FY2023 Grant Distribution ($)
$234,000
New Approaches in the Classroom
Professional Development for Teachers
Programs Promoting Equity for All Students
FY2023 Grant Distribution (#)
60 Grants
New Approaches in the Classroom
Professional Development for Teachers
Programs Promoting Equity for All Students
NSF by the Numbers:
FY2023
- Made 60 grants totaling $234,000
- Affected 12,000+ students and faculty
- Reached all 23 schools in the NPS district (including NECP and Central HS)
- Received gifts from 900+ donors and endowment funds
- 800+ teachers recognized through NSF’s Honor Thy Teacher campaign
Programs We Fund
Over the past 11 years, Newton Schools Foundation has granted the Newton Public Schools more than $1.6 million to support initiatives across the school system.
Newton Schools Foundation Grants Funded These Programs in the Newton Public Schools
Select a category:
New Approaches in the Classroom
4K Camcorders for Technical Theatre, Video Classes and South Stage
4K Camcorders for Technical Theatre, Video Classes and South Stage
This grant enables students to learn and use the latest technology to explore culturally and personally relevant themes in both personal and collective work.
Applicant: Megan Leary-Crist
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1100
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Ball in the House
Ball in the House
Ball in the House is a professional acapella group. They will tour K-8 schools, educating students about this vocal art form. There are plans for an evening family evening event for the spring of 2023.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty, CAS
Schools: All Elementary Schools and All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $1,900
Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity
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Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity new
Ms. Landgrian will present to the elementary literacy department about creating equitable book rooms that support students’ reading. She will then model this process at Memorial-Spaulding by helping us to reorganize our books to support equity. Research shows students who read for pleasure have higher reading achievement; privileging student choice and voice in reading books is critical to fostering reading motivation. Therefore, our schools’ book rooms must reflect the skills, interests, and identities of all students. Our school’s book room has been stagnant and poorly used for a while; Ms. Landrigan has expertise in supporting schools in revitalizing book rooms and their use to promote reading engagement and achievement.
Applicant: Rebecca Lebowitz
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,250
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Classroom Library Diversification Project
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Classroom Library Diversification Project new
I am looking to update our classroom library to include books that are accessible to readers of different levels that feature more diverse characters and stories. Providing students access to books at various reading levels and in different formats (i.e. ebooks) promotes educational equity. These books can be used as tools to help students learn more about current events and important topics high schoolers are discussing with each other and, in many cases, in classes with their teachers. Reading about characters that look like them or have gone through life experiences similar to their own also prompted educational equity.
Applicant: Katie Augusta
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Connecting Through Conflict
Connecting Through Conflict new
Creating a dynamic interconnected system/curriculum for the delivering, teaching and supporting of social emotional and relational skills for the most vulnerable students at Brown. Teachers Pay Teachers lessons and subscriptions
Applicant: Kathleen Espelin
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $425
Counseling Center Initiative
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Counseling Center Initiative
The newly created Counseling Center at Newton South is being staffed by four adjustment counselors/clinical social workers. In order to address the increasing mental health needs of our students, we will be facilitating skill-building focused counseling groups.
Applicant: Sarah Style
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2308
Decodable Books for K Classrooms
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Decodable Books for K Classrooms new
The kindergarten team would like to purchase decodable texts for all students, for both the classroom library and for reading groups, so that students have the opportunity to apply skills they are learning in Fundations to decoding words in books. The Elementary Literacy Department has been promoting use of decodable texts and structured literacy lessons to support all students in growing their decoding abilities. Purchasing more decodable texts will allow us to effectively apply this learning to teaching reading. These books will help us implement research-backed approaches of teaching students to sound out (decode) unknown words, as opposed to using other cues (e.g., pictures) to guess words.
Applicant: Michelle Magno
Schools: Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,574.49
Decodeable Books for Grade One
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Decodeable Books for Grade One
Massachusetts has adopted new Dyslexia Guidelines. We want to provide books that allow children to apply the rules and patterns they are learning. Decodable books have 80% decodable words, and current series are much improved. The diverse characters in these books represent the students here at Cabot, and the take-home books will be a resource for caregivers.
Applicant: Amy Hartford & Robyn Barry, Cabot; Lauren Sacco, Memorial Spaulding
Schools: Cabot and Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2110.48
Developing Global Curriculum
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Developing Global Curriculum
This grant will allow the adaptation of curriculum from the Brown University Choices Program which encourages active vs. passive learning: students grapple with complex real-world problems, engage in perspective taking, build empathy through roleplay and understand multiple perspectives, and gain confidence in their ability to formulate arguments and articulate their thoughts through debates and discussions.
Applicant: David Bedar
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1797
Digital Storytelling and Letter Recognition/Phonetic Sounds iPad Apps
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Digital Storytelling and Letter Recognition/Phonetic Sounds iPad Apps
With the expansion of student 1:1 iPads in grades 1 and 2, the My Story School eBook Maker iPad app and the Writing Wizard will allow all grade 1 and 2 students across all elementary schools access to the same technology.
Applicant: Donna Busa, Lauren Dietz, Mary Manning, Jen Roy and Lisa Vancans
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
Dynamic Decodables
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Dynamic Decodables
This grant will provide 629 Decodable Readers for our learners. Teachers will use these books to integrate orthographic mapping, the science of reading and our balanced literacy curriculum. PD and a professional book club will support these efforts.
Applicant: Jeanne Conley
Schools: Lincoln-Eliot
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,450.72
Engaging Older Developing Readers
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Engaging Older Developing Readers
This project aims to acquire more engaging learning materials for students in the middle school grades who have very low reading and decoding skills. Many materials available at their skill level are aimed at younger, elementary students. We usually devote time during each decoding and reading class to practice previously taught skills, often through games. The games funded by this project will target specific decoding skills that our students are working on in an engaging, meaningful way. Once they have learned and become familiar with the games, it also lends opportunity to partner work and continued practice during down time or extension times.
Applicant: Tierney Leary
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $440
Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity
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Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity new
The project aims to provide neurodivergent learners with a motivating, functional, generalization-driven weekly school activity. The snack cart will provide students opportunities to build social and life skills in their community. The Students will make/deliver teacher order forms, stock the cart with materials, make the deliveries and collect payment. Our learners benefit from visual supports, so these will be developed for all tasks. IEPs goals will be embedded into the tasks including targeting math goals by working on counting and sorting supplies or social goals by engaging in conversations. We anticipate that after initial funding, the profits of running the Z Cart will cover the cost of future expenses.
Applicant: Susanne Brueggeman
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,252
Equipping Next Generation of Creatives
Equipping Next Generation of Creatives
Drawing classes will introduce larger canvases and large paper, which will allow students to step outside their comfort zone and take creative risks. Access to these new tools will help students set up comfortably.
Applicant: Abygayle Choi
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $800
Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap
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Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap new
Fifth graders will use the digital audio workstation Soundtrap to create a personal theme song based on traits and characteristics. Students will explore how to express their identity through this composition. Students will have two to three lessons to set up an account on Soundtrap, explore the basic functions, and create a sample composition. Once students have shown progress and confidence using the DAW the teacher will instruct students to create a composition that reflects a challenge or obstacle they have overcome. Students will present their final project at a 5th grade arts integration morning at school.
Applicant: Caroline Frick
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $557
Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms
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Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms new
2-K, 2-2nd Grade & 1-Reflections classrooms (5 in all) are having tiled floors installed. We are on the floor a lot for a wide variety of academic purposes (meetings, lessons, etc.). We are requesting fire retardant rugs for these classrooms. The purchase of these rugs will allow for consistency across grade levels for the comfort and utility they bring to our classrooms which will promote equity related to student experiences. They will also help make our classrooms more functional and welcoming allowing for better student participation in classroom activities.
Applicant: Thomas Joyce
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,294.25
Flexible Seating
Flexible Seating new
Purchase 4- 5 active core engagement stools, use to engage my students while allowing them to be more active when working.
Applicant: Lauren McCarthy
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $387.75
Flexible Seating in Music Classroom
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Flexible Seating in Music Classroom
Wiggle stools will help students attend to whole-class instruction in music class and give them a sense ownership and community of our learning space. With this innovative strategy, students feel ownership and comfort in the music classroom. Students who need this type of flexibility will be able to wiggle and move in a way that might help them better attend instructional portions of the music lesson through self-regulation. Engaging with these stools can activate a student's vestibular system and channel the energy of the classroom.
Applicant: Griffin Maxwell
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $164.37
Games to Promote SEL
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Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations
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Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations new
Professional Development opportunity for staff that work in secondary therapeutic programs to learn about Collaborative Problem Solving. Social emotional learning is paramount to the success of NPS students. We thrives to make sure all students can feel a level of success and well being. At the secondary level, students are struggling at an alarming rate with self regulation, school refusal and emotional dysregulation. This PD will help guide educators in how to communicate and support our vulnerable students in order to support their emotional needs and empower student.
Applicant: Dianne Lochhead
Schools: Central High
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,625
Just Right Reading Practices for All
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Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
KenKen Online as a Supplemental Math Resource in Grades K-2
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KenKen Online as a Supplemental Math Resource in Grades K-2 new
This project will provide the KenKen math app for ipads in grades k-2. KenKen is a lateral thinking math puzzle that engages student in nonroutine problem solving and promotes flexibility in solving addition and subtraction problems.
Applicant: Michael Smalley
Schools: ranklin and Pierce
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $280
Language Based Learning Program Resources
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Language Based Learning Program Resources new
Newton South High School is currently building a new special education program serving students with language- based learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This program is in need of program specific resources. Students in the LBL program will be able to access these multi-sensory resources in their small group English classes, Academic Support classes, and in their reading specialist sessions. Some of the resources will be used to support teachers with curriculum development, while others will be used by students directly to improve their reading skills with a multi-sensory approach.
Applicant: Kerri Basiga
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,042
Math Challenge Boards for All Elementary Classes
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Math Challenge Boards for All Elementary Classes
Our goal is 50% of the K-5 student body at each school submitting Challenge Math work. Teachers and staff will be involved by encouraging students to pick math challenge work when they have opportunities for academic choice. The math coach and interventionist at each school will also be involved for students to ask for help/clarification as well as recognizing the students who have completed the challenge work. We have found many positive connections are made through the Math Challenge program–students are excited for the challenges and enjoy interacting with math staff around the work. This is incredibly helpful when providing intervention–math staff are known grown ups with a positive association. Principals will be involved by being in the beginning of each school’s videos and helping to build enthusiasm with the students and families throughout the year.
Applicant: Emily Josephsohn & Nicole Feroleto
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $26,969
Math Fact Automaticity
Math Fact Automaticity
Hands-on educational games for students to practice math fact automaticity and mental math.
Applicant: Laura Boehm and Russel Hunt
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $580
Multi-Sensory Reading Instruction
Multi-Sensory Reading Instruction
This grant funds materials to enrich reading curriculum for students with special education services related specifically to decoding, spelling, reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
Applicant: Tierney Leary
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $435
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
PeaceLove CREATORS Training
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PeaceLove CREATORS Training new
The PeaceLove CREATORS Training will allow meaningful, engaging, and exciting expressive therapy workshops for students with social emotional needs to be employed. The workshops can also used for students of all ages and for NPS staff. There is an increasing number of students with social-emotional learning challenges in schools; these children have trouble accessing the curriculum and support they need. They require instruction and guidance surrounding resources and skills to use in moments of dysregulation. The delivery of expressive arts workshops aims to improve mental health through artistic expression. The workshops provide resources and skills for mental health, self-regulation skills, and social-emotional learning.
Applicant: Olivia Cohen Milligan
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Proficiency Assessments for Year 3 World Language Classes
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Proficiency Assessments for Year 3 World Language Classes
We will gather nationally normed assessment data on student reading & writing proficiency mid-way through their course of study at Newton South. This will guide teachers in our curriculum design, and help students understand progress and set goals. Students will complete the reading and writing assessments in 2 separate class sessions in the language lab. Teachers will conference with students to review the characteristics of their current proficiency level, and identify strategies to target the next level. Department will apply for NPS workshop funds to analyze data during summer of 2023. Junior year teachers will review goal plans with students in the fall.
Applicant: Suzanne Murphy-Ferguson
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,500
RAVE-O Reading Instruction
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RAVE-O Reading Instruction new
RAVE-O is a small-group, evidence-based literacy intervention curriculum for students which not only works on decoding skills, but also fluency and comprehension through analyzing words and text to help them read faster and for meaning. I have already attended the training to learn how to use the curriculum on 9/29/22. I paid for the workshop myself to see if it might be appropriate for some of our learners. The training did not come with any of the materials to implement the program, so if I receive the grant, I will purchase the kit and implement it in the winter (once the kit is received) with one or two small groups of students on my caseload (2-4 times a week), and other gen ed students needing intervention.
Applicant: Allison Hutchinson
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,548
Reading Materials to Support Language Acquisition
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Reading Materials to Support Language Acquisition
World Language teachers in all four middle schools will use these books and online reading programs to support language acquisition. These reading materials will help us pilot acquisition centered teaching methods we learned this year. We will use the reading materials to facilitate lessons that allow students to discuss characters of different identities and backgrounds. Many of the stories explore the conflicts in the lives of people who are from a variety of countries and cultural backgrounds. The materials help to facilitate conversations about how our own backgrounds and identities shape who we are and how we think.
Applicant: Joanna Modica
Schools: All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $6172
Representation in Mathematics
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Representation in Mathematics
We will provide exemplar STEAM biographical and mathematic lessons for teachers K-5, that are inclusive of diverse cultural identities. For the summer we will be doing research into people and their life work and crafting lessons. We will also be gathering and developing mathematical activities which connect to the person's work, in which students will engage during the lessons. We will also be embedding professional development opportunities for teachers. In the fall, we hope to bring to life and model the lessons in various grade levels, piloting them at our home schools.
