NEF Funds 8 Spring Grants Totaling $45,261
At the Needham School Committee meeting on May 20, 2025, the Needham Education Foundation (NEF) announced the recipients of eight grants totaling $45,261 in its Spring grant cycle.
Awarded grants include:
Meeting Literacy Needs of All Learners Through Specialized Instruction – All Elementary Schools & High Rock
Professional development for K-6 special education and general education staff on innovative, evidence-based literacy practices for students with dyslexia and other reading disabilities. By building teacher capacity in a variety of instructional practices, educators can better meet the diverse needs of these students, as well as provide benefits to all students through Tier I classroom interventions.
— Awarded to Lisa Messina, Director of Literacy, and Stephanie Wyman, Director of Special Education
Bringing Design Thinking to Teachers in Needham Public Schools – District-wide
Two-day, professional development workshop for up to 30 teachers across the district to promote hands-on, design-centered learning at all grade levels in collaboration with NuVu School in Cambridge. The training will be customized for Needham and held in Needham High School’s Da Vinci Workshop.
— Awarded to Hans Batra, Da Vinci Workshop Specialist/Director and Chris Gosselin, Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation, K-12
METCO MassArt Summer Partnership – Pollard Middle School and Needham High School
Expands the scope and impact of the partnership between Needham METCO and MassArt Youth & Teen Programs by funding program fees for five Needham METCO students to fully participate in MassArt’s summer Creative Studios program. Creative Studios is an exciting and immersive two-week program for young artists of all abilities, entering grades 7–9 who want to deepen their understanding of the visual arts.
— Awarded to Joanne Allen-Willoughby, METCO Director, and Jennifer Kilson-Page, METCO Elementary Coordinator
Empowering Middle School Voices: A Podcasting Mobile Lab – High Rock Middle School
Establishes a mobile podcast lab at High Rock Middle School to foster student creativity, collaboration, communication and technological skills. Funds will support the purchase of podcasting equipment and other materials to create a mobile lab.
—Awarded to Erin Mack, Technology Integration Specialist, and Ethan Miller, ELA Teacher
Large Print Books for Inclusive Literacy – All Elementary Schools
Funds the purchase of 95 large print books that will be shared across all elementary libraries to increase accessibility and improve reading experiences. The large print format provides a larger font size and more white space on the pages, which reduces eye strain and supports better focus and comprehension while reading. While these resources are essential for students with visual impairments, all readers, including those with learning differences and attention difficulties can benefit.
— Awarded to Jennifer Guardino, Mitchell Librarian, and Jennifer Murray, Newman Librarian
Vox Books to Support Kindergarten Curriculum Units – Newman Elementary School
Collection of 18 Vox books for each of the five Kindergarten classes at Newman Elementary School. Vox books are hardcover picture books with full audio recordings, which will be available in the classrooms to support the four main Kindergarten curriculum units: animals & their needs, construction, community, and our earth. The collection will include fiction, nonfiction, and Spanish book titles.
— Awarded to Sigrid Methot, Kindergarten Teacher
Kinesthetic Learning in the Classroom – Newman Elementary School
Funds the purchase of 2 pedal desks and 2 pedal exercisers to be used by a 3rd grade classroom at Newman Elementary School. These pedal desks will allow students to incorporate movement into their learning environment. Movement has been shown to greatly improve learning in all students, but especially in elementary students.
— Awarded to Kristie Maheras, Grade 3 teacher
SPOT Social Emotional Learning Curriculum – Sunita Williams Elementary School
“A Little SPOT of Emotion” Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Educator’s starter kits for each of the intensive learning center (ILC) classrooms where students need more individualized support and modified curriculum. The kits focus on self-management, self-awareness, responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills, with the use of books, stuffed animals, flashcards, and directed lesson plans.
— Awarded to Erica Spiegel, Special Educator/ BCBA
What’s Normal Anyway? A (Stigma-Obliterating) Disability Film Series
This Fall 2024 grant funded four evenings of disability education for the Needham community, with a film screening followed by a panel discussion exploring the film’s topics and how they affect or influence the experiences of youth in Needham (where over 1,000 students, or one in five, receive special education services in the schools).
