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Student Enrichment
The Foundation will provide students and teachers with the resources for supplemental educational and enrichment activities that build upon the District’s curriculum beyond what is typically financed with tax dollars.
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Junior Achievement
Gower West has been participating in the Junior Achievement program for the past several years and is very excited to bring it to our students once again this year. This program is designed to promote financial literacy and entrepreneurship in an age-appropriate way. The sessions are led by parent volunteers and are a fun and unique way for parents to engage in their student’s classroom. Materials and lesson plans are all provided by the Junior Achievement program and include multi-media presentations, videos, art projects, and in-class games.
Each grade focuses on a certain sphere, going from a smaller family-based perspective to a more macro level, as follows:
Each grades’ sessions are scheduled during the year to align with the current topics being reviewed in class as listed above. Each classroom can accommodate 1-3 parent volunteers. Sessions are typically 45-60 minutes, and are scheduled during the school day, once a week for 5 weeks. Exact scheduling is determined with the individual teacher once volunteers are finalized.
Junior Achievement is a wonderful way for parents to volunteer in their child’s classroom. No teaching experience is required, and both students and teachers love having the parents share a part of their day with them. This program is only possible with the help of our amazing parent volunteers! Please consider signing up and joining the team--click on the links above to sign up. For more information email Lynn Salahi: lsalahi@gmail.com.
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Celebrating Differences Program:
On January 23rd, the 4th grade students will participate in the Gower Foundation's sponsored Celebrating Differences Program. This program focuses on a greater understanding and awareness of disabilities, both visible and non visible, through hands-on activities. The students will be exposed to the complexities people with disabilities face daily to help with empathetic understanding.
The Program has seven engaging stations displaying physical, mental, speech, hearing, vision and learning impairments. The hands-on activity stations include a wheelchair obstacle course, using a white cane, Braille, goggles that simulate various visual impairments, hearing impaired audio, assistive devices for physical and hearing impairments, dyslexic reading simulations and support devices for people with Autism.
The Gower Foundation looks forward to partnering with the wonderful parent volunteers to make this program a success and a learning experience for the students. For additional learning and context, the following book list contains resources available at either the Gower school libraries or Indian Prairie Public Library.
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To volunteer for this program, click here.
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Celebrating Differences Book List.
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Reality Store
On Friday, November 21th, the 7th graders will participate in The Reality Store. This program is an interactive experience where students navigate real-world budgeting scenarios, helping them build financial confidence and life skills.
Student will experience budgeting with an assigned income and profession, navigating household expenses and childcare, and understanding needs versus wants with saving money.
To volunteer for Reality Store, click here.
Last year:
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62.7% of student responded they were nervous about managing money in the future, but willing to learn.
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Students shared that the most helpful topics were budgeting household expenses, paying bills and saving money and understanding needs vs wants.
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The part of Reality Store that was hardest for students to manage was unexpected expenses.
Family Discussion Topics:
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How does your family manage a household budget?
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What role does each member of the family play to help manage expenses?
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What is a need versus a want in your household?