Applicant: Bhavna Vaswani and Megan Maher
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,496.48
School Based Book Groups on Shifting the Balance: Incorporating the Science of Reading into Balanced Literacy Classrooms
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School Based Book Groups on Shifting the Balance: Incorporating the Science of Reading into Balanced Literacy Classrooms
K-2 teachers or Literacy Specialists will be provided with books to run 4 1-hour book clubs with interested colleagues in their buildings. They will learn science-based early literacy approaches. The final session will be dedicated to creating materials and resources to incorporate in their instruction.
Applicant: Deana Lew
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1152
Sensory Motor Experience
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Sensory Motor Experience new
To bring sensory motor experiences to students. Many students are able to go outside and use the playground, unfortunately some students due to safety can not. Also, when it is bad weather it is hard for some students who crave the experience. Classroom settings have limited ability to provide vestibular and proprioceptive input. This space will allow staff to provide a new innovated way to receive those inputs to better help their brains and bodies to attend in class.
Applicant: Marianne Heylin
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,306
Sensory Stops
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Sensory Stops new
Sensory tools will be provided around the building to facilitate student’s ability to regulate their sensory systems by taking sensory/movement breaks. The spots will be called Sensory Stops and be available to the entire student body. A well-regulated sensory system allows a student to attend and respond to tasks as well as engage in positive social interactions. By providing a variety of sensory tools, students will take an active part in understanding their own sensory needs with the goal of maintaining alertness for focus and participation in the school day. The items would be used in grades K-5 during PE classes and OT sessions as well as be accessible to all students for movement breaks.
Applicant: ara Fallon and Jodi Michna
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,001.34
Social Thinking Curriculum Grades K-5
Social Thinking Curriculum Grades K-5 new
Acquiring Social Thinking materials targeted for elementary students will help to support children make and maintain meaningful relationships for skills that they are not gaining and generalizing in the classroom and on the playground.
Applicant: Meredith Auscavitch
Schools: Lincoln Eliot
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $471.34
Story Champs Language Intervention Curriculum
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Story Champs Language Intervention Curriculum
The Story Champs program targets language comprehension for students with language-based and cognitive disabilities. This program is for students with diagnoses such as Down Syndrome, Autism and Fragile X. This program includes visual supports, kinesthetic cues, and can be carried over across a variety of subjects including oral language, reading comprehension, and writing.
Applicant: Megan Barberio
Schools: Cabot
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $298
Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces
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Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces new
To provide all general education teachers with quality break space tools needed to establish and maintain high quality and effective in class break spaces for all students to access throughout their school day. Having in class break spaces supports every child's mental and emotional well-being in the classroom and gives daily opportunities to engage in healthy coping skills that help students build strong connections in their classrooms, increase engagement throughout the day with academics and feel safe and supported in having individual needs met and in taking on more challenges and academic risks throughout the day. In class break spaces support stronger inclusion within the school community.
Applicant: Anna Coly
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,239.34
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing teachers and literacy staff with resources to support their on-going learning, as well as student materials is an essential part of high quality literacy instruction.
Applicant: Gena Rovelli
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,557.93
Take a Break Spaces
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Take a Break Spaces new
The project aims to obtain materials to create “Take a Break” spaces. This will provide students with a developmentally appropriate space within their classroom where they can learn to recognize and react to emotions in a healthy and productive way. “Take a Break” spaces are a tier one support which provides students with a developmentally appropriate space within their classroom where they can learn to recognize and react to emotions in a healthy and productive way. Learning self-regulation strategies at the preschool level provides students with foundational social-emotional skills they will be able to build upon throughout their academic career. These designated areas will help to facilitate a safe learning environment for all students.
Applicant: Chelsea LeBlanc
Schools: NECP
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,818
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
The Wiggles
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The Wiggles new
Many students have a lot of energy and a difficult time focusing, which leads to disruptions in the classroom. I am hoping that we can add wobbly stools to our classroom as a way for students to channel this energy they undoubtedly have. I will be introducing the wiggle stools for student use as soon as they arrive. I would be using these ongoing throughout many years to come!
Applicant: Ashley Mitchell
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $336
Therapeutic Space Development
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Therapeutic Space Development new
We are creating a therapeutic space for students in our program to utilize. With this grant we would create this space, as well as, in collaboration with our students, create a mural that is re The Compass Program is in part an academic support classroom and a program centralized around providing support for social emotional wellbeing. The academic classrooms serve their intended purpose of providing a small and quiet academic support space, however we believe it is equally important to have a space in our program geared toward social emotional wellbeing. This grant would allow us to improve the therapeutic space we are building. presentative of the Compass program values.
Applicant: Liz Connors
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,213.56
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
Using UFLI to bridge the gap for our striving readers
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Using UFLI to bridge the gap for our striving readers new
UFLI’s (University of Florida Literacy Institute) evidence-based literacy intervention program offers multisensory, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, encoding, and decoding. It successfully supports striving students in foundational literacy skills. UFLI would give all students the opportunity to access literacy foundational skills that prepare them to become confident and successful readers and writers. Intervention would target students below benchmark and provide them structured intervention to boost their literacy skills. UFLI would provide the literacy team and classroom teachers with additional teaching strategies and resources to target specific needs of students in their communities.
Applicant: Kim Andersen and Lisa Beaulieu-Jones
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $451.50
Varied Reading Assessments
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Varied Reading Assessments
The project will first be implemented by administering the tests to students in our Reading Strategies classes this spring to get measures of current performance. We will then expand to other students in academic strategies classes, and also use this as a screening tool for any student that teachers have concerns about literacy skills.
Applicant: Laura Boehm
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $421
Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries
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Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries new
Increase the number of anti-bias children's books in classroom and grade level libraries. Bowen staff will implement antiracist and culturally-responsive instruction and practices by making meaningful connections between what students learn in school and their cultures, languages, and life experiences. In order to meet the diverse needs of every student, we will increase student engagement, implement well-structured units & lessons, adjust our practices, create safe learning environments and develop subject matter knowledge. Using resources including the social justice standards, Rebellious Read Alouds: Inviting Conversations About Diversity with Children’s Books, Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books, and other resources grade level teams will identify books to integrate into the curriculum and classroom libraries.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Ball in the House
Ball in the House
Ball in the House is a professional acapella group. They will tour K-8 schools, educating students about this vocal art form. There are plans for an evening family evening event for the spring of 2023.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty, CAS
Schools: All Elementary Schools and All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $1,900
Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity
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Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity new
Ms. Landgrian will present to the elementary literacy department about creating equitable book rooms that support students’ reading. She will then model this process at Memorial-Spaulding by helping us to reorganize our books to support equity. Research shows students who read for pleasure have higher reading achievement; privileging student choice and voice in reading books is critical to fostering reading motivation. Therefore, our schools’ book rooms must reflect the skills, interests, and identities of all students. Our school’s book room has been stagnant and poorly used for a while; Ms. Landrigan has expertise in supporting schools in revitalizing book rooms and their use to promote reading engagement and achievement.
Applicant: Rebecca Lebowitz
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,250
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Decodable Books for K Classrooms
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Decodable Books for K Classrooms new
The kindergarten team would like to purchase decodable texts for all students, for both the classroom library and for reading groups, so that students have the opportunity to apply skills they are learning in Fundations to decoding words in books. The Elementary Literacy Department has been promoting use of decodable texts and structured literacy lessons to support all students in growing their decoding abilities. Purchasing more decodable texts will allow us to effectively apply this learning to teaching reading. These books will help us implement research-backed approaches of teaching students to sound out (decode) unknown words, as opposed to using other cues (e.g., pictures) to guess words.
Applicant: Michelle Magno
Schools: Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,574.49
Decodeable Books for Grade One
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Decodeable Books for Grade One
Massachusetts has adopted new Dyslexia Guidelines. We want to provide books that allow children to apply the rules and patterns they are learning. Decodable books have 80% decodable words, and current series are much improved. The diverse characters in these books represent the students here at Cabot, and the take-home books will be a resource for caregivers.
Applicant: Amy Hartford & Robyn Barry, Cabot; Lauren Sacco, Memorial Spaulding
Schools: Cabot and Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2110.48
Digital Storytelling and Letter Recognition/Phonetic Sounds iPad Apps
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Digital Storytelling and Letter Recognition/Phonetic Sounds iPad Apps
With the expansion of student 1:1 iPads in grades 1 and 2, the My Story School eBook Maker iPad app and the Writing Wizard will allow all grade 1 and 2 students across all elementary schools access to the same technology.
Applicant: Donna Busa, Lauren Dietz, Mary Manning, Jen Roy and Lisa Vancans
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
Dynamic Decodables
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Dynamic Decodables
This grant will provide 629 Decodable Readers for our learners. Teachers will use these books to integrate orthographic mapping, the science of reading and our balanced literacy curriculum. PD and a professional book club will support these efforts.
Applicant: Jeanne Conley
Schools: Lincoln-Eliot
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,450.72
Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity
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Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity new
The project aims to provide neurodivergent learners with a motivating, functional, generalization-driven weekly school activity. The snack cart will provide students opportunities to build social and life skills in their community. The Students will make/deliver teacher order forms, stock the cart with materials, make the deliveries and collect payment. Our learners benefit from visual supports, so these will be developed for all tasks. IEPs goals will be embedded into the tasks including targeting math goals by working on counting and sorting supplies or social goals by engaging in conversations. We anticipate that after initial funding, the profits of running the Z Cart will cover the cost of future expenses.
Applicant: Susanne Brueggeman
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,252
Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap
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Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap new
Fifth graders will use the digital audio workstation Soundtrap to create a personal theme song based on traits and characteristics. Students will explore how to express their identity through this composition. Students will have two to three lessons to set up an account on Soundtrap, explore the basic functions, and create a sample composition. Once students have shown progress and confidence using the DAW the teacher will instruct students to create a composition that reflects a challenge or obstacle they have overcome. Students will present their final project at a 5th grade arts integration morning at school.
Applicant: Caroline Frick
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $557
Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms
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Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms new
2-K, 2-2nd Grade & 1-Reflections classrooms (5 in all) are having tiled floors installed. We are on the floor a lot for a wide variety of academic purposes (meetings, lessons, etc.). We are requesting fire retardant rugs for these classrooms. The purchase of these rugs will allow for consistency across grade levels for the comfort and utility they bring to our classrooms which will promote equity related to student experiences. They will also help make our classrooms more functional and welcoming allowing for better student participation in classroom activities.
Applicant: Thomas Joyce
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,294.25
Flexible Seating
Flexible Seating new
Purchase 4- 5 active core engagement stools, use to engage my students while allowing them to be more active when working.
Applicant: Lauren McCarthy
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $387.75
Flexible Seating in Music Classroom
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Flexible Seating in Music Classroom
Wiggle stools will help students attend to whole-class instruction in music class and give them a sense ownership and community of our learning space. With this innovative strategy, students feel ownership and comfort in the music classroom. Students who need this type of flexibility will be able to wiggle and move in a way that might help them better attend instructional portions of the music lesson through self-regulation. Engaging with these stools can activate a student's vestibular system and channel the energy of the classroom.
Applicant: Griffin Maxwell
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $164.37
Games to Promote SEL
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Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Just Right Reading Practices for All
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Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
KenKen Online as a Supplemental Math Resource in Grades K-2
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KenKen Online as a Supplemental Math Resource in Grades K-2 new
This project will provide the KenKen math app for ipads in grades k-2. KenKen is a lateral thinking math puzzle that engages student in nonroutine problem solving and promotes flexibility in solving addition and subtraction problems.
Applicant: Michael Smalley
Schools: ranklin and Pierce
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $280
Math Challenge Boards for All Elementary Classes
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Math Challenge Boards for All Elementary Classes
Our goal is 50% of the K-5 student body at each school submitting Challenge Math work. Teachers and staff will be involved by encouraging students to pick math challenge work when they have opportunities for academic choice. The math coach and interventionist at each school will also be involved for students to ask for help/clarification as well as recognizing the students who have completed the challenge work. We have found many positive connections are made through the Math Challenge program–students are excited for the challenges and enjoy interacting with math staff around the work. This is incredibly helpful when providing intervention–math staff are known grown ups with a positive association. Principals will be involved by being in the beginning of each school’s videos and helping to build enthusiasm with the students and families throughout the year.
Applicant: Emily Josephsohn & Nicole Feroleto
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $26,969
PeaceLove CREATORS Training
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PeaceLove CREATORS Training new
The PeaceLove CREATORS Training will allow meaningful, engaging, and exciting expressive therapy workshops for students with social emotional needs to be employed. The workshops can also used for students of all ages and for NPS staff. There is an increasing number of students with social-emotional learning challenges in schools; these children have trouble accessing the curriculum and support they need. They require instruction and guidance surrounding resources and skills to use in moments of dysregulation. The delivery of expressive arts workshops aims to improve mental health through artistic expression. The workshops provide resources and skills for mental health, self-regulation skills, and social-emotional learning.
Applicant: Olivia Cohen Milligan
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
RAVE-O Reading Instruction
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RAVE-O Reading Instruction new
RAVE-O is a small-group, evidence-based literacy intervention curriculum for students which not only works on decoding skills, but also fluency and comprehension through analyzing words and text to help them read faster and for meaning. I have already attended the training to learn how to use the curriculum on 9/29/22. I paid for the workshop myself to see if it might be appropriate for some of our learners. The training did not come with any of the materials to implement the program, so if I receive the grant, I will purchase the kit and implement it in the winter (once the kit is received) with one or two small groups of students on my caseload (2-4 times a week), and other gen ed students needing intervention.
Applicant: Allison Hutchinson
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,548
Representation in Mathematics
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Representation in Mathematics
We will provide exemplar STEAM biographical and mathematic lessons for teachers K-5, that are inclusive of diverse cultural identities. For the summer we will be doing research into people and their life work and crafting lessons. We will also be gathering and developing mathematical activities which connect to the person's work, in which students will engage during the lessons. We will also be embedding professional development opportunities for teachers. In the fall, we hope to bring to life and model the lessons in various grade levels, piloting them at our home schools.
Applicant: Bhavna Vaswani and Megan Maher
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,496.48
School Based Book Groups on Shifting the Balance: Incorporating the Science of Reading into Balanced Literacy Classrooms
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School Based Book Groups on Shifting the Balance: Incorporating the Science of Reading into Balanced Literacy Classrooms
K-2 teachers or Literacy Specialists will be provided with books to run 4 1-hour book clubs with interested colleagues in their buildings. They will learn science-based early literacy approaches. The final session will be dedicated to creating materials and resources to incorporate in their instruction.
