Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant to Ellen Floyd, an instructional specialist from Jefferson Terrace Elementary School. Funds from the $5,000 award will be used to construct three designated outdoor reading and study areas at the school. 

These outdoor areas will be used by community volunteers, known as Reading Buddies, who visit the school on a weekly basis to work with select students.  Each Book Buddy Bench area will be landscaped with plants, shrubs and trees and will include tables and benches. A volunteer workforce to install the project will come from the school’s partners in education, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana’s Team Blue and First Baptist Church, as well as teachers, students and their family members.  The project is scheduled for completion this May.

Jefferson Terrace Elementary School is one of more than 1,000 public schools or parent organizations nationwide to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant for school improvement projects during the 2010-2011 school year.