The films included:
- The Ride Ahead, about a young man navigating life while having a genetic disorder that affects his mobility and communication.
- In A Different Key, in which families with autistic children look to Don Triplet, the first diagnosed person with autism, as a role model.
- The Right to Read, about young students who struggle to develop essential reading skills.
- The Disruptors, where renowned CEOs, athletes, and entertainers share their experiences of having ADHD and the challenges they faced, and now credit their ‘differently wired brains’ for some of their greatest successes.
The films were well attended by many people affiliated with the Needham schools and the town including the Needham Disability Commission, Needham Select Board and School Committee members, Needham educators and administrators, Needham Diversity Initiative, Progressive Needham, as well as Needham parents of kids with and without disabilities.
Grant recipient Jenn Scheck-Kahn, along with committee members Meera Sunder, Andy Wizer, and Sasha Yampolsky, noted “Our goal with the series was to remove barriers for inclusion, to center the experiences of people with disabilities, to create closer connections between the disability and non-disability community, and to educate policy and budget makers about the experiences of people with disabilities.
Including a student with a disability on the panels was especially enlightening. Our literacy event featured an extraordinarily articulate student with dyslexia in the fifth grade. She described her experiences of being othered and excluded as well as her experiences of working hard to do things that are easy for other kids and her wish for a disability curriculum in the NPS. So many times the audience erupted in applause. Later her mother told me how much her daughter needed that, how meaningful it was for her daughter to be validated and celebrated by a room of supportive adults. I hope this experience is one she’ll carry with her long into adulthood.”
A parent shared that “[her child] said he learned more about his disabilities from the films than he had elsewhere and having watched them, he’s hungry for more. The films have sparked a search for identity. I do not think this would have happened if we’d watched the films at home. The films were more important because we watched them together with strangers who also valued what they were learning. Although we talk about disabilities and his disabilities in our home, he’s not been in a room of people where these topics are discussed in public and by adults. Breaking that silence removed the stigma; it elevated the value of the conversation. He truly felt that people attended to know about him; being there made him feel special and supported.”
Scheck-Kahn remarked “Many parents shared how much of themselves and their families are in the films. Some who are very involved in the autism community said that we showed the best film on autism that they’ve ever seen. Most moving for me was, when watching The Ride Ahead and The Disruptors, I heard the audience erupt in laughter after a person with a disability said something funny. Those moments felt like proof that stigma was being obliterated and in the most joyful way.”
2025 Trivia Bee
NHS Teachers take first place in the NEF’s 2025 Trivia Bee
On Wednesday, March 12th, the NEF held its 34th annual Bee, the fifth year featuring trivia, with 50 teams and over 350 participants and attendees. Teams included students and teachers from each of Needham’s schools, local businesses and community organizations, and over a dozen family and neighbor teams. The evening started with an opportunity to meet Officer Rocket and Officer Ghost, the Needham Police Department’s Community Resource dogs, and to take team photos and purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win one of ten themed baskets with items donated by local businesses.
Mike “Sarge” Riley, the public address announcer for the New England Patriots and Revolution and a veteran Boston sports radio personality, kept the evening lively and fun as the event host, sharing fun facts about many of the teams or bantering with the student teams seated in front.
After 5 spirited rounds of trivia, including categories such as science, entertainment, geography, and Needham history, there was a two-way tie for first place between the NHS Teachers “Chat GPT” team and the NHS Capstone Students “The House of Rowse” team. The teachers just edged past the students to take first place. There was also a six-way tie for 3rd place, with the “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” team earning the spot.
Creativity abounded with the naming of the teams, including the Best Team Name category winner, “Brainy Bunch” from the Needham Community Council. There were also a number of teams in custom t-shirts, Bee antenna headbands, and fun outfits, though none as committed as the “Wicked Smart Mitchell Teachers” from Mitchell Elementary School in their Wicked costumes.
Competition was also fierce among the elementary teams, with the “Trivia Beans” team from Newman Elementary School earning the title as the top-scoring elementary team this year, with the other Newman team “Fantastical Five” coming in a close second. They will get to display the top-scoring elementary team trophy at Newman Elementary until next year’s Bee.