Applicant: Deana Lew
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1152
Sensory Motor Experience
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Sensory Motor Experience new
To bring sensory motor experiences to students. Many students are able to go outside and use the playground, unfortunately some students due to safety can not. Also, when it is bad weather it is hard for some students who crave the experience. Classroom settings have limited ability to provide vestibular and proprioceptive input. This space will allow staff to provide a new innovated way to receive those inputs to better help their brains and bodies to attend in class.
Applicant: Marianne Heylin
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,306
Sensory Stops
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Sensory Stops new
Sensory tools will be provided around the building to facilitate student’s ability to regulate their sensory systems by taking sensory/movement breaks. The spots will be called Sensory Stops and be available to the entire student body. A well-regulated sensory system allows a student to attend and respond to tasks as well as engage in positive social interactions. By providing a variety of sensory tools, students will take an active part in understanding their own sensory needs with the goal of maintaining alertness for focus and participation in the school day. The items would be used in grades K-5 during PE classes and OT sessions as well as be accessible to all students for movement breaks.
Applicant: ara Fallon and Jodi Michna
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,001.34
Social Thinking Curriculum Grades K-5
Social Thinking Curriculum Grades K-5 new
Acquiring Social Thinking materials targeted for elementary students will help to support children make and maintain meaningful relationships for skills that they are not gaining and generalizing in the classroom and on the playground.
Applicant: Meredith Auscavitch
Schools: Lincoln Eliot
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $471.34
Story Champs Language Intervention Curriculum
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Story Champs Language Intervention Curriculum
The Story Champs program targets language comprehension for students with language-based and cognitive disabilities. This program is for students with diagnoses such as Down Syndrome, Autism and Fragile X. This program includes visual supports, kinesthetic cues, and can be carried over across a variety of subjects including oral language, reading comprehension, and writing.
Applicant: Megan Barberio
Schools: Cabot
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $298
Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces
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Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces new
To provide all general education teachers with quality break space tools needed to establish and maintain high quality and effective in class break spaces for all students to access throughout their school day. Having in class break spaces supports every child's mental and emotional well-being in the classroom and gives daily opportunities to engage in healthy coping skills that help students build strong connections in their classrooms, increase engagement throughout the day with academics and feel safe and supported in having individual needs met and in taking on more challenges and academic risks throughout the day. In class break spaces support stronger inclusion within the school community.
Applicant: Anna Coly
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,239.34
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing teachers and literacy staff with resources to support their on-going learning, as well as student materials is an essential part of high quality literacy instruction.
Applicant: Gena Rovelli
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,557.93
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
The Wiggles
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The Wiggles new
Many students have a lot of energy and a difficult time focusing, which leads to disruptions in the classroom. I am hoping that we can add wobbly stools to our classroom as a way for students to channel this energy they undoubtedly have. I will be introducing the wiggle stools for student use as soon as they arrive. I would be using these ongoing throughout many years to come!
Applicant: Ashley Mitchell
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $336
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
Using UFLI to bridge the gap for our striving readers
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Using UFLI to bridge the gap for our striving readers new
UFLI’s (University of Florida Literacy Institute) evidence-based literacy intervention program offers multisensory, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, encoding, and decoding. It successfully supports striving students in foundational literacy skills. UFLI would give all students the opportunity to access literacy foundational skills that prepare them to become confident and successful readers and writers. Intervention would target students below benchmark and provide them structured intervention to boost their literacy skills. UFLI would provide the literacy team and classroom teachers with additional teaching strategies and resources to target specific needs of students in their communities.
Applicant: Kim Andersen and Lisa Beaulieu-Jones
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $451.50
Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries
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Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries new
Increase the number of anti-bias children's books in classroom and grade level libraries. Bowen staff will implement antiracist and culturally-responsive instruction and practices by making meaningful connections between what students learn in school and their cultures, languages, and life experiences. In order to meet the diverse needs of every student, we will increase student engagement, implement well-structured units & lessons, adjust our practices, create safe learning environments and develop subject matter knowledge. Using resources including the social justice standards, Rebellious Read Alouds: Inviting Conversations About Diversity with Children’s Books, Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books, and other resources grade level teams will identify books to integrate into the curriculum and classroom libraries.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Ball in the House
Ball in the House
Ball in the House is a professional acapella group. They will tour K-8 schools, educating students about this vocal art form. There are plans for an evening family evening event for the spring of 2023.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty, CAS
Schools: All Elementary Schools and All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $1,900
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Connecting Through Conflict
Connecting Through Conflict new
Creating a dynamic interconnected system/curriculum for the delivering, teaching and supporting of social emotional and relational skills for the most vulnerable students at Brown. Teachers Pay Teachers lessons and subscriptions
Applicant: Kathleen Espelin
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $425
Engaging Older Developing Readers
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Engaging Older Developing Readers
This project aims to acquire more engaging learning materials for students in the middle school grades who have very low reading and decoding skills. Many materials available at their skill level are aimed at younger, elementary students. We usually devote time during each decoding and reading class to practice previously taught skills, often through games. The games funded by this project will target specific decoding skills that our students are working on in an engaging, meaningful way. Once they have learned and become familiar with the games, it also lends opportunity to partner work and continued practice during down time or extension times.
Applicant: Tierney Leary
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $440
Math Fact Automaticity
Math Fact Automaticity
Hands-on educational games for students to practice math fact automaticity and mental math.
Applicant: Laura Boehm and Russel Hunt
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $580
Multi-Sensory Reading Instruction
Multi-Sensory Reading Instruction
This grant funds materials to enrich reading curriculum for students with special education services related specifically to decoding, spelling, reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
Applicant: Tierney Leary
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $435
Reading Materials to Support Language Acquisition
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Reading Materials to Support Language Acquisition
World Language teachers in all four middle schools will use these books and online reading programs to support language acquisition. These reading materials will help us pilot acquisition centered teaching methods we learned this year. We will use the reading materials to facilitate lessons that allow students to discuss characters of different identities and backgrounds. Many of the stories explore the conflicts in the lives of people who are from a variety of countries and cultural backgrounds. The materials help to facilitate conversations about how our own backgrounds and identities shape who we are and how we think.
Applicant: Joanna Modica
Schools: All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $6172
Varied Reading Assessments
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Varied Reading Assessments
The project will first be implemented by administering the tests to students in our Reading Strategies classes this spring to get measures of current performance. We will then expand to other students in academic strategies classes, and also use this as a screening tool for any student that teachers have concerns about literacy skills.
Applicant: Laura Boehm
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $421
4K Camcorders for Technical Theatre, Video Classes and South Stage
4K Camcorders for Technical Theatre, Video Classes and South Stage
This grant enables students to learn and use the latest technology to explore culturally and personally relevant themes in both personal and collective work.
Applicant: Megan Leary-Crist
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1100
Classroom Library Diversification Project
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Classroom Library Diversification Project new
I am looking to update our classroom library to include books that are accessible to readers of different levels that feature more diverse characters and stories. Providing students access to books at various reading levels and in different formats (i.e. ebooks) promotes educational equity. These books can be used as tools to help students learn more about current events and important topics high schoolers are discussing with each other and, in many cases, in classes with their teachers. Reading about characters that look like them or have gone through life experiences similar to their own also prompted educational equity.
Applicant: Katie Augusta
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
Counseling Center Initiative
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Counseling Center Initiative
The newly created Counseling Center at Newton South is being staffed by four adjustment counselors/clinical social workers. In order to address the increasing mental health needs of our students, we will be facilitating skill-building focused counseling groups.
Applicant: Sarah Style
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2308
Developing Global Curriculum
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Developing Global Curriculum
This grant will allow the adaptation of curriculum from the Brown University Choices Program which encourages active vs. passive learning: students grapple with complex real-world problems, engage in perspective taking, build empathy through roleplay and understand multiple perspectives, and gain confidence in their ability to formulate arguments and articulate their thoughts through debates and discussions.
Applicant: David Bedar
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $1797
Equipping Next Generation of Creatives
Equipping Next Generation of Creatives
Drawing classes will introduce larger canvases and large paper, which will allow students to step outside their comfort zone and take creative risks. Access to these new tools will help students set up comfortably.
Applicant: Abygayle Choi
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $800
Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations
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Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations new
Professional Development opportunity for staff that work in secondary therapeutic programs to learn about Collaborative Problem Solving. Social emotional learning is paramount to the success of NPS students. We thrives to make sure all students can feel a level of success and well being. At the secondary level, students are struggling at an alarming rate with self regulation, school refusal and emotional dysregulation. This PD will help guide educators in how to communicate and support our vulnerable students in order to support their emotional needs and empower student.
Applicant: Dianne Lochhead
Schools: Central High
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,625
Language Based Learning Program Resources
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Language Based Learning Program Resources new
Newton South High School is currently building a new special education program serving students with language- based learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This program is in need of program specific resources. Students in the LBL program will be able to access these multi-sensory resources in their small group English classes, Academic Support classes, and in their reading specialist sessions. Some of the resources will be used to support teachers with curriculum development, while others will be used by students directly to improve their reading skills with a multi-sensory approach.
Applicant: Kerri Basiga
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,042
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
Therapeutic Space Development
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Therapeutic Space Development new
We are creating a therapeutic space for students in our program to utilize. With this grant we would create this space, as well as, in collaboration with our students, create a mural that is re The Compass Program is in part an academic support classroom and a program centralized around providing support for social emotional wellbeing. The academic classrooms serve their intended purpose of providing a small and quiet academic support space, however we believe it is equally important to have a space in our program geared toward social emotional wellbeing. This grant would allow us to improve the therapeutic space we are building. presentative of the Compass program values.
Applicant: Liz Connors
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,213.56
Professional Development for Teachers
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Atrium Summer Math Institute
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Atrium Summer Math Institute new
I want to attend a pd over the summer at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. The Atrium Summer Institute is a three-day, in-person program that provides teachers to learn together, inspiring curricular shifts at their school site. The Atrium Summer Institute aligns with "professional development" and "programs that promote equity for all students". By challenging and changing middle school math, by allowing and encouraging visual representations, I provide students a more equitable experience in math because I am broadening what is considered mathematics and how we can show our math.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilardi
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $450
Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity
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Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity new
Ms. Landgrian will present to the elementary literacy department about creating equitable book rooms that support students’ reading. She will then model this process at Memorial-Spaulding by helping us to reorganize our books to support equity. Research shows students who read for pleasure have higher reading achievement; privileging student choice and voice in reading books is critical to fostering reading motivation. Therefore, our schools’ book rooms must reflect the skills, interests, and identities of all students. Our school’s book room has been stagnant and poorly used for a while; Ms. Landrigan has expertise in supporting schools in revitalizing book rooms and their use to promote reading engagement and achievement.
Applicant: Rebecca Lebowitz
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,250
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Comprehensive Input Training Project
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Comprehensive Input Training Project new
Last year all the world language teachers received eye opening training about a teaching strategy called Comprehensible Input (CI). However, there are not many CI skills and knowledge that are shared about Chinese, because almost all the CI training is focused on romance languages. Therefore, this year, I want to write a separate grant for all the Chinese teachers who are interested in Chinese CI workshops. We did some basic research and we found a Chinese teacher who is a pioneer of Chinese CI teaching. Her name is Haiyun Lu. She is one of the Chinese CI teachers that we want to have a zoom training with.
Applicant: Yiran Zhang
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Connecting Through Conflict
Connecting Through Conflict new
Creating a dynamic interconnected system/curriculum for the delivering, teaching and supporting of social emotional and relational skills for the most vulnerable students at Brown. Teachers Pay Teachers lessons and subscriptions
Applicant: Kathleen Espelin
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $425
Diversifying Franklin School’s Academic Testing Kits
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Diversifying Franklin School’s Academic Testing Kits new
The PAT-2:NU would help Franklin evaluators have more standardized measures to choose from when evaluating students for special education eligibility, especially in the younger grades. The decoding component is not found in other measures we have. Having the right tools and measures is crucial for special education teachers to develop appropriate goals and objectives for student IEP if they qualify. The PAT-2 gives a more specific look into phonological awareness skills that is not always as clear for student in grades K-2, although phonological awareness is a necessary skill for them to have in their early reading years. Having a variety of assessment tools also helps us meet the new MA Dyslexia legislature requirements.
Applicant: Kathleen Perry
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $274.35
Educational ASL Interpreter Professional Development
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Educational ASL Interpreter Professional Development
Professional development for ASL interpreter to improve services for deaf students at F.A. Day. Build ASL interpreting skills utilized in the educational setting. Gain more knowledge on how to inform teachers and staff how to better serve deaf students.
Applicant: Sarah Pepitone
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $425
Enhancing Early Literacy Instruction by Incorporating Current Research
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Enhancing Early Literacy Instruction by Incorporating Current Research
K-2 teachers will receive PD sessions from the Crafting Minds Group introducing key findings from cognitive neuroscience and behavioral research about the "reading circuit" and practical implications for instruction. These sessions will be followed by in-building PLC meetings and coaching by literacy specialists introducing orthographic mapping and sight word instruction, building/enhancing phonemic awareness routines, balancing predictable and decodable text, and prompting readers.
Applicant: Deana Lew
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2500
Games to Promote SEL
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Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Intervention for Dyslexic Students
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Intervention for Dyslexic Students new
- The purpose of this project is to provide equitable supports that target the specific needs and learning styles (multisensory reading instruction) of the dyslexic students in our school.
- The curriculum requested will be used daily to target an increase in reading skills. The curriculum can be utilized with students at different levels and instruction will be individualized to their specific needs. The materials will be used in both 4th and 5th grade co-taught classrooms by teachers trained by the author and creator of the curriculum materials (Karen Sonday).
