Grants will place math materials in South Carolina, California, and Kentucky classrooms.
WATERTOWN, MASS. (December 3, 2003) - Digi-Block, Inc., a leading developer of mathematics products, today announces the recipients of its semi-annual Digi-Block Math Grant for curriculum development and implementation using the Digi-Block Learning SystemSM. Receiving the $5,000 grant is Linda Hall, Principal at Rice Creek Elementary School in Columbia, SC, who will use Digi-Block as part of a second grade mathematics initiative. Joan O'Lear, an educator at the Berenece Carlson Home/Hospital School in Los Angeles, CA, will also receive Digi-Block material to help individual students develop a concrete and intuitive understanding of our number system. Malia Russell of Louisville, KY will use the grant to incorporate Digi-Block into her home school curriculum.
"Digi-Block is excited to be able to award three Math Grants to such deserving educators this fall," said Bill Rosenthal, Digi-Block CEO. "We will be following each project closely to see how the Digi-Block Learning System improves student learning in each of these individual situations."
RICE CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Linda Hall proposed the school-wide Making Sense of Number Sense with Digi-Block project. This undertaking will help second grade students improve their performance on the Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA's) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) standardized test. Mary Lostetter, District K-12 Math Coordinator says, "The second grade teachers would have the means to develop strategies to teach abstract concepts in ways more meaningful to students with many different learning styles." She continues, "I believe that the motivation to learn will improve when students experience success in the classroom."
Linda Hall chose second grade because, she says, "By the time a student leaves second grade, she or he must have a firm grasp and understanding of number and place value; subsequent learning depends upon this foundation." Hall and the second grade teachers at Rice Creek Elementary School will use Digi-Block materials to ensure that students build this strong foundation for work in third grade and beyond.
BERENECE CARLSON HOME/HOSPITAL SCHOOL
The Carlson Home/Hospital School educates students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) who are too ill or who are otherwise unable to attend school in a traditional classroom setting. Over the course of the school year 200 teachers will work with approximately 5,000 students in hospitals or in their homes.
"With the majority of our students diagnosed with cancer, one of the most prominent side effects of their treatment is learning disabilities," says Jann Merithew, Principal. She continues, "During the time they are served by our teachers, many fundamental skills must be re-developed. The Digi-Block Learning System will assist our teachers in developing their students' math skills, identify needed areas of remediation and provide short prescriptive instructional units, and raise the test scores in math for the children we serve."
RUSSELL HOME SCHOOL
Malia Russell, educator at the Russell Home School will use her Digi-Block Individual Student Pack to teach mathematics to three levels of students. Her students will first perform the arithmetic operations using Digi-Blocks and then move from there to doing the operations using pencil and paper algorithms. The Digi-Block materials will be readily available for the students to use to check their answers.
