The Needham Education Foundation announced the recipients of 16 grants totaling $60,526 in the fall small grants cycle at the Needham School Committee meeting last night. These include one multi-school grant that will provide professional development with Irene Fountas to all K-8 Needham Principals and key district administrators in an effort to boost overall literacy efforts and to develop a common vision of literacy education in Needham’s schools.
Awarded grants also include:
- A collaborative fiber art project for Needham High School (NHS) students to work with a visiting artist coinciding with Own Your Peace week
- Magnet kits, which will allow Mitchell students to expand their understanding of engineering and magnets in a culminating student-led engineering challenge
- Six “express” grants that build on the success of grants funded at other schools including: international flags at Mitchell, yoga workshops at Broadmeadow, stand-up desks at High Rock and Pollard, a school garden at Newman, and a Weather Day at Blue Hills Observatory for Mitchell.
- An augmented reality sand box for Pollard students to simulate topographic maps in real time
- A musical residency program for NHS students with Asylum Saxophone Quartet
- Three performances at Eliot designed to expand the school’s cultural proficiency through Brazilian drumming, Chinese culture and Mandarin, and African/Caribbean folktales
- Rear projection theatre scenery technology allowing High Rock, Pollard and NHS students to create their own scenery for school productions
- Writing workshops for NHS students with a local young adult author
- Scientific sensor equipment for Pollard engineering students to investigate renewable energy technologies
- Artist-in-residency workshops for all Mitchell students to use everyday objects to produce unique collages
See coverage of the fall grant awards on the Needham Channel.