Applicant: Alexandra Salvatore
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,449
Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations
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Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations new
Professional Development opportunity for staff that work in secondary therapeutic programs to learn about Collaborative Problem Solving. Social emotional learning is paramount to the success of NPS students. We thrives to make sure all students can feel a level of success and well being. At the secondary level, students are struggling at an alarming rate with self regulation, school refusal and emotional dysregulation. This PD will help guide educators in how to communicate and support our vulnerable students in order to support their emotional needs and empower student.
Applicant: Dianne Lochhead
Schools: Central High
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,625
Just Right Reading Practices for All
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Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting
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Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting new
The proposal will support the MS ELA coordinator in presenting a paper at the Literacy Research Association (LRA) annual meeting, providing a powerful opportunity to learn from other presenters and bring cutting-edge literacy research back to NPS. The middle school ELA coordinator will present her research paper on a panel called “Crossing Boundaries and Borders to Interrogate Curricular Practices” and engage with discussion around relevant topics (e.g. equitable writing assessment and pedagogy) with other panelists. She will also attend sessions addressing all facets of literacy research and literacy instruction over the course of the 3-day conference and network with leading thinkers and practitioners in the field.
Applicant: Joelle Pedersen
Schools: K-8/District
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,100
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
NNHS Civic Action Projects
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NNHS Civic Action Projects
Teachers from across disciplines at Newton North High School will new Civics Action projects their curriculum. Additional participants will also include teacher/leaders who will manage and run the training workshops, and civic action project coordinators to help facilitate pilot civic action projects in the classrooms.
Applicant: Claudia Wu, Terry Yoffie, Greg Drake
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $4800
Patterns of Power
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Patterns of Power
Funding for the proposed project will enable all middle school ELA teachers to receive 3 hours of PD around the new grammar program the department is adopting, Patterns of Power, by one of the program developers. This grant directly supports the professional growth of Newton educators by enabling middle school ELA teachers to deepen their knowledge about the conventions of language and functional approaches to grammar instruction.
Applicant: Joelle Pedersen
Schools: All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $3,619
PD for Mental Health Staff
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PD for Mental Health Staff new
The mental health and social and emotional well being of our students remains a district priority, however, mental health staff get no opportunities for professional learning in district. Unlike our other colleagues who receive ongoing and relevant professional learning, mental health staff are forced to pay for their own professional learning outside of the district. Since COVID, and the mental health crisis that has followed, school mental health needs are as intense and dynamic as ever.
Applicant: Jesse Krotick
Schools: District Wide
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $10,000
Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade
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Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade new
- Fly Five is a SEL curriculum developed on the belief that in order for students to be academically, socially, and behaviorally successful in, out of, and beyond school, they need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies.
- Timeline and activities are hard to speculate without looking at the materials. With potential funding, the curriculum plans for 3 core lessons per weekly unit so we will have to look at how many units there are and the hope is that I would implement during our departmentalized blocks so the entire grade level gets access to this curricular support:
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,305
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Professional Development: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students
Professional Development: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students
17 social emotional learning interventionists across all elementary schools will attend the professional development run by Jessica Minahan: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students.
Applicant: Maria Kolbe
Schools: Districtwide
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2040
Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) Training
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Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) Training new
I will attend a 3 day training and become certified in PEERS. This program is the only evidence-based social skills intervention for teens with autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other socio-emotional problems. As an SLP working with students with pragmatic language disorders, I have extensive training in Social Thinking. While this methodology is well suited for elementary age students, it fails to meet the complex needs of high schoolers. PEERS is a much needed new approach! With this PD opportunity, I can help students meet their IEP goals through a specialized social skills curriculum. This program promotes equity for our neurodiverse population.
Applicant: Katie Morris
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
RAVE-O Reading Instruction
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RAVE-O Reading Instruction new
RAVE-O is a small-group, evidence-based literacy intervention curriculum for students which not only works on decoding skills, but also fluency and comprehension through analyzing words and text to help them read faster and for meaning. I have already attended the training to learn how to use the curriculum on 9/29/22. I paid for the workshop myself to see if it might be appropriate for some of our learners. The training did not come with any of the materials to implement the program, so if I receive the grant, I will purchase the kit and implement it in the winter (once the kit is received) with one or two small groups of students on my caseload (2-4 times a week), and other gen ed students needing intervention.
Applicant: Allison Hutchinson
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,548
Social Thinking Training for Burr Special Educators
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Social Thinking Training for Burr Special Educators new
Members of Burr's special education team who provide social skills support to students would like to attend the research based Social Thinking Conference in October 2023, in Boston. The Social Thinking Methodology provides evidence-based strategies to help children (and adults) develop their social competencies, flexible thinking & social problem solving. This training would provide us with up to date tools and skills to provide consistent support and alignment amongst the special educators in our building. This impacts individual students, small groups, and our consultation practice with other educators in the building and within our departments.
Applicant: Nickie Eastburn
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,967.00
Staff Book Discussion – Racial Identity Development
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Staff Book Discussion – Racial Identity Development
A book group with the books selected creates a safe environment in which staff will grapple with issues of race, diversity, inclusion and equity. These discussions will deepen the staffs’ awareness of our individual journeys along this path.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $746.87
Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success
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Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success new
Swivl attaches to a recording device (iPad pro) and five markers placed in a classroom. It follows teacher movements and records local conversations at each marker. Swivl enables deep analysis of classroom practices and intervention strategies. Teacher learning communities will use Swivl to participate in a “critical friends” protocol. We will compare the successes and challenges of implementing UDL strategies within our own classrooms over time and across different groups of students. Content intervention coordinators will use data collected by Swivl to provide targeted supports, structures, and challenges for students. Assistant Department Heads will use Swivl as an instructional coaching tool.
Applicant: Michele Widener
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $7,281
Teachers as Scholars
Teachers as Scholars
Teachers participate in a multi-day seminar led by a leading professor in humanities, social sciences, teacher collaboration, and curriculum development.
Applicant: Kate Shaughnessy English Teacher, Newton North
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2600
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
V&V Training & Curriculum
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V&V Training & Curriculum
Special educators will complete a four day training and overview of the Verbalizing and Visualizing program. They will begin using the program with students in the fall 2022. In the winter of 2022/2023 they will develop ways to consult with classroom teachers toprovide ways to incorporate the skills learned into the classroom. The plan is to be able to share the work with other special education teams within the district by spring of 2023.
Applicant: Stacey Crocker
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2500
Wilson Reading (Steps 7-12)
Wilson Reading (Steps 7-12)
This research based reading instruction is crucial in Tier 3 instruction. Certified teacher will participate in self guide and learn new program and will consult with interested teachers needing to advance in WRS instruction.
Applicant: Shoshana Anapolle
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $933.40
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Atrium Summer Math Institute
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Atrium Summer Math Institute new
I want to attend a pd over the summer at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. The Atrium Summer Institute is a three-day, in-person program that provides teachers to learn together, inspiring curricular shifts at their school site. The Atrium Summer Institute aligns with "professional development" and "programs that promote equity for all students". By challenging and changing middle school math, by allowing and encouraging visual representations, I provide students a more equitable experience in math because I am broadening what is considered mathematics and how we can show our math.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilardi
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $450
Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity
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Book Room Refresh for Academic Excellence and Equity new
Ms. Landgrian will present to the elementary literacy department about creating equitable book rooms that support students’ reading. She will then model this process at Memorial-Spaulding by helping us to reorganize our books to support equity. Research shows students who read for pleasure have higher reading achievement; privileging student choice and voice in reading books is critical to fostering reading motivation. Therefore, our schools’ book rooms must reflect the skills, interests, and identities of all students. Our school’s book room has been stagnant and poorly used for a while; Ms. Landrigan has expertise in supporting schools in revitalizing book rooms and their use to promote reading engagement and achievement.
Applicant: Rebecca Lebowitz
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,250
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Diversifying Franklin School’s Academic Testing Kits
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Diversifying Franklin School’s Academic Testing Kits new
The PAT-2:NU would help Franklin evaluators have more standardized measures to choose from when evaluating students for special education eligibility, especially in the younger grades. The decoding component is not found in other measures we have. Having the right tools and measures is crucial for special education teachers to develop appropriate goals and objectives for student IEP if they qualify. The PAT-2 gives a more specific look into phonological awareness skills that is not always as clear for student in grades K-2, although phonological awareness is a necessary skill for them to have in their early reading years. Having a variety of assessment tools also helps us meet the new MA Dyslexia legislature requirements.
Applicant: Kathleen Perry
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $274.35
Enhancing Early Literacy Instruction by Incorporating Current Research
READ MORE
Enhancing Early Literacy Instruction by Incorporating Current Research
K-2 teachers will receive PD sessions from the Crafting Minds Group introducing key findings from cognitive neuroscience and behavioral research about the "reading circuit" and practical implications for instruction. These sessions will be followed by in-building PLC meetings and coaching by literacy specialists introducing orthographic mapping and sight word instruction, building/enhancing phonemic awareness routines, balancing predictable and decodable text, and prompting readers.
Applicant: Deana Lew
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2500
Games to Promote SEL
READ MORE
Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Intervention for Dyslexic Students
READ MORE
Intervention for Dyslexic Students new
- The purpose of this project is to provide equitable supports that target the specific needs and learning styles (multisensory reading instruction) of the dyslexic students in our school.
- The curriculum requested will be used daily to target an increase in reading skills. The curriculum can be utilized with students at different levels and instruction will be individualized to their specific needs. The materials will be used in both 4th and 5th grade co-taught classrooms by teachers trained by the author and creator of the curriculum materials (Karen Sonday).
Applicant: Alexandra Salvatore
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,449
Just Right Reading Practices for All
READ MORE
Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting
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Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting new
The proposal will support the MS ELA coordinator in presenting a paper at the Literacy Research Association (LRA) annual meeting, providing a powerful opportunity to learn from other presenters and bring cutting-edge literacy research back to NPS. The middle school ELA coordinator will present her research paper on a panel called “Crossing Boundaries and Borders to Interrogate Curricular Practices” and engage with discussion around relevant topics (e.g. equitable writing assessment and pedagogy) with other panelists. She will also attend sessions addressing all facets of literacy research and literacy instruction over the course of the 3-day conference and network with leading thinkers and practitioners in the field.
Applicant: Joelle Pedersen
Schools: K-8/District
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,100
PD for Mental Health Staff
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PD for Mental Health Staff new
The mental health and social and emotional well being of our students remains a district priority, however, mental health staff get no opportunities for professional learning in district. Unlike our other colleagues who receive ongoing and relevant professional learning, mental health staff are forced to pay for their own professional learning outside of the district. Since COVID, and the mental health crisis that has followed, school mental health needs are as intense and dynamic as ever.
Applicant: Jesse Krotick
Schools: District Wide
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $10,000
Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade
READ MORE
Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade new
- Fly Five is a SEL curriculum developed on the belief that in order for students to be academically, socially, and behaviorally successful in, out of, and beyond school, they need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies.
- Timeline and activities are hard to speculate without looking at the materials. With potential funding, the curriculum plans for 3 core lessons per weekly unit so we will have to look at how many units there are and the hope is that I would implement during our departmentalized blocks so the entire grade level gets access to this curricular support:
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,305
Professional Development: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students
Professional Development: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students
17 social emotional learning interventionists across all elementary schools will attend the professional development run by Jessica Minahan: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Students.
Applicant: Maria Kolbe
Schools: Districtwide
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2040
RAVE-O Reading Instruction
READ MORE
RAVE-O Reading Instruction new
RAVE-O is a small-group, evidence-based literacy intervention curriculum for students which not only works on decoding skills, but also fluency and comprehension through analyzing words and text to help them read faster and for meaning. I have already attended the training to learn how to use the curriculum on 9/29/22. I paid for the workshop myself to see if it might be appropriate for some of our learners. The training did not come with any of the materials to implement the program, so if I receive the grant, I will purchase the kit and implement it in the winter (once the kit is received) with one or two small groups of students on my caseload (2-4 times a week), and other gen ed students needing intervention.
Applicant: Allison Hutchinson
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,548
Social Thinking Training for Burr Special Educators
READ MORE
Social Thinking Training for Burr Special Educators new
Members of Burr's special education team who provide social skills support to students would like to attend the research based Social Thinking Conference in October 2023, in Boston. The Social Thinking Methodology provides evidence-based strategies to help children (and adults) develop their social competencies, flexible thinking & social problem solving. This training would provide us with up to date tools and skills to provide consistent support and alignment amongst the special educators in our building. This impacts individual students, small groups, and our consultation practice with other educators in the building and within our departments.
Applicant: Nickie Eastburn
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,967.00
Staff Book Discussion – Racial Identity Development
READ MORE
Staff Book Discussion – Racial Identity Development
A book group with the books selected creates a safe environment in which staff will grapple with issues of race, diversity, inclusion and equity. These discussions will deepen the staffs’ awareness of our individual journeys along this path.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $746.87
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
V&V Training & Curriculum
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V&V Training & Curriculum
Special educators will complete a four day training and overview of the Verbalizing and Visualizing program. They will begin using the program with students in the fall 2022. In the winter of 2022/2023 they will develop ways to consult with classroom teachers toprovide ways to incorporate the skills learned into the classroom. The plan is to be able to share the work with other special education teams within the district by spring of 2023.
Applicant: Stacey Crocker
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2500
Wilson Reading (Steps 7-12)
Wilson Reading (Steps 7-12)
This research based reading instruction is crucial in Tier 3 instruction. Certified teacher will participate in self guide and learn new program and will consult with interested teachers needing to advance in WRS instruction.
Applicant: Shoshana Anapolle
Schools: Countryside
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $933.40
Comprehensive Input Training Project
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Comprehensive Input Training Project new
Last year all the world language teachers received eye opening training about a teaching strategy called Comprehensible Input (CI). However, there are not many CI skills and knowledge that are shared about Chinese, because almost all the CI training is focused on romance languages. Therefore, this year, I want to write a separate grant for all the Chinese teachers who are interested in Chinese CI workshops. We did some basic research and we found a Chinese teacher who is a pioneer of Chinese CI teaching. Her name is Haiyun Lu. She is one of the Chinese CI teachers that we want to have a zoom training with.
