learn about diverse people and cultures in a specific time period.

Readers Are Leaders - Spanish Language Arts

This grant under ESL/Bilingual Curriculum was awarded to Liliana Ascencio and will benefit 44 students at Rountree.

Rountree Elementary celebrates language diversity and guides students to value the benefits of bilingualism through the inclusion of resources in their native language. Rountree Elementary recognizes the importance of the students' cultural background and language for instruction by incorporating resources in their native language. Through the inclusion of resources in their native language, Rountree Elementary enhances students' achievements.

Early Childhood Special Education Assessment Tools for Success!

This grant under Special Education Curriculum was awarded to Holly Sanchez along with Karen Ruehlen, and Mariana Esparza will benefit 140 students this coming year at both Cheatham and Rountree Elementary.

The Allen ISD ECSE Team is in need of testing kits to use for the annually administered VB- MAPP Assessment (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program). These testing kits are critical to accurately measure our students? abilities and areas of growth, and set goals to ensure their progress. Having the same materials to use across all classrooms will help us to maintain consistency and accuracy when assessing each and every student.