The event was recorded by the Needham Channel and will be available for viewing on April 3rd.
Team and Event Pictures:
1st-NHS Teachers
2nd-NHS Capstone Students
3rd-Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader
Top-Scoring Elem Team-Newman
Best Team Name-Brainy Bunch
Host Mike Riley
2025 Raffle
Trivia Bee Trophies
Bee Co-Chairs
Broadmeadow Friends of Officer Rocket
Queen Bees
Needham Fire Department
Mitchell Master Minds
Leader Bees
Wicked Smart Mitchell Teachers
Needham School Committee
Mitchell Student Team
Smart as Can Bee
Photo Booth
Pollard Teachers
Raffle Winner
Teams and Spectators
Newman Teams
Whats Normal Anyway
NEF Funds Three Winter Grants Totaling $15,069
At the Needham School Committee meeting on February 25, 2025, the Needham Education Foundation (NEF) announced the recipients of three grants totaling $15,069 in its Winter grant cycle.
Awarded grants include:
7th Grade Yoga Integration Experience
A yoga integration experience for 7th grade students at Pollard Middle School to enhance the social studies unit on Ancient India, deepening their understanding of the history, mythology, and purpose of yoga practice. This experience supplements the concepts of mindfulness and meditation as used by Hindus and Buddhists as a religious practice currently being taught as part of the curriculum unit.
— Awarded to Joshua Sanders, 7th Grade Social Studies Teacher
Audiobooks for Broadmeadow Library
A collection of Playaways, or audiobook players, for the Broadmeadow Elementary School community which offers a screen-free, accessible option for all students. Audiobooks help students develop listening comprehension skills, explore texts beyond their reading level, and connect with different cultures or experiences in a meaningful way. These Playaways will be available to the entire Broadmeadow community and also available for inter-library loan to the other Needham school libraries.
— Awarded to Jennifer Potter, Broadmeadow Librarian
Video Games as Literature Course
A full-year, twelfth-grade course for Needham High School students to explore the literary aspects of video games and gaming culture, fulfilling their senior year English requirement. Students will study video games’ potential as a storytelling medium by learning how they function as a literary form, applying traditional literary analysis and critical theories to the stories they tell. Students will read novels related to video games and digital spaces to promote cross-media analysis and synthesis, non-fiction texts that examine the storytelling features of video games and play those games to experience their stories first-hand in a critical, supportive, academic community. Students will also have the opportunity to design games that tell powerful stories. Funds will be used to purchase novels, video games, and consoles for collaborative classroom exploration.
— Awarded to Chris Farnsworth, Needham High School English teacher
NEF Funds Five Fall Grants Totaling $30,713
At the Needham School Committee meeting on November 26, the Needham Education Foundation (NEF) announced the recipients of five grants totaling $30,713 in its fall grant cycle.
Awarded grants include:
Middle School Humanities Teachers Attend National Conferences
Fifteen High Rock and Pollard Middle School ELA and Social Studies teachers will attend their respective national conferences, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and National Council for Social Studies (NCSS). It will be the first time that ELA or social studies teachers from all three grade levels attend a conference together, allowing them to engage in ongoing professional conversations about their learning and implementation in their classrooms.
—Awarded to Liz Welburn, ELA Chair, Grades 6-8 and Brooke Kessel, Social Studies Department Chair Grades K-8
Teen Mental Health First Aid Instructor Training
Teen Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructor training will be provided to six Health and Wellness teachers at High Rock, Pollard, and Needham High School. By equipping these educators with the skills to identify and assist students experiencing mental health challenges, the aim is to foster a more supportive school environment. MHFA is an evidence-based curriculum that teaches teens how to support a friend or peer struggling with mental health issues.
–Awarded to Denise Domnarski, K-12 Director of Physical Education, Health and Wellness and Sara Shine, Director Needham Youth and Family Services
What Is Normal Anyway?: A (Stigma-Obliterating) Disability Film Series
Four evenings of disability education will be funded to benefit the Needham community, with each evening including a documentary screening followed by a panel discussion taking the topics raised in the films and exploring how they affect or influence the experiences of youth in Needham, where over 1,000 students, or one in five, receive special education services in the schools.