Applicant: Yiran Zhang
Schools: Oak Hill
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Connecting Through Conflict
Connecting Through Conflict new
Creating a dynamic interconnected system/curriculum for the delivering, teaching and supporting of social emotional and relational skills for the most vulnerable students at Brown. Teachers Pay Teachers lessons and subscriptions
Applicant: Kathleen Espelin
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $425
Educational ASL Interpreter Professional Development
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Educational ASL Interpreter Professional Development
Professional development for ASL interpreter to improve services for deaf students at F.A. Day. Build ASL interpreting skills utilized in the educational setting. Gain more knowledge on how to inform teachers and staff how to better serve deaf students.
Applicant: Sarah Pepitone
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $425
Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting
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Literacy Research Annual Association Meeting new
The proposal will support the MS ELA coordinator in presenting a paper at the Literacy Research Association (LRA) annual meeting, providing a powerful opportunity to learn from other presenters and bring cutting-edge literacy research back to NPS. The middle school ELA coordinator will present her research paper on a panel called “Crossing Boundaries and Borders to Interrogate Curricular Practices” and engage with discussion around relevant topics (e.g. equitable writing assessment and pedagogy) with other panelists. She will also attend sessions addressing all facets of literacy research and literacy instruction over the course of the 3-day conference and network with leading thinkers and practitioners in the field.
Applicant: Joelle Pedersen
Schools: K-8/District
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,100
Patterns of Power
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Patterns of Power
Funding for the proposed project will enable all middle school ELA teachers to receive 3 hours of PD around the new grammar program the department is adopting, Patterns of Power, by one of the program developers. This grant directly supports the professional growth of Newton educators by enabling middle school ELA teachers to deepen their knowledge about the conventions of language and functional approaches to grammar instruction.
Applicant: Joelle Pedersen
Schools: All Middle Schools
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $3,619
PD for Mental Health Staff
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PD for Mental Health Staff new
The mental health and social and emotional well being of our students remains a district priority, however, mental health staff get no opportunities for professional learning in district. Unlike our other colleagues who receive ongoing and relevant professional learning, mental health staff are forced to pay for their own professional learning outside of the district. Since COVID, and the mental health crisis that has followed, school mental health needs are as intense and dynamic as ever.
Applicant: Jesse Krotick
Schools: District Wide
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $10,000
Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations
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Interventions and Approaches for Neurodiversity Considerations new
Professional Development opportunity for staff that work in secondary therapeutic programs to learn about Collaborative Problem Solving. Social emotional learning is paramount to the success of NPS students. We thrives to make sure all students can feel a level of success and well being. At the secondary level, students are struggling at an alarming rate with self regulation, school refusal and emotional dysregulation. This PD will help guide educators in how to communicate and support our vulnerable students in order to support their emotional needs and empower student.
Applicant: Dianne Lochhead
Schools: Central High
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,625
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
NNHS Civic Action Projects
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NNHS Civic Action Projects
Teachers from across disciplines at Newton North High School will new Civics Action projects their curriculum. Additional participants will also include teacher/leaders who will manage and run the training workshops, and civic action project coordinators to help facilitate pilot civic action projects in the classrooms.
Applicant: Claudia Wu, Terry Yoffie, Greg Drake
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $4800
PD for Mental Health Staff
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PD for Mental Health Staff new
The mental health and social and emotional well being of our students remains a district priority, however, mental health staff get no opportunities for professional learning in district. Unlike our other colleagues who receive ongoing and relevant professional learning, mental health staff are forced to pay for their own professional learning outside of the district. Since COVID, and the mental health crisis that has followed, school mental health needs are as intense and dynamic as ever.
Applicant: Jesse Krotick
Schools: District Wide
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $10,000
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) Training
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Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) Training new
I will attend a 3 day training and become certified in PEERS. This program is the only evidence-based social skills intervention for teens with autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other socio-emotional problems. As an SLP working with students with pragmatic language disorders, I have extensive training in Social Thinking. While this methodology is well suited for elementary age students, it fails to meet the complex needs of high schoolers. PEERS is a much needed new approach! With this PD opportunity, I can help students meet their IEP goals through a specialized social skills curriculum. This program promotes equity for our neurodiverse population.
Applicant: Katie Morris
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success
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Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success new
Swivl attaches to a recording device (iPad pro) and five markers placed in a classroom. It follows teacher movements and records local conversations at each marker. Swivl enables deep analysis of classroom practices and intervention strategies. Teacher learning communities will use Swivl to participate in a “critical friends” protocol. We will compare the successes and challenges of implementing UDL strategies within our own classrooms over time and across different groups of students. Content intervention coordinators will use data collected by Swivl to provide targeted supports, structures, and challenges for students. Assistant Department Heads will use Swivl as an instructional coaching tool.
Applicant: Michele Widener
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $7,281
Teachers as Scholars
Teachers as Scholars
Teachers participate in a multi-day seminar led by a leading professor in humanities, social sciences, teacher collaboration, and curriculum development.
Applicant: Kate Shaughnessy English Teacher, Newton North
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2600
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
Programs that Promote Equity for all Students
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Anti-racist Library
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Anti-racist Library new
In an effort to engage all students with independent reading that aligns with our anti-racist focus in 7th grade, we would like to expand our classroom libraries to continue to books that are both windows and mirrors of their own life experiences We will use various sources (School Library Journal, National Council for Teachers of English, Colors of Us, We Need Diverse Books, etc. ) to gather a list of book titles that meet our criteria for this grant. Once the titles are received, we will spend some time doing book talks to promote the new books.
Applicant: Sara Azzam, Kate Mullen, Adrian Pickworth
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,075
Atrium Summer Math Institute
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Atrium Summer Math Institute new
I want to attend a pd over the summer at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. The Atrium Summer Institute is a three-day, in-person program that provides teachers to learn together, inspiring curricular shifts at their school site. The Atrium Summer Institute aligns with "professional development" and "programs that promote equity for all students". By challenging and changing middle school math, by allowing and encouraging visual representations, I provide students a more equitable experience in math because I am broadening what is considered mathematics and how we can show our math.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilardi
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $450
Board and card games for the New-to-South club
Board and card games for the New-to-South club new
I advise the New to South club where we welcome transfer students to Newton South. We are in need of some games for the transfer students to play to break the ice and create community.
Applicant: Kara Veley
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $182
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Classroom Library Diversification Project
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Classroom Library Diversification Project new
I am looking to update our classroom library to include books that are accessible to readers of different levels that feature more diverse characters and stories. Providing students access to books at various reading levels and in different formats (i.e. ebooks) promotes educational equity. These books can be used as tools to help students learn more about current events and important topics high schoolers are discussing with each other and, in many cases, in classes with their teachers. Reading about characters that look like them or have gone through life experiences similar to their own also prompted educational equity.
Applicant: Katie Augusta
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Color Printer for Districtwide Special Education Program
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Color Printer for Districtwide Special Education Program new
Purchase a color printer to provide enrichment to our students. Presenting curriculum in color provide our students, especially with vision impairments, a more productive manner in which to access and understand the content of the curriculum. A color printer will provide our non and low readers pictorial materials that allow a clearer understanding of the material. It will also allow our students with vision impairments to access the curriculum at a higher capacity by contrasts that are easier for these students to see. Having multiple students with a variety of needs, a color printer will provide an obvious approach for all students in the program to access the curriculum equally.
Applicant: Darlene MacIntyre
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $773.03
Decodable Books for K Classrooms
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Decodable Books for K Classrooms new
The kindergarten team would like to purchase decodable texts for all students, for both the classroom library and for reading groups, so that students have the opportunity to apply skills they are learning in Fundations to decoding words in books. The Elementary Literacy Department has been promoting use of decodable texts and structured literacy lessons to support all students in growing their decoding abilities. Purchasing more decodable texts will allow us to effectively apply this learning to teaching reading. These books will help us implement research-backed approaches of teaching students to sound out (decode) unknown words, as opposed to using other cues (e.g., pictures) to guess words.
Applicant: Michelle Magno
Schools: Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,574.49
Decodeable Books for Grade One
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Decodeable Books for Grade One
Massachusetts has adopted new Dyslexia Guidelines. We want to provide books that allow children to apply the rules and patterns they are learning. Decodable books have 80% decodable words, and current series are much improved. The diverse characters in these books represent the students here at Cabot, and the take-home books will be a resource for caregivers.
Applicant: Amy Hartford & Robyn Barry, Cabot; Lauren Sacco, Memorial Spaulding
Schools: Cabot and Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2110.48
Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity
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Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity new
The project aims to provide neurodivergent learners with a motivating, functional, generalization-driven weekly school activity. The snack cart will provide students opportunities to build social and life skills in their community. The Students will make/deliver teacher order forms, stock the cart with materials, make the deliveries and collect payment. Our learners benefit from visual supports, so these will be developed for all tasks. IEPs goals will be embedded into the tasks including targeting math goals by working on counting and sorting supplies or social goals by engaging in conversations. We anticipate that after initial funding, the profits of running the Z Cart will cover the cost of future expenses.
Applicant: Susanne Brueggeman
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,252
Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap
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Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap new
Fifth graders will use the digital audio workstation Soundtrap to create a personal theme song based on traits and characteristics. Students will explore how to express their identity through this composition. Students will have two to three lessons to set up an account on Soundtrap, explore the basic functions, and create a sample composition. Once students have shown progress and confidence using the DAW the teacher will instruct students to create a composition that reflects a challenge or obstacle they have overcome. Students will present their final project at a 5th grade arts integration morning at school.
Applicant: Caroline Frick
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $557
Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms
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Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms new
2-K, 2-2nd Grade & 1-Reflections classrooms (5 in all) are having tiled floors installed. We are on the floor a lot for a wide variety of academic purposes (meetings, lessons, etc.). We are requesting fire retardant rugs for these classrooms. The purchase of these rugs will allow for consistency across grade levels for the comfort and utility they bring to our classrooms which will promote equity related to student experiences. They will also help make our classrooms more functional and welcoming allowing for better student participation in classroom activities.
Applicant: Thomas Joyce
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,294.25
First Grade Social Justice Unit
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First Grade Social Justice Unit
A social justice unit for first grade which focus on anti-racist and social justice topics. Lessons are designed to fit under the 4 social justice standards: identity, diversity, justice, action. The unit is broken down into 4 sections of exploration and learning: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action. We have created a rolling slideshow with lessons that include discussion questions, videos, read alouds, and supplemental activities. Our goal is to continue adding to these slides and to make it easily accessible to all first grade teachers across the district.
Applicant: Brittany Tucker
Schools: Underwood
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,500
Focused and alert furniture for the ADHD student
Focused and alert furniture for the ADHD student new
My project is to purchase 3 Storex Wiggle Stools to help students maintain focus in class.
Applicant: Charlotte Ross
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $185
Friday Morning Book Group
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Friday Morning Book Group new
A Friday morning book group that meets with METCO students who arrive to Brown at 7:30 am each day. Parents will be consulted and surveyed and asked to encourage their students to participate. Each week, a set number of pages will be added for students to read during their extensions at Brown. Each Friday we'll discuss what's happened so far and map out the next week. Support will also be provided in grade-level writing assignments.
Applicant: Kate Mullen
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,673
Games to Promote SEL
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Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Inclusive Play for EveryBODY
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Inclusive Play for EveryBODY new
Our project goal is to purchase specialized equipment to facilitate physical therapy and APE treatments of students with complex impairments. At NECP we are fortunate to have a physical therapy and APE gym but our equipment could be enhanced with products that allow increased access for more multiply involved students. Our student population has changed over the last few years and students have more complex needs. We do not have the specialized equipment to allow them to be fully included in all aspects of play. For example, children cannot play ball with their friends if they cannot grip the ball and/or see the ball coming.
Applicant: Ellen Alperin, Cory Floyd, and Angela Murgia
Schools: NECP
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,033.83
Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
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Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
This project will increase student access to sensory movement activities to increase academic engagement and teach self-regulation skills. Through the installation of Sensory Pathway(s) (copyright), all students within the school will be given equitable access to an evidence-based tool, with scaffolding from mental health team members as appropriate.
Applicant: Multiple Elementary and Middle Schools
Schools: Angier, Burr, Franklin, Lincoln-Eliot, Memorial Spaulding, Zervas, Brown
Date Approved: January and May 2022
Amount: $10,600
Intervention for Dyslexic Students
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Intervention for Dyslexic Students new
- The purpose of this project is to provide equitable supports that target the specific needs and learning styles (multisensory reading instruction) of the dyslexic students in our school.
- The curriculum requested will be used daily to target an increase in reading skills. The curriculum can be utilized with students at different levels and instruction will be individualized to their specific needs. The materials will be used in both 4th and 5th grade co-taught classrooms by teachers trained by the author and creator of the curriculum materials (Karen Sonday).
Applicant: Alexandra Salvatore
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,449
Investigating Banned Books in the Fourth Grade
Investigating Banned Books in the Fourth Grade new
This diverse collection of banned books will supplement the 4th grade Reading & Identity unit. Students will reflect on the importance of books as mirrors and windows. The books feature underrepresented cultures/religions/races/social identities.
Applicant: Katherine Goldman
Schools: Ward
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,923.44
Just Right Reading Practices for All
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Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
Language Based Learning Program Resources
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Language Based Learning Program Resources new
Newton South High School is currently building a new special education program serving students with language- based learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This program is in need of program specific resources. Students in the LBL program will be able to access these multi-sensory resources in their small group English classes, Academic Support classes, and in their reading specialist sessions. Some of the resources will be used to support teachers with curriculum development, while others will be used by students directly to improve their reading skills with a multi-sensory approach.
