Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School
 Project Proposal
 Common Knowledge Pittsburgh


"Martin Luther Kings - Weather Study"




Proposal Writing Team Members

Joslyn Rhodes, Facilitator, Grant Writing Committee (PSCC*)
Diana Gardner, Special Education Teacher, Intermediate Instructional Teacher Leader
Sabrina Wright-Boyd, 3rd Grade Teacher
Susan Sevel, Kindergarten Teacher, Site Coordinator
Kathy Trievel, 5th Grade Teacher, Site Coordinator
Aaron Lehman, Student Teacher, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Adrian Walker, Parent (3rd grader) (PSCC)
Patricia Fisher, Principal - Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School
Cathy Musser, Director - "Youth Alive" Program, Carnegie Science Center (PSCC)
Linda Brown, Education Programs Director, Carnegie Science Center
Wayne Walters, Music Teacher, UserAdmin. (PSCC)

*Parent - School - Community - Council Member

Project Summary
 Students, parents and staff at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School have an ongoing relationship with the Carnegie Science Center through the "Youth Alive" Program. The "Youth Alive" program offers extended afterschool science curricula to students in 2nd through 5th grades. This Interdisciplinary Kid Net Unit Project titled "Martin Luther Kings - Weather Study" brings 3rd graders at King on-line to study weather conditions at other schools across the nation named Martin Luther King, Jr. It also expands the existing school and community partnership to include instructional activities in both the school and at the Center, training opportunities for students and staff and opportunities for parents to increase their awareness of the Internet features. It allows 3rd grade students to:
  1. focus on local weather in preparation for sharing with others,
  2. collect and share data and information about local weather with each other and students in other parts of the country,
  3. observe how weather influences lifestyles and customs,
  4. get to know other students outside of their neighborhood, city and/or state and
  5. relate classroom learning experiences to real world information.

Problem Statement
 Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary (MLK), population 491, is a kindergarten through fifth grade school located in a neighborhood that is rich in cultural and educational resources. Within walking distance of the school stand many local learning resources such as The National Aviary, The Carnegie Library, The Children's Museum and the location for the site of the Annual Children's Festival. A little further away is the Carnegie Science Center. The students at MLK need increased opportunities to utilize these resources and recognize their significance (Comprehensive Education Improvement Plan - Design Areas: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and Learning Environment and Student Experiences; Core Curriculum Frameworks - Science and Technology and Environment and Ecology). Many students' awareness of these resources is limited due to economic constraints, location of the facilities as related to their homes and parent availability. The Allegheny Center Mall, which had been a major retail center on the Northside, attracted parents to the general location and therefore increased children's opportunity to become involved with these neighborhood facilities. The Mall no longer draws large numbers of consumers since most of its retail stores have closed. Many students are afforded limited opportunity to avail themselves of these powerful, extended learning resources.
A survey of third grade students revealed that less than 34% (6) of the students visit the Carnegie Library on a regular basis, defined as once a week. Less than 34% (6) of the students have been to the Carnegie Science Center this academic school year and only eight can attend on a weekly basis as part of the "Youth Alive" Program. Ten students have been to The National Aviary. All of the students had attended the Children's Festival because MLK attends each year. The tickets for this event have been underwritten by our community partner - Allegheny General Hospital. Our students need to look at new ways to access local as well as national resources (CEIP - Design Area : Learning Environment and Student Experiences). Parents would benefit from increased knowledge of local resources and facilities that would work with them to enhance and expand their children's learning (CEIP - Design Area: Parent/Community Involvement). Science skills taught within the classroom become knowledge when children are given ample opportunities to practice what they have learned. Our students need to practice within the real world the science skills taught in school. Extended learning opportunities must be increased to support their academic success ( CEIP: Design Areas - Human Resources and Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment).

The MLK school profile (Appendix A) reveals a school population at risk for academic failure due to a number of contributing factors. These contributing factors range from low socioeconomics to high mobility. What the profile does not reveal is that many of our students have limited life experiences upon which they can take the curriculum of the classroom and incorporate it into everyday living. Many students have little opportunity to use the technology of today as access to broadening their world. Information and how to access it is vitally important for all people entering into the next century. Many students do not know their own neighborhoods very well and find it very difficult to see any connection between what they learn in school and the larger world picture. Educators and parents understand the significance of preparing children for the 21st century, however, children often do not see the relevance of what they are learning in the classroom. This project proposes to address four important needs that will help students meet the Exit Standards of two Core Curriculum Frameworks: Science and Technology # 1,3,4,6,9 and Environment and Ecology #1,2,3,5):

  1. to expand the science learning environment and relate weather to real world places and people,
    2) to provide our students with high quality positive learning experiences that include understanding and using technology,
  2. to teach our students how to access technological information utilizing the Internet,
  3. to increase interpersonal communications between students and educational and community resources.
    The development of Internet Accessed Learning at MLK supports a Community Belief - "It takes a whole village to raise a child." Access to Internet and partnerships with the Carnegie Science Center and other schools named Martin Luther King, Jr. will broaden our village.

