> Windsor Education Foundation Awards Over $25,000 for Grants to Teacher Projects
Windsor Education Foundation Awards Over $25,000 for Grants to Teacher Projects
| The Windsor Education Foundation (WEF) has awarded mini-grants funding 17 projects proposed by teachers in the Windsor Public Schools. The grants are intended to provide funding for creative and educationally valuable projects that cannot be supported through the school budget. All Windsor Public Schools teachers were eligible to apply for the grants. This year's recipients proposed projects that ranged from the use of student-response technology in the classroom to artist-in-residence programs to a project integrating art and writing. They include: Two Wolcott staff members, teacher Laura Rumrill and Family Resource Center Leader Betsey Lepak will create a book on kindergarten readiness that will be based on their previously produced DVD called "Ready to Go." The book is intended for reading by parents to their children to help them get accustomed to their upcoming kindergarten experience. Windsor High School teacher Frank Halish received a grant to help support the "Kids N Critters" program, in which high school students learn about and care for a collection of reptiles and amphibians. The students also give presentations at the elementary schools in order to share their learning and their interest in science with younger students. Nine teachers seven at Windsor High School and two at Sage Park Middle School were awarded funding for student response systems ("clickers") that they will integrate into their classroom instruction. The systems promote increased student engagement and provide for immediate feedback from students about what they are learning in class, making it possible for teachers to adjust instruction accordingly. The teachers are Naomi McNeil, Sandy Ossolinski, Marcia Cyr, William Spaulding, Christopher Todd and Sharon Weaver at the high school; and Judith Radke and Catherine Freeman at the middle school. Windsor High School teacher James Apicelli will use his grant to introduce Mobile Teaching and Learning Tablets into his math classes. This technology makes it possible to provide more hands-on and differentiated instruction and more active student engagement in learning. JFK school social worker Denise Novak received a grant to help support the district's mentoring program, which matches volunteer adults with students in the kindergarten and elementary schools. The grant awarded to Lisa Thomas, teacher at Clover Street School, will fund an artist-in-residence at the school. She plans to bring a world-renowned storyteller who teaches at Eastern Connecticut State University to Clover Street to work with second and third grade classes. WHS teacher Peter Moore received a grant to help support Windsor's FIRST Robotics program. Funds awarded to Oliver Ellsworth teacher Dalia Ghanesh May will support an afterschool program that helps students with literacy, numeracy and character education. Clover Street teacher Terri Faucher received a grant for a parent-child book share and Read Across America Day. Windsor High School teachers Denise Malnati and Deb Cooper will use their grant for a project that combines a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with student writing and artwork. Poquonock teacher Mary VanDerMeid's project will bring to the school an author of a nonfiction book on butterflies, who will teach fifth-grade students about habitat needs of monarch butterflies and will help students design a garden to attract and support the monarchs. For Kennedy teacher Julie Roebelen, the WEF grant will make it possible to bring an author-in-residence to the school to help students become more adept at nonfiction writing. Sage Park teacher Shirley Cowles was awarded a grant to fund a guest speaker who will give students and teachers a firsthand account of the Holocaust. Ellsworth teacher Nancy Miner's grant will fund a project called "Miner's Hat," which will help students learn about electricity. The foundation awarded a total of $25, 748 this year and expects to offer the mini-grants every year. The Windsor Education Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization composed of volunteers from the Windsor community and dedicated to the mission of supporting public education in Windsor. For additional information about the foundation and its activities, please contact the organization's current president, Mary Hogan, at (860) 688-1600. |