Applicant: Kerri Basiga
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,042
Library Display for Heritage Group Promotions
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Library Display for Heritage Group Promotions new
Create a new space to display diverse and inclusive books corresponding to monthly heritage celebrations and initiatives from the South Human Rights Council. Funds would be used for a new display center, books, and promotional materials. Upon receipt of grant:
- Order the display furniture
- Align display ideas with National Heritage Month district calendar
- Consult with South Human Rights council about relevant initiatives
- Develop display ideas
- Research relevant titles and create purchase list; purchase books
- Create monthly displays
Applicant: Margaret Schoen
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,451
Literacy Equity Project
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Literacy Equity Project
A year-long professional learning community of 1st grade reading teachers (classroom teachers, literacy specialists, and interventionists) from across Newton Public Schools. The community will study culturally responsive reading instruction and best practices for teaching reading to BIPOC children. The cohort of teachers will put those ideas into practice by engaging in multiple, data- based inquiry cycles aimed at boosting Black and Hispanic students’ reading achievement.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $45,000
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
Newton North Cluster Program
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Newton North Cluster Program
NSF continues to fund this program based on research by socio-psychologist Claude Steele that has found that clustering high-achieving and academically invested students together can alleviate stereotype threat, we have created a program to support our Black and Latinx students. The NNHS Cluster Program creates cohorts of Latinx students in METCO and the Dover Legacy Scholars program, as well as Black students to help disrupt any unconscious anxiety around potentially reinforcing negative racial stereotypes. The program also offers professional development for teachers of clustered classes.
Applicant: Michele Leong and Dave Bennett
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $4118
Newton South’s Leadership for Social Justice Course
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Newton South’s Leadership for Social Justice Course
The course at South, grades 10-12, is explicitly focused on developing and supporting actively anti-racist student leaders. The students who take this peer leadership course will also be instrumental in facilitating future conversations in 9th grade history classes and potentially as members of our Courageous Conversations on Race group.
Applicant: Katani Sumner and Sarah Style
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2620
PeaceLove CREATORS Training
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PeaceLove CREATORS Training new
The PeaceLove CREATORS Training will allow meaningful, engaging, and exciting expressive therapy workshops for students with social emotional needs to be employed. The workshops can also used for students of all ages and for NPS staff. There is an increasing number of students with social-emotional learning challenges in schools; these children have trouble accessing the curriculum and support they need. They require instruction and guidance surrounding resources and skills to use in moments of dysregulation. The delivery of expressive arts workshops aims to improve mental health through artistic expression. The workshops provide resources and skills for mental health, self-regulation skills, and social-emotional learning.
Applicant: Olivia Cohen Milligan
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade
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Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade new
- Fly Five is a SEL curriculum developed on the belief that in order for students to be academically, socially, and behaviorally successful in, out of, and beyond school, they need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies.
- Timeline and activities are hard to speculate without looking at the materials. With potential funding, the curriculum plans for 3 core lessons per weekly unit so we will have to look at how many units there are and the hope is that I would implement during our departmentalized blocks so the entire grade level gets access to this curricular support:
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,305
Playground Core Communication Boards — STRIDE Program
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Playground Core Communication Boards — STRIDE Program
The STRIDE program is a district-wide program to support students with autism and related disorders in which learners have significant impairments in the areas of communication, behavior, social skills, academics, and adaptive functioning. The playground communication boards assist children who are nonverbal and utilize Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices and would provide easier access to a communication system that allows for free play and inclusive peer experiences on the playground.
Schools: Districtwide
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2000
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Project Deep Pressure Pilot
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Project Deep Pressure Pilot new
The SteamRoller fills a necessary role in Stride classrooms. This tool provides deep pressure for students in a compact and non-disruptive way, leading to self-advocacy, independence and increased communication for students. The SteamRoller is a compact, free-standing tool that can easily fit in a classroom. With a weight range of up to 300 lbs, it can be used across grades. This tool is innovative as students can self-propel through allowing for increased independence. It can be used as a preparatory activity, during a break or in conjunction with the “Zones of Regulation” curriculum, which has been introduced in a modified version to STRIDE students. Steamroller
Applicant: Hayley Schiller
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $816.24
READ! Write from the Start
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READ! Write from the Start
This program restarts the discussion of literacy between teachers and parents in the home setting, providing guidance to families. As an intervention teacher, I work with struggling students and will start this program so that parents and students from the beginning will build in time at night to read together. Children who read and are read to at least three times a week by a family member are twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading test scores as compared to children who are read to less than 3 times a week. This is a way to help even the playing field for all families. The goal is to send home 3-5 books a week. The books we buy are specifically chosen for this age group and have fun, enticing stories, many with characters that are from diverse backgrounds. Send home new books weekly. Routines of how to care for books and materials will be taught before bags are sent home. Book bags with a journal, writing materials will be provided.
Applicant: Sara McSwiggan
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,477.59
Reflections Kitchenette
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Reflections Kitchenette
The Reflections Program serves middle school students with severe disabilities that require significant life skills support. By having the ability to cook in the classroom, it would greatly enrich the Reflection program's life skills based curriculum to increase student independence, safety skills and employability upon promotion to high school.
Applicant: Jim O'Donnell
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $3000
Replace Pilates balls for ball chairs
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Replace Pilates balls for ball chairs new
Two years ago, you generously funded a project for alternative classroom seating for five Pilates ball chairs. These chairs have been well used by the students, and several of the balls need to be replaced to due wear and tear.
Applicant: Diane Pollard
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $73
Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project
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Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project new
I want to create a social justice mathematics curriculum for the Calculus Project summer program. This curriculum will allow students to see how mathematics can be used to pursue justice and equity in society. Towards the end of the 2023 school year, I will begin drafting a SJM curriculum for the 8th grade Calculus Project cohort so it can be used in the 2023 summer program. Over the summer, I will work on finalizing the SJM curriculum for 8th grade and work on 9th grade (and possibly 10th grade). The intent is that the 8th and 9th grade curriculum can be used in the summer program of 2024.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilarde
Schools: MS & HS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: 3,584
Social Justice Standards Supplemental Resources in Gr 3-5
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Social Justice Standards Supplemental Resources in Gr 3-5 new
In the realm of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, our staff looked at Social Justice standards for grade levels from learningforjustice.org. We are seeking to supplement resources to aid in implementation of this vital work. Through this grant we will be able to fund a literary exploration into each of the Learning For Justice Standards through everyday readers and guided reading books for multiple reading levels. We will use books that support the standards from resources like from Learning For Justice magazine editors picks, NPS librarian recommendations, and suggested resources from our DEI teams. This antiracist work promotes equity by achieving awareness of the barriers that impede growth.
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,415.60
Staff of Color Affinity Groups
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Staff of Color Affinity Groups
Staff of Color in NPS represent a small percentage of the overall population and with this comes challenges of isolation, de-validation about personal experiences, and lack of community. The hope is that providing programs and a save space to engage and exchange ideas and experiences will offer a place of support and safety, which will positively impact their experience in NPS.
Applicant: Kathy Lopes
Schools: District
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
STEP Program Project
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STEP Program Project new
The students in the STEP program require social/emotional programming per their IEPs. Group Counseling is a component of the STEP program; however the space is not conducive to creating a relaxing, safe environment to facilitate counseling sessions. This project will increase the social-emotional well-being of students in the STEP program at Newton South by funding resources to enhance the physical environment, as well as creating the curriculum for the group counseling sessions. The project will be implemented by having resources to plan and to facilitate the STEP group counseling curriculum, and by purchasing furniture/decor to create a cohesive, relaxing and safe group counseling environment. The project will be implemented by using a variety of counseling books/workbooks, art supplies, technology, furniture/posters to engage students in learning social emotional concepts to increase their overall social emotional functioning and to reach their academic aptitude.
Applicant: Asher Baron
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces
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Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces new
To provide all general education teachers with quality break space tools needed to establish and maintain high quality and effective in class break spaces for all students to access throughout their school day. Having in class break spaces supports every child's mental and emotional well-being in the classroom and gives daily opportunities to engage in healthy coping skills that help students build strong connections in their classrooms, increase engagement throughout the day with academics and feel safe and supported in having individual needs met and in taking on more challenges and academic risks throughout the day. In class break spaces support stronger inclusion within the school community.
Applicant: Anna Coly
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,239.34
Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship
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Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship new
In 2022, Newton Community Education launched its first 5-week summer theater camp. The cost of this camp is $2,500 per student. We hope to provide a scholarship so that a child can attend this camp next summer regardless of their family income.
Applicant: Paige Davis
Schools: NCE
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Supporting All Students Through Structured Literacy Routines
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Supporting All Students Through Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing students with high quality, diverse decodables necessary to provide structured literacy instruction. Every student has a right to become literate. We continue to see opportunity gaps between white students and BIPOC students. Aligned with the systemwide goals of NPS, we continue to work to close these gaps by holding all students to high standards and supporting each student with high quality instruction. We need the right materials to support all students. We have been searching for decodables to serve as windows and mirrors for students while also supporting their developing decoding skills.
Applicant: Amy Muilkern
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,059.11
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing teachers and literacy staff with resources to support their on-going learning, as well as student materials is an essential part of high quality literacy instruction.
Applicant: Gena Rovelli
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,557.93
Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success
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Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success new
Swivl attaches to a recording device (iPad pro) and five markers placed in a classroom. It follows teacher movements and records local conversations at each marker. Swivl enables deep analysis of classroom practices and intervention strategies. Teacher learning communities will use Swivl to participate in a “critical friends” protocol. We will compare the successes and challenges of implementing UDL strategies within our own classrooms over time and across different groups of students. Content intervention coordinators will use data collected by Swivl to provide targeted supports, structures, and challenges for students. Assistant Department Heads will use Swivl as an instructional coaching tool.
Applicant: Michele Widener
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $7,281
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
Therapeutic Resource Development
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Therapeutic Resource Development new
To create an inviting and functional therapeutic environment as well as provide students with curriculum and strategies to promote social and emotional health to students in the Bridge Program. Curriculum and therapeutic activities will be introduced on a daily basis and room transformation will be ongoing and developing through the entire school year.
Applicant: Donna Caruso
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $390
Urban Improv’s Rehearsal for Life Presentation
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Urban Improv’s Rehearsal for Life Presentation
Rehearsal for Life's Urban Improv program focuses on microaggressions. They will present to all students at Brown, Day and Oak Hill Middle Schools. Urban Improv uses a structured, interactive, improvisational theater workshop to help students learn about microaggressions. The goal of this project is to educate students and staff about what microaggressions are, the impact they have, how to constructively respond to them, and how to seek support when they experience or witness them. (They have already presented to Bigelow Middle School.)
Applicant: Middle School Principals
Schools: Brown, F.A. Day, Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $13,000
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
Vertical Whiteboards
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Vertical Whiteboards
Math teachers will increase their vertical whiteboard space to enable them to implement more student-first teaching strategies. Vertical non-permanent surfaces encourage responsible mathematical risk-taking, facilitate group interactions, and allows teachers to target interventions and extensions in a more efficient, timely manner.
Applicant: Kanchan Kant
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2674
Visiting Poet Project
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Visiting Poet Project
Regionally recognized Black poet, Charlies Coe has been a frequent visitor to Newton North High School over the past four years, visiting approximately 12 classrooms and inspiring over 300 students per year. Charles' impact as a poet and writer who can provide writing prompts, feedback, reflection, humor, and insight into student work is remarkable; many of my students' writing has been transformed through Charles' work. Since students of color represent 87% of my classes (Black, Latino, and Asian), my goal is to have Charles present a variety of writing prompts focused on my students' identities, in order to have them create poetry and prose that help them see themselves as writers.
Applicant: Amy McMahon
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $700
Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries
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Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries new
Increase the number of anti-bias children's books in classroom and grade level libraries. Bowen staff will implement antiracist and culturally-responsive instruction and practices by making meaningful connections between what students learn in school and their cultures, languages, and life experiences. In order to meet the diverse needs of every student, we will increase student engagement, implement well-structured units & lessons, adjust our practices, create safe learning environments and develop subject matter knowledge. Using resources including the social justice standards, Rebellious Read Alouds: Inviting Conversations About Diversity with Children’s Books, Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books, and other resources grade level teams will identify books to integrate into the curriculum and classroom libraries.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Zervas Kaleidoscope Bags
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Zervas Kaleidoscope Bags
This grant provides one backpack full of grade-appropriate books, games, and activities for each classroom at Zervas. Students may borrow a bag for a week at a time. The books and activities in each bag provide students and families with content to explore a variety of races, cultures, and social identities. Binders in each bag provide ideas for how to use the bags contents as well as an opportunity for families to contribute a traditional recipe to share with future families who borrow the bag.
Applicant: Rebecca Deeks
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $500
Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment
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Anti-Racist Curriculum Development and Alignment new
Burr School will strengthen and expand its Anti-Racism Curriculum by revising and adding content, aligning it vertically across all grades, and integrating it with lessons in social emotional learning, social studies, critical literacy, and more. Burr’s DEI curriculum, created in 2020, consists of three lessons per grade and one school-wide lesson. While the lessons are meaningful, DEI should not be limited to four lessons; rather it should be woven into and across our school. Since 2020, a plethora of DEI resources for educators have emerged; by exploring these resources and creating a more comprehensive approach, we will integrate an equity-lens into all our work and help staff and students to understand how it all relates.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: Burr
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,398.65
Atrium Summer Math Institute
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Atrium Summer Math Institute new
I want to attend a pd over the summer at the Atrium School in Watertown, MA. The Atrium Summer Institute is a three-day, in-person program that provides teachers to learn together, inspiring curricular shifts at their school site. The Atrium Summer Institute aligns with "professional development" and "programs that promote equity for all students". By challenging and changing middle school math, by allowing and encouraging visual representations, I provide students a more equitable experience in math because I am broadening what is considered mathematics and how we can show our math.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilardi
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $450
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative
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Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Initiative new
An initiative to train and create a CPS team that will provide consistent, collaborative team-based support for all students who may be struggling at school by utilizing the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. We are looking for a fresh approach to supporting students who may be struggling. We believe that Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), an evidence based model of psychosocial treatment, could be the fresh approach we are looking for. It enables kids and caregivers to better communicate in order to solve academic, social, or emotional challenges a child may be experiencing. It ensures that kids get what they need, and are treated equitably in schools when they are in need of support.
