Omaha Gives! 2013
Omaha Gives! 2013 opened a world of opportunity for the students and staff at Phoenix Academy. With the money people donated, the prize money and the matching funds, we raised over $33,000! With that money, we were able to purchase much needed Chromebooks and equipment. We now have a Computer Lab with stations for 15 students! The Computer Lab is very useful and it is occupied throughout the day. Our main use for the computer lab is for Read Naturally, our comprehension and fluency program. The students are able to log into Read Naturally Live online and access stories at their individual reading level. Once the students read the story, they then answer questions indicating whether or not the students understood what was read. The Computer Lab is also used for mathematics, unit studies, current events, learning typing skills, typing reports, doing research, etc. Each teacher has a personal Chromebook that has endless uses in the classroom, is used for a grade book and lesson planning and also accesses student reports via Google documents. Google documents allow students to write papers that can be graded and edited online. One class used the Chromebooks for their entire Hawaii Unit. The students wrote sections of a presentation in Google documents and they had corresponding pictures in Google slides. They presented the slideshow to the school that ended with sampling Hawaiian food. We also use the Chromebooks weekly when introducing new Phoenix Academy Character Skills. Along with the Computer Lab we also have a computer cart with 12 Chromebooks that can be checked out for classroom use.
Omaha Gives! 2014
This year with Omaha Gives! 2014, we hope to raise funds to add new technology to compliment our dry erase boards. We want to transform our dry erase boards into fully interactive whiteboards! We still use our whiteboards so this is the best of both worlds – dry erase boards when necessary and whiteboards with an interactive system when necessary. It will allow our teachers to use audio, video and flash files on the current whiteboards. The students can use the whiteboard as a touch screen with interactive displays very similar to a smartboard. With your help this dream can become a reality in each classroom at Phoenix Academy, just like our dream for a Computer Lab. Cost for each room will be approximately $2,000. Thank you for supporting Phoenix Academy and for helping us help children reach their potential in reading and math.