Mini-Grant and Your Curriculum

minigrants-winners-190Mini-Grant applicants no longer have to step outside the curriculum to create a special project for students. They can also design programs for the curriculum, in support of the Common Core standards their students need to meet.

It’s a great boon to teachers and librarians because they can build a program around the goals they need to achieve. Many of the Mini-Grant programs we support do address grade-appropriate skill acquisition. Now they can include a wider range of activities, in the classroom as well as outside and after class.

Just as before, an innovative program can:

  • apply to multiple grade levels
  • develop required academic skills in a creative and exciting way
  • allow educators to collaborate across disciplines
  • inspire students to work hard toward a desired goal, applying necessary skills and knowledge to the project and the team
  • involve whole families and bridge multiple generations to benefit the larger community
  • give children the opportunity to explore their own culture and learn about others

At a minimum, for teachers and librarians a Mini-Grant program is a unified, flexible way to meet Common Core goals. For students it’s a fun experience that offers a sense of achievement and a source of pride. And when the program can be repeated in succeeding years, its benefits grow exponentially. That’s quite a feather in the cap for the school, the library and the educator who developed the program.