Applicant: arah Thorne and Kristyn Stem
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,696.92
Decodable Books for K Classrooms
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Decodable Books for K Classrooms new
The kindergarten team would like to purchase decodable texts for all students, for both the classroom library and for reading groups, so that students have the opportunity to apply skills they are learning in Fundations to decoding words in books. The Elementary Literacy Department has been promoting use of decodable texts and structured literacy lessons to support all students in growing their decoding abilities. Purchasing more decodable texts will allow us to effectively apply this learning to teaching reading. These books will help us implement research-backed approaches of teaching students to sound out (decode) unknown words, as opposed to using other cues (e.g., pictures) to guess words.
Applicant: Michelle Magno
Schools: Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,574.49
Decodeable Books for Grade One
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Decodeable Books for Grade One
Massachusetts has adopted new Dyslexia Guidelines. We want to provide books that allow children to apply the rules and patterns they are learning. Decodable books have 80% decodable words, and current series are much improved. The diverse characters in these books represent the students here at Cabot, and the take-home books will be a resource for caregivers.
Applicant: Amy Hartford & Robyn Barry, Cabot; Lauren Sacco, Memorial Spaulding
Schools: Cabot and Memorial Spaulding
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2110.48
Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity
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Enhancing the Learning of Neurodivergent Learners: Teaching the Context of a Functional Naturalistic Activity new
The project aims to provide neurodivergent learners with a motivating, functional, generalization-driven weekly school activity. The snack cart will provide students opportunities to build social and life skills in their community. The Students will make/deliver teacher order forms, stock the cart with materials, make the deliveries and collect payment. Our learners benefit from visual supports, so these will be developed for all tasks. IEPs goals will be embedded into the tasks including targeting math goals by working on counting and sorting supplies or social goals by engaging in conversations. We anticipate that after initial funding, the profits of running the Z Cart will cover the cost of future expenses.
Applicant: Susanne Brueggeman
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,252
Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap
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Expressing Identity and Teaching Resilience Through Soundtrap new
Fifth graders will use the digital audio workstation Soundtrap to create a personal theme song based on traits and characteristics. Students will explore how to express their identity through this composition. Students will have two to three lessons to set up an account on Soundtrap, explore the basic functions, and create a sample composition. Once students have shown progress and confidence using the DAW the teacher will instruct students to create a composition that reflects a challenge or obstacle they have overcome. Students will present their final project at a 5th grade arts integration morning at school.
Applicant: Caroline Frick
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $557
Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms
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Fire Retardant Rugs for 5 Classrooms new
2-K, 2-2nd Grade & 1-Reflections classrooms (5 in all) are having tiled floors installed. We are on the floor a lot for a wide variety of academic purposes (meetings, lessons, etc.). We are requesting fire retardant rugs for these classrooms. The purchase of these rugs will allow for consistency across grade levels for the comfort and utility they bring to our classrooms which will promote equity related to student experiences. They will also help make our classrooms more functional and welcoming allowing for better student participation in classroom activities.
Applicant: Thomas Joyce
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,294.25
First Grade Social Justice Unit
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First Grade Social Justice Unit
A social justice unit for first grade which focus on anti-racist and social justice topics. Lessons are designed to fit under the 4 social justice standards: identity, diversity, justice, action. The unit is broken down into 4 sections of exploration and learning: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action. We have created a rolling slideshow with lessons that include discussion questions, videos, read alouds, and supplemental activities. Our goal is to continue adding to these slides and to make it easily accessible to all first grade teachers across the district.
Applicant: Brittany Tucker
Schools: Underwood
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,500
Games to Promote SEL
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Games to Promote SEL new
The social workers participated in a Group Games PD (NSF grant) where we all recently learned how to take common games and "glow them up" for use in our general education and special education groups. We feel invigorated and can't wait to use our new knowledge! In collaborating, we realized that we don't all have the same games, and the ones we have are often outdated, or games we've inherited (there is not a budget for these supplies). We plan to use our new learning with the games we do have immediately on ongoing as we refresh our resources. We'd like to update our games to reflect the diversity of our students (i.e. the newest Guess Who is racially diverse) including race, culture, and social emotional needs. Many of the social workers depend on the generosity of families in our community to donate their old games, and some don't have that resource. We hope this will level the playing field for all the K-5 schools.
Applicant: Nicki Eastburn
Schools: Elementary
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,900
Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
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Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
This project will increase student access to sensory movement activities to increase academic engagement and teach self-regulation skills. Through the installation of Sensory Pathway(s) (copyright), all students within the school will be given equitable access to an evidence-based tool, with scaffolding from mental health team members as appropriate.
Applicant: Multiple Elementary and Middle Schools
Schools: Angier, Burr, Franklin, Lincoln-Eliot, Memorial Spaulding, Zervas, Brown
Date Approved: January and May 2022
Amount: $10,600
Intervention for Dyslexic Students
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Intervention for Dyslexic Students new
- The purpose of this project is to provide equitable supports that target the specific needs and learning styles (multisensory reading instruction) of the dyslexic students in our school.
- The curriculum requested will be used daily to target an increase in reading skills. The curriculum can be utilized with students at different levels and instruction will be individualized to their specific needs. The materials will be used in both 4th and 5th grade co-taught classrooms by teachers trained by the author and creator of the curriculum materials (Karen Sonday).
Applicant: Alexandra Salvatore
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,449
Investigating Banned Books in the Fourth Grade
Investigating Banned Books in the Fourth Grade new
This diverse collection of banned books will supplement the 4th grade Reading & Identity unit. Students will reflect on the importance of books as mirrors and windows. The books feature underrepresented cultures/religions/races/social identities.
Applicant: Katherine Goldman
Schools: Ward
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,923.44
Just Right Reading Practices for All
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Just Right Reading Practices for All new
How can all second graders have just right reading at home if not all have access to online resources? Decodable books, selected by their teachers to practice the skills they have learned at home! With OG training for problem solving instruction! During the summer of 2023, teachers will attend the Orton Gillingham professional development. At the completion of the professional development, second grade teachers will meet to modify and improve the scope of sequence of phonics instruction, including a more robust intervention available to a larger number of students. When the books arrive at school, teachers will sort and plan for the best times to send each set of books home with students.
Applicant: Karen Sandison
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $17,905.76
Literacy Equity Project
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Literacy Equity Project
A year-long professional learning community of 1st grade reading teachers (classroom teachers, literacy specialists, and interventionists) from across Newton Public Schools. The community will study culturally responsive reading instruction and best practices for teaching reading to BIPOC children. The cohort of teachers will put those ideas into practice by engaging in multiple, data- based inquiry cycles aimed at boosting Black and Hispanic students’ reading achievement.
Applicant: Alice Wong Tucker
Schools: All Elementary Schools
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $45,000
PeaceLove CREATORS Training
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PeaceLove CREATORS Training new
The PeaceLove CREATORS Training will allow meaningful, engaging, and exciting expressive therapy workshops for students with social emotional needs to be employed. The workshops can also used for students of all ages and for NPS staff. There is an increasing number of students with social-emotional learning challenges in schools; these children have trouble accessing the curriculum and support they need. They require instruction and guidance surrounding resources and skills to use in moments of dysregulation. The delivery of expressive arts workshops aims to improve mental health through artistic expression. The workshops provide resources and skills for mental health, self-regulation skills, and social-emotional learning.
Applicant: Olivia Cohen Milligan
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade
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Pilot FlyFive in the Fifth Grade new
- Fly Five is a SEL curriculum developed on the belief that in order for students to be academically, socially, and behaviorally successful in, out of, and beyond school, they need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies.
- Timeline and activities are hard to speculate without looking at the materials. With potential funding, the curriculum plans for 3 core lessons per weekly unit so we will have to look at how many units there are and the hope is that I would implement during our departmentalized blocks so the entire grade level gets access to this curricular support:
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,305
Playground Core Communication Boards — STRIDE Program
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Playground Core Communication Boards — STRIDE Program
The STRIDE program is a district-wide program to support students with autism and related disorders in which learners have significant impairments in the areas of communication, behavior, social skills, academics, and adaptive functioning. The playground communication boards assist children who are nonverbal and utilize Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices and would provide easier access to a communication system that allows for free play and inclusive peer experiences on the playground.
Schools: Districtwide
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2000
Project Deep Pressure Pilot
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Project Deep Pressure Pilot new
The SteamRoller fills a necessary role in Stride classrooms. This tool provides deep pressure for students in a compact and non-disruptive way, leading to self-advocacy, independence and increased communication for students. The SteamRoller is a compact, free-standing tool that can easily fit in a classroom. With a weight range of up to 300 lbs, it can be used across grades. This tool is innovative as students can self-propel through allowing for increased independence. It can be used as a preparatory activity, during a break or in conjunction with the “Zones of Regulation” curriculum, which has been introduced in a modified version to STRIDE students. Steamroller
Applicant: Hayley Schiller
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $816.24
READ! Write from the Start
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READ! Write from the Start
This program restarts the discussion of literacy between teachers and parents in the home setting, providing guidance to families. As an intervention teacher, I work with struggling students and will start this program so that parents and students from the beginning will build in time at night to read together. Children who read and are read to at least three times a week by a family member are twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading test scores as compared to children who are read to less than 3 times a week. This is a way to help even the playing field for all families. The goal is to send home 3-5 books a week. The books we buy are specifically chosen for this age group and have fun, enticing stories, many with characters that are from diverse backgrounds. Send home new books weekly. Routines of how to care for books and materials will be taught before bags are sent home. Book bags with a journal, writing materials will be provided.
Applicant: Sara McSwiggan
Schools: Horace Mann
Date Approved: May, 2022
Amount: $2,477.59
Social Justice Standards Supplemental Resources in Gr 3-5
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Social Justice Standards Supplemental Resources in Gr 3-5 new
In the realm of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, our staff looked at Social Justice standards for grade levels from learningforjustice.org. We are seeking to supplement resources to aid in implementation of this vital work. Through this grant we will be able to fund a literary exploration into each of the Learning For Justice Standards through everyday readers and guided reading books for multiple reading levels. We will use books that support the standards from resources like from Learning For Justice magazine editors picks, NPS librarian recommendations, and suggested resources from our DEI teams. This antiracist work promotes equity by achieving awareness of the barriers that impede growth.
Applicant: Casey Dolan
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,415.60
Staff of Color Affinity Groups
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Staff of Color Affinity Groups
Staff of Color in NPS represent a small percentage of the overall population and with this comes challenges of isolation, de-validation about personal experiences, and lack of community. The hope is that providing programs and a save space to engage and exchange ideas and experiences will offer a place of support and safety, which will positively impact their experience in NPS.
Applicant: Kathy Lopes
Schools: District
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces
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Strengthening Inclusion and SEL: In-class Break Spaces new
To provide all general education teachers with quality break space tools needed to establish and maintain high quality and effective in class break spaces for all students to access throughout their school day. Having in class break spaces supports every child's mental and emotional well-being in the classroom and gives daily opportunities to engage in healthy coping skills that help students build strong connections in their classrooms, increase engagement throughout the day with academics and feel safe and supported in having individual needs met and in taking on more challenges and academic risks throughout the day. In class break spaces support stronger inclusion within the school community.
Applicant: Anna Coly
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,239.34
Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship
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Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship new
In 2022, Newton Community Education launched its first 5-week summer theater camp. The cost of this camp is $2,500 per student. We hope to provide a scholarship so that a child can attend this camp next summer regardless of their family income.
Applicant: Paige Davis
Schools: NCE
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Supporting All Students Through Structured Literacy Routines
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Supporting All Students Through Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing students with high quality, diverse decodables necessary to provide structured literacy instruction. Every student has a right to become literate. We continue to see opportunity gaps between white students and BIPOC students. Aligned with the systemwide goals of NPS, we continue to work to close these gaps by holding all students to high standards and supporting each student with high quality instruction. We need the right materials to support all students. We have been searching for decodables to serve as windows and mirrors for students while also supporting their developing decoding skills.
Applicant: Amy Muilkern
Schools: Williams
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,059.11
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines
Supporting Students with Structured Literacy Routines new
Providing teachers and literacy staff with resources to support their on-going learning, as well as student materials is an essential part of high quality literacy instruction.
Applicant: Gena Rovelli
Schools: Franklin
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,557.93
The Science of Reading in Action
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The Science of Reading in Action new
My goal is to support NPS educators in providing research-based instruction to all learners. Through the Orton Gillingham training, I will coach and mentor staff in implementing OG methods as well as provide direct instruction for struggling readers.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,834.99
Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades
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Using explicit and multisensory instruction to support struggling readers in the early grades new
All students deserve an equitable literacy experience backed by the Science of Reading. Orton Gillingham will allow me to coach/mentor staff to utilize the most current research & directly support struggling readers. As an Inclusion Facilitator, I work closely with administration and serve as a resource to SPED teachers, classroom teachers, and aides. Through SPED team/district meetings and Student Intervention Team, I will share instructional methods, tools, and the most up to date research for literacy development. First I will attend a 60-hour OG Training. I will learn an array of topics including the background of dyslexia, the history of the OG approach, multisensory instructional strategies, OG lesson planning, phonics/syllable division rules, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development. I will engage in mock tutoring sessions and learn how to interpret a neuropsychological profile. The following year, I will complete a 100-hour practicum where I will apply everything I learned with students.
Applicant: Erica Clem
Schools: Memorial-Spaulding
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,835
Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries
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Windows, Mirrors, and Glassdoors in Our Classroom Libraries new
Increase the number of anti-bias children's books in classroom and grade level libraries. Bowen staff will implement antiracist and culturally-responsive instruction and practices by making meaningful connections between what students learn in school and their cultures, languages, and life experiences. In order to meet the diverse needs of every student, we will increase student engagement, implement well-structured units & lessons, adjust our practices, create safe learning environments and develop subject matter knowledge. Using resources including the social justice standards, Rebellious Read Alouds: Inviting Conversations About Diversity with Children’s Books, Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books, and other resources grade level teams will identify books to integrate into the curriculum and classroom libraries.
Applicant: Diana Guzzi
Schools: Bowen
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,000
Zervas Kaleidoscope Bags
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Zervas Kaleidoscope Bags
This grant provides one backpack full of grade-appropriate books, games, and activities for each classroom at Zervas. Students may borrow a bag for a week at a time. The books and activities in each bag provide students and families with content to explore a variety of races, cultures, and social identities. Binders in each bag provide ideas for how to use the bags contents as well as an opportunity for families to contribute a traditional recipe to share with future families who borrow the bag.
