By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

A partnership between Sonic and DonorsChoose.org could enable two area teachers to purchase needed equipment for their classrooms.

Limeades for Learning, thanks to contributions from Sonic, will be funding nearly a half-million dollars in school projects in the next few weeks. Anyone who buys a Sonic drink will receive a cup with a pull-off code on the side. The code can be entered at limeadesforlearning.com in order to vote for a school project.

Lindy McDaniel, a preschool teacher at Wilson Elementary School, Hays, found out about the program through a friend who frequents Sonic. She hopes to get her "Playful Preschoolers" project funded to be able to provide games, puzzles, manipulatives and pretend items for her mostly special-needs students.

"In our classroom, a lot of our children are at levels that are not necessarily preschool level, but a little lower," McDaniel said.

The materials would be more appropriate than regular preschool toys, McDaniel said. This year, she has 16 students divided between morning and afternoon sessions.

She has encouraged her students' parents to buy Sonic, go online and vote for the project. So far, McDaniel's project has 42 votes.

At Colby Middle School, Paige Gawith is hoping to receive two pocket video cameras for her "To Share Our World" project.

Gawith, a seventh- and eighth-grade language arts teacher, had her students make videos last year to explain vocabulary words and to send to their e-pals, pen pals through e-mail.

"We made some videos to send to them about what it was like living out here," Gawith said.

She's hoping to do the same projects this year, but more cameras would make for a better use of class time.

"There's no way I was going to get cameras other ways," Gawith said, noting the statewide budget crunch. "One of the ones that we use is one I bought."

So far, Gawith has been overwhelmed by the community response to her project, which she and her students have promoted to parents, people at their churches and especially high school students, parents and staff.

"The high school is right by Sonic, and they get out during happy hour. So we're really pushing it for them," Gawith said.

On Wednesday, she had 40 codes from Sonic cups waiting for her to enter, but she also encourages people to vote for themselves.

"I have no idea how many votes it's going to take to win, but the kids are embracing it," Gawith said.

Gawith's project has 142 votes, as of Thursday. If Colby Middle School is awarded the grant, Gawith said her students will be making a video to post on the school Web site using the new cameras to thank the community for their votes.

Voting continues through Oct. 1, with grants awarded weekly to top vote-getters.

In another DonorsChoose.org project, Kristy Richmeier, a part-time librarian at Lincoln Elementary School, was awarded $332 to purchase storytelling kits and puppets to help autistic children at the school.

"I was trying to figure out a way to engage them more in our library time," Richmeier said.

She found out at the beginning of the month that the project had been fully funded -- part of it came from an individual with Sonic picking up the rest of the project cost.

DonorsChoose.org and Sonic have awarded more than $6,000 to Kansas schools.