By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

It was a long anticipated announcement for Isabella High School teacher Sonya Robinson when she was called to the office to receive her Partners Enhancing Education in Chilton County grant.

Earlier that day she had been asking a coworker whether anything had been presented at the school.

Jason Calhoun of the Chilton Education Foundation presented the $400 on Feb. 12.

Robinson was very excited for the projects her students will be able to complete because of the grant.

She teaches history and science to fourth-grade students.

“It’s a new position here,” Robinson said.

Teaching in a new classroom, Robinson started the year without some of the resources she would have liked to have for science. Items like magnifying glasses, thermometers, child-sized goggles, eye droppers, measuring cylinders and flashlights.

“We are going to be … lighting up a potato, so this will be paying for that,” Robinson said.

She teaches physical and life sciences.

Changes to the program have incorporated more hands-on projects into the curriculum.

“With the new standards, experiments and projects are the new way to teach,” Robinson said.  These items will provide the basics to experiment more … Science in the classroom is more fun now than sitting at your desk writing definitions.”

She said the hands-on approach also helps students remember the material better. This has been the case with a recent project which simulated surface mining for coal using a chocolate chip cookie.

The Chilton Education Foundation accepts grant applications from Chilton County public schools. The grant committee decides what to fund each year with the goal of funding what will benefit the most students.