Applicant: Rebecca Deeks
Schools: Zervas
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $500
Anti-racist Library
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Anti-racist Library new
In an effort to engage all students with independent reading that aligns with our anti-racist focus in 7th grade, we would like to expand our classroom libraries to continue to books that are both windows and mirrors of their own life experiences We will use various sources (School Library Journal, National Council for Teachers of English, Colors of Us, We Need Diverse Books, etc. ) to gather a list of book titles that meet our criteria for this grant. Once the titles are received, we will spend some time doing book talks to promote the new books.
Applicant: Sara Azzam, Kate Mullen, Adrian Pickworth
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $4,075
CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music
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CAS Tour 23-24 – Crocodile River Music new
Crocodile River Music will tour all elementary and middle schools in 2023-24 as part of the annual CAS Performing Arts Tour. Through music and dance, CRM spreads awareness and inspires new ways of cultural thinking. CRM allows students to see African artists as experts and leaders-expanding student worldviews. To see artists in this light, increases what young audiences see as possibilities in their own lives. Highly engaging, and culturally responsive -- CRM affirms students’ backgrounds and identities and fosters the ability to understand and respect each other’s cultures. As part of the CAS Tour, students in grades K-8 share the same experience with their peers throughout the district.
Applicant: Stacey Moriarty
Schools: All Elementary and Middle Schools
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,000
Color Printer for Districtwide Special Education Program
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Color Printer for Districtwide Special Education Program new
Purchase a color printer to provide enrichment to our students. Presenting curriculum in color provide our students, especially with vision impairments, a more productive manner in which to access and understand the content of the curriculum. A color printer will provide our non and low readers pictorial materials that allow a clearer understanding of the material. It will also allow our students with vision impairments to access the curriculum at a higher capacity by contrasts that are easier for these students to see. Having multiple students with a variety of needs, a color printer will provide an obvious approach for all students in the program to access the curriculum equally.
Applicant: Darlene MacIntyre
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $773.03
Focused and alert furniture for the ADHD student
Focused and alert furniture for the ADHD student new
My project is to purchase 3 Storex Wiggle Stools to help students maintain focus in class.
Applicant: Charlotte Ross
Schools: Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $185
Friday Morning Book Group
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Friday Morning Book Group new
A Friday morning book group that meets with METCO students who arrive to Brown at 7:30 am each day. Parents will be consulted and surveyed and asked to encourage their students to participate. Each week, a set number of pages will be added for students to read during their extensions at Brown. Each Friday we'll discuss what's happened so far and map out the next week. Support will also be provided in grade-level writing assignments.
Applicant: Kate Mullen
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,673
Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
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Increasing Academic Access: Sensory Pathways
This project will increase student access to sensory movement activities to increase academic engagement and teach self-regulation skills. Through the installation of Sensory Pathway(s) (copyright), all students within the school will be given equitable access to an evidence-based tool, with scaffolding from mental health team members as appropriate.
Applicant: Multiple Elementary and Middle Schools
Schools: Angier, Burr, Franklin, Lincoln-Eliot, Memorial Spaulding, Zervas, Brown
Date Approved: January and May 2022
Amount: $10,600
Reflections Kitchenette
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Reflections Kitchenette
The Reflections Program serves middle school students with severe disabilities that require significant life skills support. By having the ability to cook in the classroom, it would greatly enrich the Reflection program's life skills based curriculum to increase student independence, safety skills and employability upon promotion to high school.
Applicant: Jim O'Donnell
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $3000
Replace Pilates balls for ball chairs
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Replace Pilates balls for ball chairs new
Two years ago, you generously funded a project for alternative classroom seating for five Pilates ball chairs. These chairs have been well used by the students, and several of the balls need to be replaced to due wear and tear.
Applicant: Diane Pollard
Schools: Brown
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $73
Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project
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Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project new
I want to create a social justice mathematics curriculum for the Calculus Project summer program. This curriculum will allow students to see how mathematics can be used to pursue justice and equity in society. Towards the end of the 2023 school year, I will begin drafting a SJM curriculum for the 8th grade Calculus Project cohort so it can be used in the 2023 summer program. Over the summer, I will work on finalizing the SJM curriculum for 8th grade and work on 9th grade (and possibly 10th grade). The intent is that the 8th and 9th grade curriculum can be used in the summer program of 2024.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilarde
Schools: MS & HS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: 3,584
Staff of Color Affinity Groups
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Staff of Color Affinity Groups
Staff of Color in NPS represent a small percentage of the overall population and with this comes challenges of isolation, de-validation about personal experiences, and lack of community. The hope is that providing programs and a save space to engage and exchange ideas and experiences will offer a place of support and safety, which will positively impact their experience in NPS.
Applicant: Kathy Lopes
Schools: District
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship
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Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship new
In 2022, Newton Community Education launched its first 5-week summer theater camp. The cost of this camp is $2,500 per student. We hope to provide a scholarship so that a child can attend this camp next summer regardless of their family income.
Applicant: Paige Davis
Schools: NCE
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Therapeutic Resource Development
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Therapeutic Resource Development new
To create an inviting and functional therapeutic environment as well as provide students with curriculum and strategies to promote social and emotional health to students in the Bridge Program. Curriculum and therapeutic activities will be introduced on a daily basis and room transformation will be ongoing and developing through the entire school year.
Applicant: Donna Caruso
Schools: F.A. Day
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $390
Urban Improv’s Rehearsal for Life Presentation
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Urban Improv’s Rehearsal for Life Presentation
Rehearsal for Life's Urban Improv program focuses on microaggressions. They will present to all students at Brown, Day and Oak Hill Middle Schools. Urban Improv uses a structured, interactive, improvisational theater workshop to help students learn about microaggressions. The goal of this project is to educate students and staff about what microaggressions are, the impact they have, how to constructively respond to them, and how to seek support when they experience or witness them. (They have already presented to Bigelow Middle School.)
Applicant: Middle School Principals
Schools: Brown, F.A. Day, Oak Hill
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $13,000
Board and card games for the New-to-South club
Board and card games for the New-to-South club new
I advise the New to South club where we welcome transfer students to Newton South. We are in need of some games for the transfer students to play to break the ice and create community.
Applicant: Kara Veley
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $182
Classroom Library Diversification Project
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Classroom Library Diversification Project new
I am looking to update our classroom library to include books that are accessible to readers of different levels that feature more diverse characters and stories. Providing students access to books at various reading levels and in different formats (i.e. ebooks) promotes educational equity. These books can be used as tools to help students learn more about current events and important topics high schoolers are discussing with each other and, in many cases, in classes with their teachers. Reading about characters that look like them or have gone through life experiences similar to their own also prompted educational equity.
Applicant: Katie Augusta
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $500
Language Based Learning Program Resources
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Language Based Learning Program Resources new
Newton South High School is currently building a new special education program serving students with language- based learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This program is in need of program specific resources. Students in the LBL program will be able to access these multi-sensory resources in their small group English classes, Academic Support classes, and in their reading specialist sessions. Some of the resources will be used to support teachers with curriculum development, while others will be used by students directly to improve their reading skills with a multi-sensory approach.
Applicant: Kerri Basiga
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,042
Library Display for Heritage Group Promotions
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Library Display for Heritage Group Promotions new
Create a new space to display diverse and inclusive books corresponding to monthly heritage celebrations and initiatives from the South Human Rights Council. Funds would be used for a new display center, books, and promotional materials. Upon receipt of grant:
- Order the display furniture
- Align display ideas with National Heritage Month district calendar
- Consult with South Human Rights council about relevant initiatives
- Develop display ideas
- Research relevant titles and create purchase list; purchase books
- Create monthly displays
Applicant: Margaret Schoen
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $1,451
Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film
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Narrative, Self-Expression, and Identity Through Film new
Students with divergent learning needs often struggle to find their voice. Film offers a unique approach for all students to express themselves. Film is expensive, however; our goal is to increase equity by expanding access to this powerful medium.
Applicant: Jasmine Lellock
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $5,000
Newton North Cluster Program
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Newton North Cluster Program
NSF continues to fund this program based on research by socio-psychologist Claude Steele that has found that clustering high-achieving and academically invested students together can alleviate stereotype threat, we have created a program to support our Black and Latinx students. The NNHS Cluster Program creates cohorts of Latinx students in METCO and the Dover Legacy Scholars program, as well as Black students to help disrupt any unconscious anxiety around potentially reinforcing negative racial stereotypes. The program also offers professional development for teachers of clustered classes.
Applicant: Michele Leong and Dave Bennett
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $4118
Newton South’s Leadership for Social Justice Course
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Newton South’s Leadership for Social Justice Course
The course at South, grades 10-12, is explicitly focused on developing and supporting actively anti-racist student leaders. The students who take this peer leadership course will also be instrumental in facilitating future conversations in 9th grade history classes and potentially as members of our Courageous Conversations on Race group.
Applicant: Katani Sumner and Sarah Style
Schools: Newton South
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2620
Portable Reading Nook
Portable Reading Nook new
We would love to replace the bungee chairs in our portable reading nook. Our two co-taught English classes greatly benefit from spreading out and reading in comfortable chairs. It helps their focus and retention.
Applicant: Beth Cronin
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $400
Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project
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Social Justice Mathematics Curriculum – The Calculus Project new
I want to create a social justice mathematics curriculum for the Calculus Project summer program. This curriculum will allow students to see how mathematics can be used to pursue justice and equity in society. Towards the end of the 2023 school year, I will begin drafting a SJM curriculum for the 8th grade Calculus Project cohort so it can be used in the 2023 summer program. Over the summer, I will work on finalizing the SJM curriculum for 8th grade and work on 9th grade (and possibly 10th grade). The intent is that the 8th and 9th grade curriculum can be used in the summer program of 2024.
Applicant: Amanda Ghilarde
Schools: MS & HS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: 3,584
Staff of Color Affinity Groups
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Staff of Color Affinity Groups
Staff of Color in NPS represent a small percentage of the overall population and with this comes challenges of isolation, de-validation about personal experiences, and lack of community. The hope is that providing programs and a save space to engage and exchange ideas and experiences will offer a place of support and safety, which will positively impact their experience in NPS.
Applicant: Kathy Lopes
Schools: District
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $5000
STEP Program Project
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STEP Program Project new
The students in the STEP program require social/emotional programming per their IEPs. Group Counseling is a component of the STEP program; however the space is not conducive to creating a relaxing, safe environment to facilitate counseling sessions. This project will increase the social-emotional well-being of students in the STEP program at Newton South by funding resources to enhance the physical environment, as well as creating the curriculum for the group counseling sessions. The project will be implemented by having resources to plan and to facilitate the STEP group counseling curriculum, and by purchasing furniture/decor to create a cohesive, relaxing and safe group counseling environment. The project will be implemented by using a variety of counseling books/workbooks, art supplies, technology, furniture/posters to engage students in learning social emotional concepts to increase their overall social emotional functioning and to reach their academic aptitude.
Applicant: Asher Baron
Schools: NSHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship
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Summer Theatre Camp Scholarship new
In 2022, Newton Community Education launched its first 5-week summer theater camp. The cost of this camp is $2,500 per student. We hope to provide a scholarship so that a child can attend this camp next summer regardless of their family income.
Applicant: Paige Davis
Schools: NCE
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $2,500
Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success
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Swivl – Teachers Learn for Student Success new
Swivl attaches to a recording device (iPad pro) and five markers placed in a classroom. It follows teacher movements and records local conversations at each marker. Swivl enables deep analysis of classroom practices and intervention strategies. Teacher learning communities will use Swivl to participate in a “critical friends” protocol. We will compare the successes and challenges of implementing UDL strategies within our own classrooms over time and across different groups of students. Content intervention coordinators will use data collected by Swivl to provide targeted supports, structures, and challenges for students. Assistant Department Heads will use Swivl as an instructional coaching tool.
Applicant: Michele Widener
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $7,281
Teachers as Scholars
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Teachers as Scholars new
Teachers participate in small, 2 day seminars led by university staff in the arts, humanities, math, and science, and are thus reconnected to the world of scholarship. Participants will explore a niche area of content to progress their own learning.
Applicant: Dani Johnson
Schools: NNHS
Date Approved: June 2023
Amount: $3,250
Vertical Whiteboards
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Vertical Whiteboards
Math teachers will increase their vertical whiteboard space to enable them to implement more student-first teaching strategies. Vertical non-permanent surfaces encourage responsible mathematical risk-taking, facilitate group interactions, and allows teachers to target interventions and extensions in a more efficient, timely manner.
Applicant: Kanchan Kant
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $2674
Visiting Poet Project
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Visiting Poet Project
Regionally recognized Black poet, Charlies Coe has been a frequent visitor to Newton North High School over the past four years, visiting approximately 12 classrooms and inspiring over 300 students per year. Charles' impact as a poet and writer who can provide writing prompts, feedback, reflection, humor, and insight into student work is remarkable; many of my students' writing has been transformed through Charles' work. Since students of color represent 87% of my classes (Black, Latino, and Asian), my goal is to have Charles present a variety of writing prompts focused on my students' identities, in order to have them create poetry and prose that help them see themselves as writers.
Applicant: Amy McMahon
Schools: Newton North
Date Approved: January, 2022
Amount: $700
Other Programs NSF Supports
Ligerbots
Ligerbots is a robotics club that includes students, teacher coaches and parent mentors from both Newton North and Newton South High Schools. In 2008 NSF provided financial support to help build the program in Newton. The following year, NSF assumed financial oversight of the program, allowing for a more flexible use of funds than the Newton Public Schools can provide.
Beijing Jingshan Exchange Program
Each spring, the Newton-Beijing Jingshan School Exchange Program sends Newton teachers and high school students to the Jingshan School, Newton Public Schools’ sister school in Beijing. Newton hosts a similar group from the Jingshan School every fall. While in Beijing, teachers teach English and continue their own study of Chinese (Mandarin). Students attend classes in Chinese language, history, art, music, math, science, and martial arts — all in Chinese.