Educational Activities
 In compliance with our current Comprehensive Education Improvement Plan (CEIP) at MLK, strategies to raise student achievement include computer assisted assessment and instruction. As of the 1996/97 school year, the Everyday Mathematics Program was officially adopted by the school district to be incorporated into the third grade curriculum as a means of improving mathematics instruction and achievement throughout the district's elementary schools. This project correlates perfectly with the Core Curriculum Frameworks Standards for mathematics instruction outlined in the district's Strategic Implementation Plan. MLK staff are making every effort to reach the goals set forth in our CEIP for improving instruction and increasing achievement in math. One of the ongoing components of the Everyday Math Program includes exploring and analyzing the weather. Throughout kindergarten, first, and second grade, children observe local weather conditions including temperature reading. As an extension of these observations, third grade students participate in a year long routine of observing, recording, calculating, graphing and interpreting the national high/low temperature. We propose to establish and utilize a communications network that will provide teachers and students with modern technological resources for the support and management of temperature/weather research. We are certain that this endeavor will compliment and enhance the Board adopted mathematics curriculum in many ways. In addition, MLK staff recognizes the need for students and teachers to expand the range of mathematics experiences within the classroom and global society. Therefore, our broader goal is to extend and integrate mathematics instruction into other curricular areas. By adding network technologies to our repertoire of teaching/learning tools, teachers and students will be able to utilize an interdisciplinary approach which will extend mathematics instruction into the areas of science, social studies, language and visual arts. Students will use Internet data across curricular areas to accomplish the following objectives.

Mathematics:

  • identify local and national high and low temperatures
  • graph temperature locally and nationally
  • communicate weather date with other elementary schools named Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • compare Pittsburgh temperature with those of other cities in the nation
  • prepare charts and tables to display and analyze collected data

    Science:

  • collect weather data, i.e. precipitation, sky condition and wind velocity both locally and nationally
  • download weather maps to investigate weather conditions around the world
  • communicate by E-Mail with the Carnegie Science Center to access information from their on-site meteorologist
  • share weather data with other elementary schools (named Martin Luther King, Jr.) by generating information that can be put on-line for others to use.

    Language Arts:

  • compare in writing community resources at King with those at other King elementary schools
  • establish pen-pals to share written descriptions of temperature and weather using E-Mail
  • investigate weather folklore origins and write about weather folklore in Pittsburgh
  • exchange information with other schools

    Social Studies:

  • identify locations of King elementary schools on-line
  • display temperature/weather on local, state and national maps
  • compare historical weather predicting with modern meteorological technology

    Project Team
     The MLK school administration, parents, staff and community members long range vision is to create a learning environment that utilizes a variety of instructional tools to increase student achievement. To that end, a process has been initiated at the school to integrate technology into the learning process. The process involves several stages to create a climate for learning that includes students, staff, parents and community members sharing ownership for developing life long learners.

    The project team represents some of the staff, parents and community members who share the vision of a learning environment that is supported by technology. The school administrator actively encourages and supports this project (Appendix A). Title I funds have been used to finance the foundation for technology integration through equipment and personnel.

    Project Team Members - These staff members supported the project proposal writing effort by attending before and after school meetings, going to other locations, making phone calls to the Science Center on their own time, writing, editing and proofreading several drafts, talking with parents and students, doing surveys of students, going on-line with the Internet to search for similar projects, reading and reviewing other proposals that had been written for Common Knowledge Pittsburgh to insure that this proposal was well designed. The Project Team consists of Susan Sevel (Sevel@pps.pgh.pa.us), Sabrina Wright-Boyd (SAWright@pps.pgh.pa.us), Joslyn Rhodes (jrhodes@pps.pgh.pa.us), Diana Gardner, Kathy Trievel, Adrian Walker, Aaron Lehman and Linda Brown with technical support from Mr. Wayne Walters (wwalters @pps.pgh.pa.us). Seventy percent of the team have active Internet accounts.

