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TAHLEQUAH - Watts Public Schools announced they received two grants totaling $9,000. Watts received a $5,000 grant from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's Learn and Serve Program, which works to build an ethic of service among students by making service an integral part of their education and life experiences.

In doing so, these programs enable students to place their studies into context, improve their sense of civic responsibility and help meet educational, public safety, environmental and other human needs in their community.

The Watts school program consists of several classes and organizations proposing a wide range of activities. The alternative education students will address health and safety issues by presenting programs to the student body and distributing safety equipment to identified recipients. The high school math classes, under the guidance of math instructor Lisa Weaver, will generate math kits that will be used by students, parents and teachers.

Science teacher Phyllis Hagan and the botany class, along with the ATAE classes will continue to build a walking trail. Winona Gray's history classes propose to teach geography skills to the fifth-grade classes. The junior high reading classes will make Big Books for the Pre-K through first-grade classes with the help of their teacher, Kay Fronterhouse.

Sky Davidson and her fifth-grade class continue to work on developing a butterfly garden. Davidson and the fifth-grade class also host Oklahoma History Day and Earth Day.

The Girl and Boy Scout Troops propose to get acquainted with the elderly in the retirement center and build close, positive relationships through various activities. The entire student body has opportunities to participate in community and school-side cleanup days. Near the end of school there will be a celebration/demonstration to recognize the students for their exemplary efforts.

Watts Public Schools Alternative Education Program has been awarded a $4,000 grant from the Oklahoma Arts Council in funding a hands-on arts program that included traditional arts associated with the Cherokee Indian people and other Native American tribes. In addition to the traditional arts and crafts projects, there are projects based on expressionistic art forms.

Through state appropriations and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oklahoma Arts Council funds more than 1,200 events annually with an estimated total attendance of more than 3.5 million people. Projects funded by the Oklahoma Arts Council generally account for more than $20 million in grants and matching funds distributed throughout the state's rural and urban communities.