Innovation Archives - Newton Schools Foundation

Purposeful Emergent Writing in Kindergarten

Purposeful Emergent Writing in Kindergarten new

Our Kindergarten Team will explore the stages of writing development through a book study with our Literacy Specialist. Instruction with described moves. Kindergarten writers will move from prewriting to using sentence structure and story sense. Our study and application of moves is learned through the text Kid Writing in the 21st Century. Students will have multiple chances each week to write their own story in their writing notebook.

Applicant: Jeanne Conley

Schools: Lincoln-Eliot

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $1,060.76

The Elementary SEL Curriculum Trial – EL Educations “CREW”

The Elementary SEL Curriculum Trial – EL Educations “CREW” new

Our project will trial EL Education’s “CREW” in a 2nd grade classroom. For elementary, this is not a set of lessons. Rather, it “serves as an ethos that guides the creation of a strong school climate—belonging, accountability, service, and teamwork.” The “CREW” program integrates SEL and character education with academics. It is an approach that acknowledges that students require a strong foundation of SEL skills to be able to reach their highest academic potential. When SEL is woven into the day, classroom communities become safe, supportive environments where students are more likely to take risks and persevere. Such classrooms are places where students feel valued, respected and celebrated for their unique strengths and experiences.

Applicant: Jennifer Terrazzino

Schools: Lincoln-Eliot

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $1,083.80

Brisk Al Teaching Assistant Pilot

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This project will be a teacher pilot of an AI teacher assistant program called Brisk AI that supports lesson planning, text leveling, and student feedback. This is a new approach for classroom instruction and curriculum, and one that some teachers in the district have already tried on a one-month trial basis but without professional development support. This would enable teachers to efficiently align their academic tasks to standards and leveled texts that are accessible for students and with tools to give AI-supported student feedback around specific parameters identified by the teacher. We will create a professional learning community and bring people together in August for training and periodically throughout the year to share practices. We will organize a showcase at the end of the year to share work.

Applicant: Gene Roundtree

Schools: Middle Schools and Education Center

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $3,000.00

Reading Materials for Language Acquisition FVR Libraries

Leveled readers, designed for language acquisition, will be purchased to create classroom “FVR” libraries for student use. Stories and leveled readers are created to be tailored to the interest of the middle school learner, and …

Reading Materials for Language Acquisition FVR Libraries new

Leveled readers, designed for language acquisition, will be purchased to create classroom "FVR" libraries for student use. Stories and leveled readers are created to be tailored to the interest of the middle school learner, and they often present topics that elicit spontaneous discussion or laughter. Most Leveled readers are written from the perspective of a student who lives in a country where the target language is spoken. This adventure into the experience of someone from another culture enables students to explore the realities of another person’s culture as well as reflect on their own cultural identities.

Applicant: Joanna Modica

Schools: Oak Hill Middle School

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $1,400.00

Middle School Mathematics Intervention Materials

This project will build off of what we learned with our Nearpod purchase, filling gaps in need for mathematics intervention materials for middle schools. This will ensure equity of student experience across all four schools. …

Middle School Mathematics Intervention Materials

Applicant: Maria Kolbe

Schools: Middle Schools and Education Center

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $3,500.00

Enhancing Creativity & Equity in Elementary Art Through Clay Work

Funding for 16 inch Mini Might II Table Top Slab Rollers to be used in the elementary school art room. The clay slab roller will allow all students, regardless of ability, to engage in more …

Enhancing Creativity & Equity in Elementary Art Through Clay Work new

Funding for 16 inch Mini Might II Table Top Slab Rollers to be used in the elementary school art room. The clay slab roller will allow all students, regardless of ability, to engage in more advanced and meaningful clay projects. This fosters creativity, problem-solving, and cross-disciplinary learning while increasing engagement and supporting the social-emotional development of every child.

Applicant: Hillary Irvine

Schools: Ward

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $587.00

Pollinator Garden

Second graders will design and plant a pollinator garden to support bees and butterflies while learning about pollinators, native plants, and how to care for the environment. (3 classrooms) The grant will help purchase materials: …

Pollinator Garden new

Applicant: Beth Bernier

Schools: Zervas

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $225.00

3D STEAM Lab Innovation

This grant provides funding to enhance my 3D art curriculum with tools that promote hands-on, student-centered learning. By incorporating this equipment, students will work alone or in teams to conceptualize, prototype, and build large-scale, three-dimensional projects. With the ability to cut out any cardboard shape they can imagine, students will no longer be limited by their lack of scissor skills or physical strength, leading to greater engagement and perseverance.

Applicant: Jennifer Sutherland

Schools: Lincoln-Eliot

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $432.98

Book Clubs

Book Clubs new

The grant will provide funding for Book Clubs for 6th grade special education students. This includes headphones and splitters, an Audible membership, and books. The goal is to bolster reading engagement, strengthen comprehension, model fluent reading, and increase test scores. In addition, an Audible membership would allow us to purchase audiobooks and guarantee that popular titles would be available to students.

Applicant: Alyssa Cantwell

Schools: Brown Middle School

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $633.50

Using Bablingua to Bolster Spanish Language

This grant will provide Bablingua, a portal that provides videos, audio tracks, printed materials and lesson tools, to support teachers in developing thematically-based curriculum for students across all levels of Spanish (from Novice to Advanced).

Using Bablingua to Bolster Spanish Language

Applicant: Helena Alfonzo

Schools: Newton South

Date Approved: Fall 2024

Amount: $750

Memorial-Spaulding Story Walk

A story walk is an outdoor literacy installation, where readers travel page by page through a book. We aim to support literacy and family involvement at Memorial-Spaulding by constructing a sustainable outdoor story walk on …

Memorial-Spaulding Story Walk new

Applicant: Rachael Lundquist

Schools: Memorial Spaulding

Date Approved: Fall 2024

Amount: $602.74

WIN (What I Need) self-regulation spaces

What I Need (WIN) spaces are a trauma-informed, Tier 1 classroom intervention that supports the development of self-regulation and emotional intelligence. This pilot study would include both general and special education classrooms.

WIN (What I Need) self-regulation spaces new

Applicant: Sophia Brion-Meisels

Schools: FA Day Middle School

Date Approved: Fall 2024

Amount: $3,309.89