–Awarded to Jenn Scheck-Kahn, Parent; Sasha Yampolsky, Parent; Meera Sunder, Parent; Andy Wizer, Community Member; and Diane Simmons, Director of Strategic Planning and Community Engagement
Creative Dance Residency: Giraffes Can’t Dance
A creative dance residency for the kindergarten students at Eliot Elementary School will explore social emotional learning concepts through literacy, movement, and music. Students read the book Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees and learn about Gerald, a giraffe who struggles with confidence, and a community that works to learn acceptance while dancing together in the jungle.
– Awarded to Jo-Anne Bagley, Kindergarten Teacher
Empowering Student Voices: A Technology Innovation Space
A dedicated Technology Innovation Space will be created at Needham High School to foster student creativity, collaboration, and technological proficiency. Grant funds will be used to purchase high-quality podcasting equipment, including microphones, mixers, headphones, stands, and sound-dampening equipment to cultivate students’ digital literacy skills, inspire innovative thinking, and promote authentic learning experiences, all while building skills in using professional technology equipment.
– Awarded to Sam Bookston, Technology Integration Specialist and Joshua Yankell, Technology Integration Specialist, Needham High School
Get to Know the NEF!
NEF Funds Six Spring Grants Totaling $41,407
At the Needham School Committee meeting on May 21st, the Needham Education Foundation (NEF) announced the recipients of six grants totaling $41,407 in its spring grant cycle.
Awarded grants include:
YA Literature: Diverse Voices
Class sets of contemporary young adult (YA) novels, teaching resource volumes, and an author visit by one of the selected YA authors to support a new full-year course offering for 12th graders at Needham High School entitled “YA Literature: Diverse Voices.” Texts will include complex human dilemmas, along with compelling, disconcerting characters, and challenge readers to re-examine their understanding of the world.
— Awarded to AnnMarie Kannon, High School English Teacher
Drama Center Props
Furniture and equipment, including kitchens, market stands, cash registers, kitchen equipment, and numerous food items, with many from different cultures, to support diverse and educational dramatic play centers in all five kindergarten classrooms at Newman Elementary School. Drama centers support a variety of skills, including creativity, social skills, language, and organization. While utilized throughout the year, the items will be especially helpful during the “Our Community” curriculum unit, in which students learn about what it means to be a community member and the different places in our community.
— Awarded to Lesley Stroud, Kindergarten Teacher
Bringing the Portrait Competencies to Life: PONG Picture Books
Five picture books for each of the K-5 classrooms in the Needham Public Schools that in a developmentally appropriate way, will introduce and reinforce one of the Portrait of a Needham Graduate competencies – Creative Thinkers & Problem Solvers, Responsible & Resilient Individuals, Socially & Culturally Responsive Contributors, Communicators & Collaborators, and Empowered Learners. During designated weeks of the school year, each competency will be highlighted, providing an opportunity for teachers and students to identify the competencies, discuss them, and consider how they show the competency in their own lives.
— Awarded to Caren Firger, Newman Assistant Principal, Chris Gosselin, Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation
Polar GoFit with Polar E-Unite Heart Rate Watch
Sixty Polar E-Unite wrist-based heart rate monitors, the Polar GoFit app license, and virtual training sessions to introduce this new technology in Wellness classes for all students at High Rock Middle School. By allowing students to visualize their heart rate in real-time, the heart rate monitors will allow students to monitor their exertion levels, perform data analysis, promote personalized learning and goal setting, and build a foundation for lifelong health.
— Awarded to Jonathan Grant, Wellness teacher, Dan Amato, Wellness teacher, Denise Domnarski, Wellness Director
High Rock Community Service Learning Garden
Construction costs and materials to build five raised garden beds at High Rock Middle School which will be used to grow herbs and vegetables to be donated to the residents of the Linden Street Needham Housing Authority located across the street from the school. Students will choose which crops and herbs to plant after researching the needs of the Linden Street residents and the best short-season crops that will maximize food production within the academic year. Students will also plant, maintain, and harvest the crops.
