2003/2004 NEF Autumn Grant Pilot Program AwardsThe Needham Education Foundation will make 9 annual grant awards for a total of $22,271 for the 2003-2004 Autumn Grant cycle. The current grant application for the Spring Grant cycle (in Microsoft Word) may be downloaded here if you want to start planning now! 1. Broadmeadow Music Technology Mini-Lab
Broadmeadow | $2,150 | | Provides Broadmeadow Music Room with music-related hardware and software that will transform their four computers into a mini music technology lab. Students will be able to compose, record, notate, and publish original music compositions on the Internet. | 2. Enhancing Readers and Writers Workshops
Broadmeadow | $1,468 | | Purchases books for teachers to support the expansion of Readers and Writers Workshops at Broadmeadow. Teachers will meet in study groups to discuss techniques learned in summer workshops on teaching reading and writing. The materials will be maintained as part of a professional development library. | 3. Our Town, 1900
Hillside | $3,470 | | Children’s author Jacqueline Davies will bring Needham, circa 1900, to life for fifth grade students. Working with primary and secondary historical documents, students will work in small groups recreating drawings of actual historic houses, and then write historical fiction stories, each set in a particular Needham house at the turn of the century. | 4. Dramatic Arts for Grade 5
Mitchell | $2,400 | | Laurie Katz, Theatre and Dance instructor, will introduce 5th grade students to the elements of drama, including developing characters and story lines, and practicing improvisation. Students will create their own play from a bare-bones story outline, culminating in a play performance. | 5. Newman Loves Lucy: Dog Therapy
Newman | $1,650 | | Pat Howes, a first grade teacher at Newman and Superintendent’s Award Recipient, uses her licensed therapy dog, Lucy, to work with special needs children at Newman before school, during lunch periods, and after school. This grant will fund the purchase of materials used by Ms. Howes in her work with the special needs students, including a printer used to print digital photographs of the students interacting with Lucy, as well as tuition for a workshop on educating children with PDD and autism. | 6. Innovation in Social Studies
Pollard | $2,311 | | Purchase of equipment that connects all social studies classroom computers to TVs enabling teachers to bring a wide range of educational experiences to all students at the click of a mouse. | 7. Hands on Geography
Pollard | $3,444 | | Social Studies classes will be provided with laminated desktop maps that students can mark, erase, and reuse as tools to enhance the study of geography. For example, in a unit on China, students will be able to draw the Silk Road on their maps, rather than simply looking at a classroom map in the front of the room. | 8. Video Plus: Enhancements to Video Production
Pollard | $3,498 | | Purchase of three iMac computers and state-of-the-art video editing software for use by the “On The Air” elective classes, after-school clubs, and Tech Camp program. | 9. Sexual Assault Awareness Day with Katie Koestner
High School | $2,400 | | Half-day sexual assault awareness presentation for all high school students by Katie Koestner, a former College of William and Mary student who has received national recognition for “speaking out against a crime of silence”. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session, and by all-female and all-male breakout groups for discussion. The program is being organized by a group of Needham High students (the Women’s Coalition) under the guidance of counselor Jennifer Roberts. The group has been working for over a year addressing problems related to sexual harassment. The group has already overseen the adoption of a new high school policy on sexual harassment, and instituted peer-to-peer presentations for freshmen on sexual harassment and assault. |
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