Three area classes received mini-grants from Spruce Fork Community Advisory Panel to advance educational studies in the way of science and the environment.

Jeffrey-Spencer Elementary and Madison Middle School recieved mini-grants from $450 to $500 funded by Arch Coal's Mountain Laurel Complex in Sharples, WV.

Jeffrey-Spencer Elementary used the $497 mini-grant award it received to purchase materials to be used in a week-long thematic unit on the ocean and ocean life.

Two sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes at Madison Middle School were awarded $500 grants to purchase NOVA 5000, a versatile technology tool that allows students to perform mondern, hands-on labs.

The teachers who were awarded grants to further education in their classrooms shared presentations wht the CAP that hightlighted how the technology and materials purchased with the grant funding will be used in the classroom.

The Spruce Fork CAP, organized in December 2004, serves as a forum for open communication between Mountain Laurel representatives and the surrounding community.

For more information about the mini-grant program or the Spruce Fork Community Advisory Panel, please contact Ann Green at (304) 746-7700.