Teachers receive grants provided by online charity

At East Aiken Elementary School of the Arts, fifth-grader MaKayla Sims proudly showed off a notebook - its cover filled with various stickers she was awarded by teacher Robin Bouye.

They included smiley faces, a ghostly creature and a pumpkin, as well as others with encouragements like "Keep It Up!" "Excellent!" and "Wow!"

Bouye has been purchasing stickers out of her own pocket as a motivational tool. Thanks to $200 in contributions through an online organization called DonorsChoose.org, "we'll be good for about three years," she said.

Another East Aiken teacher, reading interventionist Kim Entzminger, also received a $350 donation that she will use for supplies to help her struggling readers.

DonorsChoose describes itself as an online charity that promotes citizen philanthropy. Teachers throughout the nation can post descriptions of a prospective projects and wait for website visitors to respond. DonorsChoose also will purchase the materials and mail them to the schools.

While there are no guarantees of funding, DonorsChoose claims on its site that 65 percent of projects reach completion. Teachers are always eligible to apply again.

Bouye watched the financial progress of her project for three months and didn't expect to it be funded. So she was pleasantly surprised to get an e-mail that it had been successful.

"I've found that my students are motivated by the opportunity to earn stickers for correct answers," Bouye said. "They can get the stickers of their choice - the scratch-and-sniff kind, the glow-in-the-dark and the sparkly. The students actually are motivated to try more difficult problems."

Entzminger has received several grants from DonorsChoose in the past two years, such as teaching centers when she was a kindergarten instructor. Her work as an interventionist includes assisting first-graders through a program called Reading Recovery. Her $350 award will be used for paper and printer ink to provide materials in color.

"For my struggling readers, it's harder for them to see black and white," Entzminger said. "People who are natural readers, it's hard for them to understand how difficult it can see words. If they can see letters in color or through standing out in some way, it can really help the kids zone in on what I want them to focus on."

All Aiken County schools are registered with DonorsChoose, and that makes it easy for teachers to post a project on the website. Currently, 13 other teachers are seeking funds through the organization.

Their projects include a wireless learning center, a Lego Tech Machine Set, copies of a Shakespeare play and related materials for a drama club and tools to enhance understanding of measurement.

Persons interested in assisting the teachers may visit www.donorschoose.org. They can click on "projects" at top right, then choose South Carolina and Aiken to find the local projects.

"This has helped me provide materials for the classroom that I couldn't afford to buy on my own," Entzminger said.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.