Published: Friday, August 3, 2012 1:09 AM CDT

The Yankton School District (YSD) 63-3 Foundation recently announced awarding 67 teachers in the district with “Lending-A-Hand” grants for the 2012-13 school year.

The grants are designed to help cover expenses that state and federal funding is unable to provide to YSD. All teachers in the district can apply for the grants, which provide teachers with funding up to $250.

Examples of grants that were approved this year included funds for professional development programs, field trips, music supplies, art supplies, classroom supplies, books and weekly readers, among others.

“The grants this year went to a variety of things where there was no money budgeted for the items,” said Pauline Rhoades, executive director of the YSD 63-3 Foundation.

A majority of the funding for the grants came from the Spring dinner auction roast, with other funds coming from individual donations.

Rhoades added that the foundation has been very successful in getting funds for the grants — they awarded 28 grants to teachers in 2009, compared with 67 this year.

“It’s huge to be able to grant every single request asked by teachers,” she said.

Melanie Ryken, principal at Webster Elementary, said the grants have helped the teachers in the district purchase many items that they would have had to pay their own way for without the grants.

“The grants have allowed teachers to gain more activities and opportunities for students in the classroom,” she said. “They help take some of the burden off teachers who might have had to purchase the supplies themselves before.”

Ryken added that the grants have helped improve the relationship between the foundation and the community.

“Kids benefit from the grant funding first hand,” she said.

One of the grants this year that will impact all students at Webster Elementary will allow the school to purchase new headphones for the computer labs . The old headphones at the school were breaking, and officials did not have the money to replace them.

Kellie Holmstrom, a second grade teacher at Webster, received a grant this year for a program that aims at improving students’ reading and writing skills, while also helping them become more  independent.

The program, called “The Daily Five,” lets students listen to stories on a CD, then read the stories to themselves and a partner. Students also write independently, and work on vocabulary and spelling.

Last year Holmstrom received a grant for reading bags, which allowed students to take books home from school — something they would not have been able to do without the funding.

“$250 can go a really long way,” she said.

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This year’s grant recipients are:

• BEADLE ELEMENTARY: DeeRhonda Anderson, Lynn Becker, Mary Beth Herrboldt and Lori LaFave, Roxann Hunhoff & Kristi Zimmerman, Sue May, Linda Messler, Janet Morrow & Paula Weydert, Amy Neu, Ana Olson, Natasha Phillips, Sandi Pierce, Peggy Schortzman, Lee Ann Schramm, Melanie Vlasman, Kristi Zimmerman

• LINCOLN ELEMENTARY: Dena DenHerder, Sharon Ehrhart, Kris Ford, Michelle Hoesing / Lori Schaeffer / Kerry Svatos, Jackie Jerke, Sheryl Rehurek, Jamie VanWinkle

• STEWART ELEMENTARY: Lisa Card, Amy Harvison, Julie Jensen & Marsha Bertsch, Michele Luken, Peggy Marquardt, Susan Ray, Kelli Simonsen, Stewart School PTA

• WEBSTER / BEADLE COMBINATION: Nikki Heinz

• WEBSTER ELEMENTARY: Robin Brooks, Amy Bruening, Susan Goeden, Rebecca Gravholt, Kellie Holmstrom, Lynn Moser, Traci Peterson / Faydra Christensen / Heidi Savey / Robin Brooks / Melanie Ryken, Heidi Savey, Christina Stark, Nikki Vondracek

• WEBSTER / STEWART ELEMENTARY COMBINATION: Lori Leader

• YANKTON MIDDLE SCHOOL: Michelle Andrews, Connie Bromley, Janine Broscha, Sue Dumke, Jacalyn Hovden, Debra Howell, Teresa Janssen, Kacie Johnson, Beth Kaltsulas & Jill Muth, Nancy Klimisch, Carol Larrington, Amy Long, Julie Manning, Mike Mikkelson, Stacy Ryken, Brooks Schild

• YANKTON MIDDLE AND YANKTON HIGH COMBINATION: Mary Malchow

• YANKTON HIGH SCHOOL: Vicki Barron, Peter Deming, Elaine Kauer, Marge Kindle, Angie Luken, Robin Taylor, Kathy Wright