Where community empowers public education

Great Ideas Grants

great ideas grant

Twice a year LAPS educators apply for Great Ideas grants through the LAPS Foundation. This program supports teachers who have ideas for enriching the curriculum or providing students with unique learning experiences. It enables the purchase of special materials or resources for the classroom which are not typically available through the schools’ budgets.

See below for some examples of past grants.

The LAHS math department wrote a grant to expand the availability of online tool Math IXL to a wider range of students, so that students up through Algebra 2 would have access to it. In order to do this, they needed to purchase an additional 150 licenses beyond what the school was already providing. This allowed them to enroll entire classes in IXL Math, which held several advantages for students and teachers.

An elementary teacher requested a voter response system to use in her classroom, to keep up with the current educational climate that is asking for data driven responsive teaching. The system allowed her to be able to assess students throughout a unit or even a single lesson. Based on the outcome, she could then change the course of the lessons to fit the needs of her students.

A LAMS teacher applied for a Foundation grant because he was trying unsuccessfully to update the 3D printer that he found in a closet 3 years ago, so that it could be used for the 3D club at the Middle School. With the funds awarded by the Foundation, the teacher purchased two 3D printers and supplies for use for 7th and 8th grade students interested in learning the basics of 3D printing and modeling.

“I would like to extend a sincere thank you the Foundation for the grant that was donated to Los Alamos Middle School. The grant award amount of $1500 served 125 students who were, because of this grant, able to create a ceramic project under the instruction of guest artist Pamela Messer. The Los Alamos Middle School in the past has been not able to afford to pay guest artists from our local community to come into the classroom and share their expertise. This grant allowed for a guest artist to come to the middle school and work with the students.”
–Elizabeth Fisher, Los Alamos Middle School, recipient of a grant to bring an artist in resident to teach ceramics to the students

Educators – to apply for a Great Ideas Grant, click here.