The Operation Round Up Board of Directors initiated a program offering small, $500 grants to teachers. Grants were available to K-12 teachers in math or language arts for the 2019-2020 school year. The funds are made available by South Plains Electric Cooperative members contributing to Operation Round Up. Their monthly bill is rounded up to the next dollar, and the extra change, averaging only $6 per year, funds projects like the teacher mini-grants, scholarships and much more.
Julia Balderrama is a fifth grade math teacher at Preston Smith Elementary and is a 2019-2020 Operation Round Up Mini-Grant recipient. Balderrama purchased a whiteboard table to help engage student learning without paper and pencils.
“The kids are constantly trying to find ways of being conscious of their environment, so reducing our paper use is something that we are very proud of,” Balderrama said.
Students are able to access assignments from their Chromebook where they can then work out the problems on the whiteboard, take a picture and upload it to their student portal.
With the whiteboard table, students are able to work together in a collaborative way and easily have a large work space. With access to a large writing surface, students can use their time in class more efficiently. “Teachers love the ability to quickly gauge how each student is performing, and I am able to quickly correct student errors when working at our whiteboard table,” Balderrama said.
Thank you, South Plains Electric Cooperative, for giving our students the ability to work in a more fun and engaging method. Your resourcefulness and dedication are truly valued by those you serve and by those for whom you are able to provide grants.