    Susan Sevel is a Kindergarten teacher at King. She has been at MLK for seven years and has taught in public schools for sixteen years. She brings a wealth of knowledge and teaching expertise to this project. Susan has been involved in a number of school activities at MLK. Some include: Piloting the Different and Same Program, Staff Coordinator - PTO and Instructional Cabinet Member,

    Sabrina Wright-Boyd also brings a wealth of teaching expertise to this team. Sabrina is a third grade teacher. She is particularly interested in using technology to increase student learning and enhance teacher instruction. She has taught at MLK for eight years and has been in public education for eleven years. She is actively involved in the school and has written several classroom grants and proposals.

    Joslyn Rhodes is the communications specialist at MLK. She is actively involved in the classroom and cross-curricular activities. She is particularly interested in any new ways in which children can learn to communicate with others and broaden their world perspective. Ms. Rhodes brings 26 years in public schools and 5 years at MLK to this effort. She is actively involved at MLK- Instructional Cabinet, Parent School Community Council, Junior Youth Crime Watch Program Sponsor and Site Liaison for student teachers. Ms. Rhodes also has developed and presented several staff and parent workshops on communication skills as related to learning.

    Diana Gardner is the 3rd grade special education teacher. Diane brings an understanding of the need to relate real time activities to the curriculum to increase learning for special needs students. She is actively involved within the building as the Intermediate Instructional Teacher Leader. She is also on the Instructional Cabinet and the Instructional Support Team. Diana has been on staff at MLK for twenty-four years.

    Kathy Trievel is a 5th grade teacher. She has been at MLK for one year and in education for three years. She brings innovative and exciting ways of doing education to the team. Her previous school was on-line with the Internet and Kathy brings that experience to this project. She is willing to work with other teachers as a resource person and help with the development of the project beyond the 3rd grade.
    Adrian Walker is a parent of a third grade student at MLK. Mrs. Walker brings the parents perspective to the team. She is excited about the Internet and looks forward to encouraging more parents to work with the project. Mrs. Walker has been a volunteer and active leader in the school for thirteen years. Mrs. Walker volunteers in classrooms and offers support in schoolwide projects, such as the IdentiKid Program. She is also a member of the Parent School Community Council.

    Aaron Lehman is a student teacher from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He contributes to the team computer expertise from a technical and educational realm. Aaron has volunteered to join us on-line following the completion of his student teaching at MLK.
    Wayne Walters is the music teacher at MLK. He sponsors the technology club for third, fourth and fifth graders. Mr. Walters supported the proposal writing as technical support person. Mr. Walters has taught in the public schools for six years and brings new, creative and innovative ideas to the arena of education. He has a broad knowledge of computers, scanners, digital cameras, etc. which he shares with the Tech Club and staff members. Mr. Walters also assists staff with preparation of presentations and workshops. He has written a teacher friendly manual for teachers using Integrade. He also has written a child friendly manual on all of the technological systems that he teaches Tech Club members.

    Linda Brown is the Education Programs Director at the Carnegie Science Center. Ms. Brown has been instrumental in the development of the proposal. She brainstormed with the project team during the initial meetings to develop a workable project for third graders. She will work with the team in the development and implementation of student, parent and staff Internet training sessions.

    In-Kind Contributions
     MLK and the Carnegie Science Center have a partnership in which sharing of facilities and resources is a common occurrence. Carnegie Science Center resources will be used to supplement our project in several ways:

