Cindy Green had a noisy classroom, but it was the good noise of children reading.

The problem was that they were all reading aloud for the Read Naturally program. So when Green saw that the California Retired Teachers Association, Pomona Valley Division 13, was offering grants, she had an idea. She applied for and received a grant to buy headphones for her class. She says her class is now running smoothly – and quietly.

Green, who teaches a fourth- and fifth-grade special day class at Lee Elementary School in the Azusa Unified School District, is one of 29 teachers from eight school districts who were recently awarded grants from the California Retired Teachers Association.

Alice Perez, who works for the Azusa Unified School District’s program for the visually impaired, was also awarded a grant. She plans to buy an extra tablet, which will allow her students to work in pairs, connecting and building camaraderie as they learn.

Other grant recipients include Jenee Corum and Terry Monjaraz from Azusa Unified; Catherine F. Strother, Phil Cliffe and Janelle Maluenda from Charter Oak; Nicole McCabe, Debbie Foster, Katie Gilmore and Myra Applebee from Claremont; Sherry Graham, Richard Dukowsky, Therese Duffy and Jennette Hert from Covina Valley; Mitzi Farricker, Melissa Gingg, Pam Hemley, Candace Elder and Azure Edwards from Glendora Unified; Therese Nguyen, Rhonda L. Sloan, Tony Ortiz, Islene Leon and Noelle Vogt from Pomona Unified; Alayna Effinger and Kelly Morris from Walnut Valley; and Joseph Lechner and Tunisia V. Fountain from West Covina.