— Awarded to Stephen Miller, 6th grade science teacher & CSL Coordinator; Dr. Jessica Downey, Principal High Rock School
Powering Up Access: Playaways for the Newman Library Collection
Fifty Playaways (standalone audiobook players) and two bookcases to offer a portable, screen-free option for all students at the Newman Elementary School library. Each Playaway is for one fiction or nonfiction title. Audiobooks help students develop listening comprehension skills, explore texts beyond their reading level, and connect with different cultures or experiences in a meaningful way.
— Awarded to Jennifer Murray, Library Teacher
Cuerd@s Workshop at NHS Connections
With funding from a Fall 2023 grant, a workshop was held in February for students in the Connections program at Needham High School with Cuerd@s, an organization that provides embroidered clothing to support mental health. For the creator, the act of embroidery is soothing and creates a healthy environment for processing emotions and building community. For the wearer, the embroidery serves as a built-in de-escalation technique and reminds them that they are safe, loved, and valued. The workshop provided students the chance to embroider clothing to donate to a local mental health organization and to embroider a sweatshirt for themselves.
Connections is a therapeutic program developed to meet the needs of students with emotional disabilities. The workshop also provided an opportunity for all Connections students to meet at the same time to build community with others on similar paths in overcoming personal challenges.
Katherine McMahon, grant recipient and Connections program teacher, said “The event was incredible and I feel so fortunate our students had this opportunity … Meg Burke, … the founder of Cuerd@s, could not have been better … It was great to see her sharing her story with my own students and doing it with so much passion and insight. Thanks to the NEF grant, we had the opportunity for our students to learn and practice creating a tactile fidget on sweatshirts they could use to cope. When the activity was over students wanted to keep embroidering. They found both the activity and the process helpful and satisfying.”
She noted that many students were wearing their embroidered sweatshirts the next day and that students were continuing to embroider using the kits purchased through the grant.
2024 Trivia Bee
The Rotary Bees took first place in the NEF’s 2024 Trivia Bee
On Thursday, March 14th, the NEF held its 33nd annual Bee, the fourth year featuring trivia, with 49 teams and over 350 participants and attendees. Teams included students and teachers from each of Needham’s schools, local businesses and community organizations, and over a dozen family and neighbor teams. The evening started with an opportunity to meet Officer Rocket and Officer Ghost, the Needham Police Department’s Community Resource dogs, and to take team photos and purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win one of ten themed baskets with items donated by local businesses.
Mike “Sarge” Riley, the public address announcer for the New England Patriots and Revolution and a veteran Boston sports radio personality, kept the evening lively and fun as the event host, sharing fun facts about many of the teams or bantering with the student teams seated in front.
After 5 spirited rounds of trivia, including categories such as science, entertainment, geography, and Needham history, the Rotary Bees from the Rotary Club of Needham took first place. A tiebreaker, featuring a question in honor of Pi Day, determined the second place team — the Library Bookies from the Needham Free Public Library — and the third place team — the Broadmeadow Bees, with a teacher and students from Broadmeadow Elementary School. The Rotary Club and the Library have both been long-time participants in the NEF Bee.
Creativity abounded with the naming of the teams, including the Best Team Name category winner, Nobody Expects the Spanish InQUIZition. There were also a number of teams in fun outfits or hats, though none as committed as the Mitchell Teachers from the Mitchell Elementary School in their Taylor Swift regalia.
Having placed as one of the top three teams, the Broadmeadow Bees elementary team retained its title as the top-scoring elementary team this year. They will get to display the top-scoring elementary team trophy at Broadmeadow until next year’s Bee.
The event was recorded by the Needham Channel and will be available for viewing in late March.
