Northern Lights Elementary values the importance of their music program and aims to give a positive experience to each of the students. Music Specialist Leslie Black is required by the state to have the students sing alone, which is not always easy. Leslie feels that the proper equipment would encourage her students to loosen up and sing out proud. Class Acts! has enabled Northern Lights to purchase an amplifier, microphone, microphone stand and cord, which will benefit the entire school. In addition to assisting students with their music, the equipment will be available to teachers for special classroom events, announcements and presentations.

As a 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher, Michael Ketola aims to provide students with fun, meaningful, real-life learning experiences utilizing collaborative/cooperative learning. Specifically, he set up a unique educational model to help students learn valuable technology skills where they work with other teachers/students to help identify future lessons that would be transformed into a learning experience incorporating some type of modern technology. Technology and supplemental resources are often not included in the class budget and Class Acts! made it possible for Michael to continue to enhance his curriculum with new resources. The purchase of new materials and equipment will provide many opportunities for differentiated instructional methods and meaningful learning activities to accommodate the diverse needs of all his students.

Giving back to the community is an important and educational experience that family and consumer science teacher Sonja Nelson wants to give her students at Superior Middle School. On April 12, her class is partnering with the local Harbor House to prepare and serve free soup and bread to the homeless. Students are encouraging others in the community to attend and to donate a non-perishable food item for the Harbor House. The Class Acts! grant will help fund the supplies the students need to prepare the soup and bread for the event.

Currently, students at Superior Middle School do not have a track team and they have expressed interest in participating in one, similar to what is available to students in the district's elementary school and high school. Physical education teacher Steve Fregin agrees that starting a track team will help students to lead an active lifestyle, promote physical skill development and maintain an understanding of physical activity and well being. Qualified track coaches have volunteered their time this year, and with the help of the Class Acts! grant, students will have uniforms, funds for bus fees and ultimately a team.

Lori Foley's fourth grade students became pen pals this year with a fourth grade class in Sitka, Alaska. The students communicate at least once a month about what they are learning and their life in Wisconsin. In turn, the class in Alaska shares stories about life there and recently sent Ms. Foley's class a care package filled with books, posters and even a stuffed bear native to Alaska. Through a grant from Class Acts!, Ms. Foley's class is sending their pen pals some items special to Wisconsin, including books, a cheese head, and of course, some cheese.

Teachers in the marketing, business and technology, and engineering departments at Northwestern High School are often searching for ways to relate the curriculum to postsecondary schooling options as well as specific careers to help students gain skills and appreciation for opportunities available to them in the future. This year, Jody Forsythe and her colleagues have developed a multidisciplinary project which will utilize students in several programs and give them an opportunity to work hands on, experience group work and create design solutions. Thanks to help from Class Acts!, the whole class will function as a corporation and manufacture one project as a group. They have chosen to produce a tiger paw clock, incorporating their school mascot and upon completion will market and sell the mass-produced clocks with assistance from the marketing education department. The school-wide project creates an educational entrepreneurship activity which will bridge the connections between different levels of education.

Administrator Rosemary Niebauer, coordinated a three-day "environmental experience" at Camp Forest Springs in Westboro, Wis. for some of her students at Maranatha Academy. The environmental experience was planned to include ecology classes, recreational events and interactive, hands-on, multi-sensory activities which focused on critical-thinking skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills. Through a planned program of instruction, guided skill-building experiences and a variety of recreational events, the goal was for students to gain an appreciation and understanding of our natural surroundings, learn the enjoyment to be found in winter outdoor activity and become more involved in area recreational opportunities. Thanks to the Class Acts! grant, 20 students were able to attend this exciting and educational wilderness experience.

During the school year, Jeremy Bird teaches his fourth grade students about the past, present and future of the state of Wisconsin. This year, Mr. Bird wanted to give his students an opportunity to connect what they have learned in the classroom, into a real life adventure by traveling to Madeline Island, a significant place in our state's history where many fur traders, lumberman, historical figures and Native Americans spent time. With the help of the Class Acts! grant, students will take a ferry boat across Lake Superior to LaPointe on Madeline Island this spring. They will experience a guided tour, which includes the Madeline Island historical center, Big Bay State Park, a Native American burial ground and the site of the island's first trading post. One of the goals of this trip is to help students realize how important Wisconsin was to developing the Midwest and to understand the important role Lake Superior, the Apostle Islands and northern Wisconsin played in our past.