Penny Wise
February 2024Each month, thousands of Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative members voluntarily allow their bill to be rounded to the next dollar so the difference can be given to local classrooms. Last year, Operation Round Up® passed a major milestone, reaching $500,000 in grants awarded to help our students get the quality education they deserve. Here are just a few examples of the classrooms that your contributions have helped in the last year.
Branford Elementary School, Second Grade
The 2024 school year has brought new students and new subjects for Lyndsey Browning. This year, she started teaching science and math in addition to reading and social studies. That meant she needed to find funding for new teaching materials like rocks and gemstones for her geology unit, large play money and place value charts for math, and a model of the human body for anatomy.
“It’s kind of hard for the little kids if they can’t experience something firsthand,” Browning says. “So, having it right in front of them and being able to hold and move it around helps a lot.”
A class favorite this year was a collection of geode crystals students were able to break open themselves. Her students also love the sticker station, which serves as a small reward when they finish their required work for the week.
“They pick a sticker, and we have sticker books I got with a previous grant,” she says. “It’s a great hands-on thing that doesn’t just say ‘good job.’ It’s something they can collect and work toward.”
Browning has applied for an Operation Round Up® grant every semester she’s had the opportunity and encourages the other teachers on her team to do the same. For her, it’s a way to give her students access to the kinds of learning tools they might not have otherwise.
“It’s difficult out here for a teacher, and every year is different,” she says. “I have a lot of great parents who donate things, but hands-on materials are kind of expensive. For SVEC to be able to do this for us is great. I can get materials I probably couldn’t afford on my own.”
Lafayette High School, 8th & 11th Grade Science & Chemistry
Carla Jones continually looks for ways to hook students into the subject they’re learning about. It could be using hydrogen peroxide to make foamy elephant toothpaste as a demonstration of chemical reactions or showing how chemicals burn in different colors to explore the science behind fireworks. But as a teacher in a small district, finding those ideas can be a challenge.
“I am the only 8th-grade science teacher in the county,” she says. “So, it’s not like I can call a colleague and ask them, ‘What do you do for this lesson?’”
Fortunately, when she does find that engaging lesson plan, Jones can count on Operation Round Up® to help her get the supplies she needs. One example is a gravity and magnetism lab she used to demonstrate the forces that govern the solar system.
“It’s pretty cool for the kids to be able to tangibly experience something that is happening in space but on a much larger scale,” Jones says. “It gives them the application they need to understand what is going on.”
She has even noticed better scores on performance evaluations and statewide benchmark assessments in the years since Operation Round Up® grants have been available. But the real thrill is seeing the looks on her student’s faces when they’re eager to start working on a lab.
“The kids love experiments,” she says. “So, any time I have things on my desk when they’re coming in, they’re like, ‘Oh! What are we doing today?’ and it makes them excited about class.”
Suwannee Springcrest, Kindergarten
Jennifer Bonds first learned about Operation Round Up® from one of her fellow kindergarten teachers. She had been teaching second grade and didn’t have many materials for younger kids. But with a little extra funding from Operation Round Up®, she was able to get the tools her students needed.
This year, it was items like a felt storyboard kids use to retell stories they’ve read in class, alphabet letters they can match to pictures and words with the right beginning sound and toy cows used to match a tail with a number of dots to the head with the corresponding numeral.
“They plead to do their favorite activity,” Bonds says. “People ask, ‘Where did you get that from?’ and I say, ‘Suwannee Valley. You should apply for a grant!’”
The felt storyboard, in particular, is a tool she’s not sure she could have afforded for her current class without Operation Round Up®. But it’s been extremely helpful for her students to learn to retell stories in their own words and share them with each other. It even helps students whose native language isn’t English. They can practice their English when retelling a story to classmates.
