Blog: Aldama Elementary Nominated for $50,000 Grant (Updated)

Teachers and parents give students the building blocks they need to learn and grow, but sometimes they can use a little outside help. As education budgets continue to shrink nationwide, The Clorox Company’s Power A Bright Future grant program was created to help schools fund new or ongoing programs that allow children to play, create and explore.  I am hoping our community can come together and support Aldama Elementary in winning up to $50,000 in the Power A Bright Future grant program.

During the 2011-2012 school year Aldama Elementary had began using Accelerated Reader. The school could not afford Accelerated Reader for every class, so it was only implemented in six classes. We learned so much from the six pilot classes. We found that students who did not like to read became avid readers. We found that our school library is extremely outdated. Our library does not hold any of the books our students were interested in reading, such as Harry Potter, the Diary of Wimpy Kid or anything that has been published in the last 15 years. Accelerated Reader is an amazing program and it has taken children that were reading well below grade level to grade level. One example of that is of a 5th grader who was not even reading at a 2nd grade level, but by the end of the school year this student excelled, and was reading at grade level. Our goal is to have Accelerated Reader in every class and to update the grossly outdated school library so that our students have a variety of books to choose from.

Many of our students are categorized as English Learners. A grant of $50,000 would do so much for our school and our students. With Accelerated Reader we will be able to help bring our students to grade level reading and beyond. It would help bring up our school test scores. This grant will not only benefit our current students but future students. Students will benefit throughout their school career as they will not continue to struggle with reading. We know that children that struggle in school are more likely to join gangs and drop out of school. If we can help these students read at their grade level or even higher we can instill pride and self confidence. Our students will be more likely to stay out of gangs, continue on to college and excel in every aspect of their life. This is not just an investment in our students, but it is an investment in our community.

Support Aldama Elementary win the Power of a Bright Future Grant. From now until Dec. 12, 2012, adults and children 13 and older can visit www.PowerABrightFuture.com to vote online or vote via text message by Texting 498pbf to 95248. (Message and Data Rates May Apply).

The nominee that receives the highest number of votes will be awarded the $50,000 grand-prize grant, and the next top vote-getters in the Play, Create and Explore categories respectively will each be awarded a $25,000 grant.  Clorox’s judging panel will select three additional lucky schools, one in each category, to win a $25,000 judge’s choice grant. Visit www.PowerABrightFuture.com for official rules.

To vote for Aldama Elementary text 498pbf to 95248. or Vote on-line at https://powerabrightfuture.clorox.com/nominees/detail/?nid=498. Please vote once a day!