SOMERSET, Colo., Nov. 9, 2011 -- Delta County teachers and teaching specialists will receive $10,000 in grants from the Arch Coal Foundation for 2011-2012 school projects.

"We believe these 22 grants will substantially aid students' learning capabilities and preparedness,"said Jim Miller, general manager of Mountain Coal Company's West Elk mine near Somerset. "We will continue to challenge our county's excellent teachers to bring us innovative ideas that will help our children."

The 2011 recipients, their schools and grants are:

• Kreszenze (Kriss) Allen, Krista Carsten and Diane Hurst, Paonia Junior-Senior High School. Joining Books and Technology; Electronic Reading Circles and the 21st Century: The Foundation grant covers three separate grant requests that will use Kindles in imaginative ways across six grades to increase reading abilities. The Foundation will challenge the school's Language Arts Department to thoroughly test its concepts and share results throughout the Delta County School System.
• Jenna Arvidson, Cedaredge Elementary School. Bringing Technology into the Classroom: This project will test an iPad's efficacy as a speech aid for first-graders.
• Tammie Benson, Paonia Elementary School. Reading and Economics in First Grade: Will first-graders learn budgeting and have more respect for books if they own them? Benson's class will test this theory with a Foundation grant.
• Nancy Carlson, Hotchkiss High School. Economics of Establishing an Independent Household: Learning basic life skills can be a challenge for some students. Carlson will use this grant to help her students learn what it takes to set up an independent household, including budgeting.
• Annalee Couch, Delta Middle School. Figure Drawing from the Inside Out: This grant will provide funding for the purchase of a manikin designed for science classrooms, but Couch will use it in her art classes. Couch believes her art students will learn skeletal and muscular systems while creating art projects.
• Dan Dunham, Delta Middle School. Do You Get My Drift? Dunham will add to his successful, student boat-building project conducted last year by adding collaborative efforts with the Division of Wildlife for this year's students.
• Tim Esgar, Paonia Junior-Senior High School. Mathematical Touch with an iPod: Esgar will use iPod applications to see if they can teach and reinforce algebra and other mathematical concepts better than traditional means.
• Brenda Gonzales, Surface Creek VISION-LAUNCH. Mathletes Competition: There are no nearby local or even regional math competitions. Gonzales' students will compete nationally over the Internet. Her grant will be used to purchase math aids.
• Hailey Hancock, Delta Middle School. History Live: Students Documenting the Past: Rather than write research papers about history, students will produce their own documentary instead, with the goal of increasing interest and understanding of history.
• Joey Hancock, Delta Middle School. Writing Rewind: Hancock builds on two previous grants to determine if his students with disabilities can improve their learning through the assistance of Apple TV, which turns an iPad into a whiteboard.
• Stephanie Hanson, Cedaredge Elementary School. Teaching Narrative Language Through Technology: Students who have difficulty speaking have been traditionally taught using one method. Hanson believes an iPad app may have promise for increasing student capabilities, but is it better than traditional methods? The Foundation's grant to Hanson will test and compare both methods.
• Leslie Herr, Sandy York, Delta Schools Central Office. Social Thinking: The Foundation will provide funding for special materials to help students with behavioral issues, from the elementary through high school levels, increase their social thinking skills.
• Richard Hypio, Hotchkiss High School. Math on Demand: Customized Virtual Lessons: In the past, Hypio has used standardized, off-the-shelf, Internet-based learning aids to support learning in his classroom. Hypio believes he can develop his own learning materials, which he can post on the Web. The Foundation grant will provide the funds for Hypio to produce the custom materials.
• Isaac Lemon, Hotchkiss High School. Medical Examinations: Lemon intends to use basic medical testing supplies to bring real-world health understanding to students, while also increasing students' understanding and appreciation of the medical field.
• Gingy Molacek, Paonia Junior-Senior High School. If I Can See It, I Can Learn It: Molacek will test whether digitally produced videos and still photography can assist special education students in learning life skills.
• Lindsay Molitor, Paonia Junior-Senior High School. Financial Literacy in the New Millennium: Teaching High School Students the Benefits of Investing: This school counselor teaches various seminars to prepare students for life after high school. She will use her grant to obtain special materials that should increase students' financial competencies.
• Amy Quezada, Delta Middle School. Reading is Achieving and Believing: Students whose primary language is not English face hurdles in school as they learn it. This grant will explore whether Kindles with text-to-speech apps help speed English-language learning.
• Cathy Simpson, Paonia Junior-Senior High School. Kindle Textbook Project: This project will work in conjunction with the Electronic Reading Circles, while it assists higher-level readers.
• Janine Suppes, Cedaredge High School. Access for Access: This project will test the use of an iPad by special needs students to determine whether the technology's capability of accessing various individualized lessons will improve academic and social growth.
• Jessica Watkins, Delta Middle School. Technology Revolution: While whiteboards have revolutionized some classroom teaching, Watkins will test another piece of technology, an eno mini, to further increase the whiteboard's effectiveness.

The Arch Coal Foundation is funded by Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ACI), a top five global coal producer and marketer. Arch is the most diversified American coal company, with mining complexes across every major U.S. coal supply basin. Its core business is supplying cleaner-burning, low-sulfur thermal and metallurgical coal to power generators and steel manufacturers on four continents.

* iPad and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple. Kindle is a registered trademark of Amazon. Eno mini is a registered trademark of PolyVision.