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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Clanton Intermediate School has received two Bright Ideas grants from Central Alabama Electric Cooperative.

Art teacher Haley Lively received $500 to hold an art show to display students’ work. Teacher Angela Tignor received $600 for books for her classroom library.

This school year is the first year that Clanton Intermediate has offered art classes.

“The students have worked hard on every project and art piece,” Lively said. “Students love seeing their artwork displayed. Having an art show for them to see their work and invite their friends and family to come and see also will boost confidence and show creativity.”

The grant funding will also be used to buy supplies for needle felting drawings.

“This will be a hands-on activity using new tools and imagination,” Lively said.

The finished projects will be on display during the art show the evening of April 30 in the lunchroom.

Other artwork on display will be students’ favorites from the school year.

“Students will be able to select their favorite piece to showcase in the art show,” Lively said. “Artwork from this school year includes different mediums such as pencil sketches, colored pencil renderings, watercolor, oil pastels, tempera paint, chalk.”

Each of the grades at the school will have work on display at the event.

Books purchased with Tignor’s grant will be used by about 25 fifth-grade students.

Tignor said she will likely be able to purchase six classrooms sets of 25 books with the grant. The books will be a mix of nonfiction and fiction books in a variety of genres. Tignor said she wanted to have something each student would be interested in.

“I intend on purchasing age appropriate books to model writing techniques for students to read as writers and provide background knowledge to make them successful in the classroom,” Tignor said.

She said having additional books to read would also help students do well on the portions of the state standardized test requiring “in-depth thinking and writing.”

The class will read some of the books together while all of them are available to students throughout the day.

Lively said this was her first time to receive funds from the organization. It was Tignor’s third time to receive a grant from CAEC.