Bedford Education Foundation Summer Grants Awarded

Submitted by the Bedford Education Foundation

The Bedford Education Foundation (BEF) promotes classroom innovation and empowers teachers and students to meet the growing challenges of the 21st century. Through direct grants to individual classroom teachers and school administrators, and by collaborating with other established school organizations, the BEF is dedicated to enhancing classroom curricular creativity and innovation in the Bedford Public Schools.

We would like to thank the members of the BEF Grant Committee for volunteering their time and energy to review the grant proposals submitted for our July, 2018 deadline: Meg McAllister (grant chair), Melissa Cull, Jennifer Kelley, Jyotsna Mulgund, Noelle Oliveira, Lalitha Ranganath, Linda White, and Mary Lou Sallee (advisory member).

The awards include enrichment enhancements for classrooms in every Bedford school:

BEDFORD HIGH SCHOOL

INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS: BHS Science teacher Beth Billouin was awarded a $170 grant for curriculum materials for interactive notebooks for honors chemistry and honors biology classes. Interactive notebooks help students to organize and synthesize information with creative, interactive, and easily personalized activities. The notebooks accommodate multiple learning styles at one time, both in and out of the classroom, and will help students build a portfolio to show academic growth over the course of the year.

DIGITAL CAMERAS: Art Director Sean Hagan was awarded a $5,900 grant for ten DSLR Cameras and lighting to round out the funding of a classroom set of cameras for the new BHS Digital Photography class. These sophisticated cameras will offer students a much higher level of control, finesse, artistic choice, and creativity in their photography work than the various hand-held devices often used. Mr. Hagan envisions these cameras being used in a multitude of ways going forward, including the potential for high school students to give back to the Bedford community with their photography skills.

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HEAT PRESS: BHS Business teacher Justine Flora was awarded a $2,600 grant for a Hotronix heat press package to enable Marketing, Introduction to Business, and DECA club members to design and print custom apparel. This machine, which transfers designs onto fabric and other materials, will allow students to have hands-on experience in all that running a small business entails.

JOHN GLENN MIDDLE SCHOOL

SENSORY SPOT: JGMS school adjustment counselor Lisa Butterfield, Special Education teacher John Glynn, and teaching assistants Kimberly Limoli, Virginia Stepper, and Katherine Connell were awarded an $850 grant for a Sensory Spot within the SAIL classroom. This will be a safe space for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other related disabilities to help them self-regulate. Some of the materials funded include 2 crash pads, 2 noise-reduction ear muffs, a weighted shoulder wrap, calming sand panel, and a cylinder pillow with vibrations.

WEATHER STATION: Grade 8 Science teachers Charlie Puopolo and Heidi Scaltreto were awarded a $1,300 grant for a weather station with two monitors, one for each classroom. Students will engage in authentic and relevant opportunities that allow them to collect data, recognize trends, and make predictions about the weather.

PERFORMING ARTS iPADS: JGMS Performing Arts teacher Amy Budka was awarded a $2,200 grant for six iPads and a charging cart for dedicated use in her general music, theater arts, and chorus classes. The iPads will be used for videotaping and editing projects as well as student vocal assessments and performances. In addition, students will be able to work independently in small groups with access to accompaniments, ear training apps, and sight reading apps.

ADIOS TEXTBOOK: JGMS Spanish teacher Bonnie Klein was awarded a $1,500 grant on behalf of the entire district’s Spanish teachers. This grant will pilot a one-year membership for Bedford’s twelve Spanish teachers for Adios Textbook, a proficiency-based online curriculum with authentic resources. This resource includes a wonderful variety of reading and listening activities to support the department’s work on literacy, especially in relation to the district’s goal of providing students with a wide range of text genres that are engaging and relevant.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY GAMES: JGMS Reading teachers Rachel LeBlanc, Katie Cardinal, and Alison Breaux were awarded a $230 grant for a game center, equipped with twelve board games, for the Reading Department. The games identified focus on vocabulary development, understanding sentence structure, the phonetic structure of words, and comprehension skills. The goal of the game center is to increase students’ literacy skills in a more engaging, hands-on way with fun, motivational tools.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

REFLEX MATH: Elementary Math Curriculum Coordinator Sarah Dorer was awarded a $3,300 grant to pilot an exciting new online math skills program at Lane School. Reflex Math is a game-based, motivational approach to developing fluency with math facts that supports the current structure and practice of the grades 3-5 math curriculum primarily via student accounts used at home. The program also has the capacity to generate weekly reports to help teachers and parents monitor students’ progress.

PROBLEM-SOLVING WHEELS: Davis School Guidance Counselor Paula Francis-Springer and Lane School Guidance Counselor Jessica Smith were awarded a $675 grant for spinning problem-solving wheels to help students navigate difficult social challenges during recess times at Davis and Lane. These 30-inch wheels are portable and may be used in classrooms as well, as the sections of the wheel correspond to the varied strategies currently taught at Davis and Lane to help navigate potentially challenging situations in the course of the day.

CLASSROOM CALMING CORNER: Davis School teachers Alli Lua and Karen Shamon, and Special Education teacher Laura Albonesi, were awarded a $630 grant for Calming Corners for their second-grade classrooms. They will create quiet and welcoming areas in their rooms using new soft furnishings and soothing materials to provide a safe place for students to regulate their emotions and calm their bodies and minds. Assisting students with self-regulation will help them to return to their learning with less interruption to both themselves and the class as a whole. Materials provided to each classroom through this grant are: stress balls, stuffed animals, bean bags, pillows, a soft rug, visual timers, I Am In Control of Myself books, a CD player, noise-canceling headphones, and a kids relaxation music CD.

EARTH DAY: Davis School teachers Pat Flaherty-Dawson, Kim Marino, and Kristie Kimball-Dorey were awarded a $660 grant for reusable materials for the Davis School annual Earth Day celebration. This celebration, and the preparation for it, not only honors the Earth and the importance of its preservation but also allows young children the opportunity to see how they can be called to action and make a difference in the world.

If you would like to become involved with the Bedford Education Foundation, please reach out! We’d love to have you. Email president@bedfordeducation for more information.

 

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