    1. A field trip to the Science Center will be used to introduce the topic of weather. This will include a visit to the weather station and a talk with one of the Science Center's staff meteorologist. Students will also visit the Creative Technology Center to explore the wealth of weather related web sites. Science Center staff will teach the students as a group how to use the Internet. The Center's meteorologist will help the students to interpret the weather maps that are on-line.
    2. The Center's staff will work with 3rd grade teachers to train them on using the Internet to support the study of weather for the students. The Center's staff will also assist teachers and students in learning how to develop a home page. This will enable students to display the data collected, share data with others, investigate weather folklore, download information and entice learners to communicate on a regular basis.
    3. MLK students who participate in the Science Center's Afterschool program will also study weather in this program. They will maintain weekly contact with the Center's meteorologist, interview that staff person on a regular basis and publish their interviews on a home page developed by them. Students who do not visit the Center as part of the afterschool program will be sending questions of interest via the "net" to the meteorologist. The Center's meteorologist will therefore be available to all students either in person or through the Internet.
    4. Carnegie Science Center education staff will be available to MLK teachers to assist in creating on-going activities which will enable the students to organize and interpret the data they collected. The Carnegie staff will also assist with selection of hands-on activities that relate to weather.
      Martin Luther King School will support this project with both funds and personnel in several ways:
    5. Personnel - Computer/Curricula Specialist - This is a full time professional staff member who has the following job description: knowledge of basic computer operations, ability to integrate technology across all curricular areas, plan and implement technologically infused instruction for grades K-5, work with parents and community to increase their understanding of computers as tools for learning and design workshops on computer assisted instruction. This staff member will have the responsibility for this project as the UserAdmin. The staff member will support the project technically at our local site. The Computer/Curricula Specialist has no assigned homeroom. This staff person's daily schedule will easily accommodate the UserAdmin responsibilities.
    6. Staff Training - Staff Development is vital to the success of any new project. The administration and staff at MLK are committed to life long learning and have in place a Staff Development Model for ongoing staff improvement across a number of instructional areas. The Instructional Teacher Leaders assess teachers needs each year and then develop an inservice calendar to address the needs identified. Internet Training will be included on the calendar at the beginning of the 97-98 school year. MLK Title I funds support Staff Development and will support ongoing training and workshops for all staff members on the Internet. Teachers who are directly involved with the project and are on-line, have contributed their own personal computer systems and equipment for professional use. These staff members will continue to investigate the Internet using afterschool hours to develop content and curricula for the project.
    The School District will provide school support personnel.
    1. Ruth Martin, from the District's School Support Staff, will continue to support teachers in Science and Internet related topics. Mrs. Martin has been a valuable resource during the design of this proposal. A member of the proposal writing committee met with Mrs. Martin in order to review the proposal guidelines, to gather feedback about the project topic and to go on-line with the Internet to search for information about Science and grade schools named Martin Luther King, Jr.
    2. Mario Zinga and Priscilla Franklin from Common Knowledge Pittsburgh have supported the project team during the writing of this proposal. Team members visited the Peabody Site of Common Knowledge Pittsburgh to discuss the proposal and to explore the Internet. Mr. Zinga met with the project team at MLK to give feedback during a brainstorming session. We will continue to use these resources for support to our Internet Project. If possible, some staff will receive Internet training at the Peabody Site.
    3. Dr. Barbara Rudiak, Principal at Phillips School, and other Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh sites offer rich resources through their curriculum action plans and home pages. We will continue to access these sites and communicate with the project teams of these schools to learn from their experiences in designing and implementing their projects.

    Implementation and Evaluation
     Date Objective/Strategy Responsible Person
    March 14, 1997 Proposal Submitted All
    April 30, 1997 Announcement of Award CK:P
    Spring, 1997 Project Team visits Carnegie Science Site All
    May 30, 1997 Wiring Designs Finalized CK:P
    July 1, 1997 Equipment Ordered CK:P
    August, 1997 Project Team Internet Training Carnegie Science Ctr.
    Student/Parent Field Trip CSC/3rd grade tchr.
    Everyday Math Concepts 3rd grade teachers
    October, 1997 (ongoing) National High/Low Temp. Project 3rd grade students
    Weekly Youth Alive Program Selected 3rd graders
    Internet Training All/CSC staff/parents
    January, 1998 Full Implementation All/CSC/CK:P

    By June, 1998 we anticipate students will be able to: identify local and national high/low temperatures, graph temperatures, communicate weather data with other schools named King, compare, in writing, community resources in Pittsburgh with community resources at other King schools, investigate weather folklore origins and write about weather folklore in Pittsburgh and compare historical weather predicting with modern meteorological technology. We anticipate that staff will have established ongoing communications with other CK:P sites and teachers at other King Schools for "suggestions for success" that will increase all student achievement. We anticipate that parents will know more about local community resources and how to access them. Community resources will be utilized in new ways to support parents and students.

    We envision a community in which students, parents, teachers and community members can, through wired interactions, share in the educational process. The sharing will be meaningful. Children will see the relevance of what they are learning in the classroom. Finances will not limit how a child will navigate this world. Location will not limit how a child will navigate this world. Parent availability will not limit a child in the navigation of this world. A child will be able to go anywhere, to learn anything, from anyone. Teachers will be able to search and find the experts on any given topic or subject and have that information available during lesson design and implementation. Parents will use community resources if necessary to insure that their children have access to technology. We - parents, community members and teachers - will all be educators in the process of creating life long learners.