Murray Moments

Murray High School teacher Teacher Lynley Hogan wanted to give her US History and AP World Civ students more tangible learning experiences. Since taking them across the world to visit historic sites isn’t practical, she received funding from Murray Education Foundation to bring the world to her classroom by purchasing a VR Oculus Quest 2 headset.

This student was able to use the Oculus to “visit” Anne Frank’s hideout in Amsterdam. In addition to studying WWII in US History right now, she and other Murray theater students have also recently put on a play about Anne Frank and with the oculus, she was able to enrich her understanding by virtually experiencing Anne’s everyday life in this tiny, hidden apartment under German occupation.

There are lots of 3D historical site tours that dovetail perfectly with Utah’s history curriculum. For example, a tour of Anne Frank’s hiding place during WWII, the Notre Dame (before the big burn), and much more. VR technology is a modern tool that helps bring history alive for students. These virtual visits will inspire students to create bucket lists of actual sites to match their dreams, interests, and curiosity about the world around them.

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MEF partners with the community to fund educator grants that help students grow. If your business would like to sponsor with MEF, bringing to life a love for learning with Murray kids, contact Doug Perry at 801-264-7400.

Parkside Elementary’s Brandi Sandoval needed to re-stock her school’s sensory tools/bins for their wellness room, so she turned to Murray Education Foundation for funding.

The wellness room is important as it offers students struggling with emotions to take a mental break and return to classroom learning. An important self-regulating feature in the Wellness room is a Grump Meter. This system is used worldwide by families, schools, churches, community centers, hospitals, mental health service providers, and other organizations to help children learn to gauge their emotions.

The Grump Meter is a simple, color-coded metering tool that helps children understand their emotions. Therapeutic approaches to its use open the door to discussions and techniques with children that help identify triggers and valuable response strategies that improve feelings and behaviors.

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MEF partners with the community to fund educator grants that help students grow. If your business would like to sponsor with MEF, bringing to life a love for learning with Murray kids, contact Doug Perry at 801-264-7400.

McMillan Elementary math teacher Laura Leishman wanted to increase her hands-on application of math concepts through math manipulatives and use games that would increase engagement.

Her class focuses a lot on multiplication and division facts, and felt the game Yahtzee would help reinforce and practice equal groups of numbers. She also thought it would be fun to use 12×12 Pop to teach arrays in multiplication.

“As the Magnet teacher, I am always looking for ways to increase creative thinking,” she wrote in her MEF funding request. Adding that the game Q-bitz and Q-bitz Jr would be a great way to elevate the creative use of logic.

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MEF partners with the community to fund educator grants that help students grow. If your business would like to sponsor with MEF, bringing to life a love for learning with Murray kids, contact Doug Perry at 801-264-7400.

Liberty Elementary’s Cassandra Westenskow needed a fun and interactive solution to augment her first-grade class’ plants and animals standard curriculum.

She got some funding from Murray Education Foundation (MEF) and found exactly what she was in the Scales and Tails traveling reptile show.

John Diliberto came in to provide the kids with a fun and interesting show that featured 60 minutes of animal facts and handling. He shared lots of creepy crawlies with kids, including eight live reptiles (snakes, lizards, and tortoises).

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MEF partners with the community to fund educator grants that help students grow. If your business would like to sponsor with MEF, bringing to life a love for learning with Murray kids, contact Doug Perry at 801-264-7400.

Horizon Elementary’s Susannah Holden used her MEF grant funding to purchase different learning materials (Little Spot of Emotions books, plushies, and a manual) for a special education social skills group.

Social work and Special Education have teamed up to run groups for students to work on emotional intelligence and give students the language they need to name their emotions and understand them. They are building self-awareness, self-control, and social skills.

Grant Elementary Social Worker Sierra Marsh received MEF grant funding to expand her amazing tools for helping kids with behavior management. Her focus has been to include self-regulated de-escalation kits that students can come in and use or check out as needed.

All of these are sensory, meaning they offer students the ability to use each of their five senses to regulate emotions and work through learning blocks effectively. She’s also working to develop and improve social skills and behavior management, bringing together small groups of students to collaborate and problem-solve in fun and interesting ways.