Team and Event Pictures:
1st Place-Rotary Bees
2nd Place-Library Bookies
3rd Place-Broadmeadow Bees
Best Team Name-NobodyExpectsTheSpanishInQUIZition
Top-Scoring Elem Team-Broadmeadow Bees
Host Mike Riley
Officer Rocket at the Bee
Needham Select Board
Shrieking Shreks
2024 Raffle
Mitchell Teachers-Swifties
Officer Rocket and Ghost with NPD
Officer Ghost
NEF Board Volunteers
Bee Cupcake
Refreshments
Silly Sunflowers
Cupcake Sales
Officer Rocket
Needham Womens Club
Broadmeadow Bees and Stingers
Photo Booth
NEF Funds Eight Winter Grants Totaling $43,258
At the Needham School Committee meeting on March 5th, the Needham Education Foundation (NEF) announced the recipients of eight grants totaling $43,258 in its winter grant cycle.
Awarded grants include:
ISTE Conference Professional Development Opportunity
Technology Integration Specialists from Broadmeadow, Eliot, Mitchell, Newman, and Needham High School will attend the 2024 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Live Conference to learn current pedagogical strategies, curricular innovations, and new techniques in using technology to create high-impact, sustainable, and scalable learning experiences for all students.
— Awarded to Barbara Tennyson, Eliot; Dana Cantor, Newman; Gershona Fein, Mitchell; Technology Integration Specialists
Rubik’s Cube Mosaics
A set of Rubik’s Cubes to create mosaics using specific patterns, as well as both beginner and advanced versions of the Rubik’s Cube for exploration will provide an opportunity for High Rock students to participate in creative, engaging, and collaborative problem solving activities. This is an Express grant from a 2018 grant awarded to Needham High School.
— Awarded to Erin Mack, Technology Integration Specialist
3D Printing Exploration
Two 3D printers will allow High Rock to explore how 3D printing can motivate students, connect to the curriculum, create engaging lessons, and empower students to become designers and creators using this innovative technology. The printers would allow students to print a 3D model of the artifacts they are studying in the archaeology unit of their Social Studies classes.
— Awarded to Erin Mack, Technology Integration Specialist, Maureen Trowbridge, Social Studies teacher
Year-Round Book Clubs
The addition of contemporary, high-interest, grade-appropriate texts will support year-round, informal book clubs that meet briefly every Friday in all Pollard 7th grade ELA classes. By adding a structured time and social component, the program has had success in increasing students’ independent reading.
— Awarded to Liz Welburn, ELA Department Chair, Grades 6-8
Spanish Storytelling Workshop
All elementary Spanish teachers will attend a professional development workshop with educator Carolina Gómez to learn how to incorporate storytelling into language learning for grades K-5 across the district. Stories provide an engaging way to access the target language, in addition to supporting student social and emotional learning by allowing them to participate and show what they know in a low-stakes manner while using different skill sets.
— Awarded to Delia Jodrie, Elementary Spanish teacher
Sensory Support Tools
All first grade classrooms at Broadmeadow will receive sensory-friendly seating options and therapeutic tools to support students’ efforts to regulate their own emotions and behaviors and to bolster their individual achievement as well as the time-on-task for the class as a whole.
— Awarded to Cara Karelitz, Parent, Lillian Chen, 1st Grade teacher
Civil Rights: Bringing History to Life
Performances of “The Right to Dream” by Living Voices, in addition to new high-quality, accessible, and diverse classroom reading materials about the Civil Rights Movement will support social studies and literacy integration for all grade 5 students across the district. Live theater and literature will enhance classroom instruction on the “Slavery, Civil War, and Civil Rights” unit of the new elementary social studies curriculum.
— Awarded to Brooke Kessel, Social Studies Department Chair, K-8, Jennifer Collings, Broadmeadow 5th grade teacher, Stephanie Hamel, Broadmeadow 5th grade teacher, Lisa Messina, Literacy Director K-8
Enrichment Programming
Educational enrichment activities will complement the tutoring program at the Needham Housing Authority facility on Captain Robert Cook Drive for their students who attend the Eliot, High Rock, and Pollard schools. These activities include a painter from Gorse Mill, musician David Polansky, a Jamaican storyteller, a historical reenactor, and field trips to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum and Worcester Science Center.
— Awarded to Penelope Kirk, Board Commissioner for the Needham Housing Authority