John Ramsey, second grade teacher at Hinton Area Elementary, was one of the recipients of the Teacher Innovation Grants awarded for the first time this past November through Hinton Area Foundation. Mr. Ramsey’s request for funding evolved from his desire to incorporate art into the elementary math program. Because of his natural talent for creating visual art, he felt that his students would remember math vocabulary more easily if they were given the chance to explore with hands-on activities, like sketching what they learned. Words such as horizontal, vertical, perpendicular, diagonal, cylinder, and square pyramid, all seem to come to life in the students’ minds as they find examples and use water color paints to recreate them in their art work. As students engage more senses and make connections to the world around them, the ideas and concepts are remembered more easily and provide the building blocks needed for future learning. Hinton Area Foundation is proud to assist teachers in acquiring funds to help them engage children’s minds. The Learning Innovation Fund was made possible through the generosity of many individuals in Summers County, as well as Jay Word of Beckley, who provided a dollar- for-dollar match. HAF looks forward to helping many more teachers bring their ideas to life. You, too, can be a part of our children’s education by sending your contributions to Hinton Area Foundation attn: Learning Innovations P.O. Box 217, Hinton, WV 25951.
