AEEF announces Spring 2003 Grants

 The Arlington Educational Enrichment Fund has awarded $15,144 to the following
recipients in its spring 2003 grant cycle:
 

Celebrating Multiculturalism and Diversity: The make-up of the classrooms at the Thompson School consists of students from a variety of backgrounds. More than 25 percent of the student body comes from families speaking multiple languages, and more than a dozen different countries are represented. This AEEF grant will help the Thompson library update and build resources to reflect its diverse population.

Elementary Spanish Curriculum Enrichment Project: The Arlington Spanish Network is a townwide group of almost 50 parents, teachers and administrators. Their collaborative efforts work toward supporting and enriching the elementary Spanish program in all seven elementary schools. This grant will help fund several aspects of their comprehensive program. These include providing blank audiotapes, videotapes, and CDs, for the students to create their own interactive curriculum-related media, paying teachers stipends for their ongoing involvement and helping pay for Web-site design.

Teaching Handwriting: A strong handwriting base in the early years allows children attain future success in handwriting as they progress through their school years. This project consists of a professional development day for Thompson School educators with an occupational therapist. These teachers will then develop a timeline for teaching handwriting, and a curriculum of instructional activities for fine motor work throughout kindergarten and first grade. This will be written in the form of a resource guide to be shared with all Arlington teachers of these two grade levels.

Supplementary Literature for the Open Circle Program: The format of the Open Circle Program recognizes the critical role that relationships play in the social development and academic success of children. Third-grade teachers at Dallin have been trained in this yearlong program. This AEEF grant will fund the purchase of many suggested literature connections to the Open Circle lessons, which will greatly enhance the program.

Culture Boxes: With this grant, the Dallin School will create six "culture boxes." As our culture becomes increasingly diverse, it is important for students to have an understanding of the many and varied experiences that families bring with them to this country. Each box will focus on a specific culture, and will include items that represent many aspects of a culture, from daily life to the arts and significant events.

Prereferral and Intervention Model: This model is an effort to implement a comprehensive support system for all children at the Hardy School. A team of classroom teachers, support staff, special subject teachers, and administrators, designed the model in order to provide for each child's unique learning style and needs. This AEEF grant will allow these educators to conduct a summer workshop to review norm referenced assessment instruments currently being used, as well as investigate other assessment instruments for their potential application for their needs.

Cyrus E. Dallin Activity Book: Cyrus Dallin was a famous sculptor who lived in Arlington for more than 40 years. This grant will help fund the printing of a Cyrus Dallin activity book, which will provide an engaging hands-on way for students to learn about his life and works. This grant was submitted by the Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum.

Students Technology Leadership Team: In the past two years, Arlington's Public Schools have made a major commitment to the integration of technology into the high school curriculum. This grant will sponsor a participant to attend the MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) Conference.

"Turtle Watchers" Presentation and Writing Workshops: This grant will allow the Bishop School to bring published author Pamela Powell to the school for a daylong program. She will make a one-hour presentation introducing the environmental and multicultural story of her book The Turtle Watchers. She will then have hourlong writing workshops with each fourth-grade class.
 

English Language Learners Club: AEEF will help fund an after-school program at the Thompson School for English Language Learners and their parents. The goals of this club are to provide a range of enriching experiences, improve the students' skill level in English, and improve parent's skills in providing academic support to their children.

Workshop on Bullying: Understanding and combating bullying is the emphasis of Hardy School's child-to-child theme for the upcoming school year. This AEEF grant will be used to bring well-known psychologist Michael Thompson of Arlington to the school for a day of student workshops on bullying.

Mitochondria DNA Analysis of Arlington High School Biology Students: This grant will be used to purchase kits, which will enable High School biology students to collect and prepare their DNA. The DNA will then be sent to a lab for sequencing. The students will be able to analyze and compare their DNA sequences with other students, scientists, and cultures via computer.

Creativity and Madness: The conference "Creativity and Madness" is being held this summer. This conference will address the theory that pain and turmoil do not always result in disability and disease, but can enhance creativity. This AEEF grant pays the registration fee for the fine arts director of the Arlington Public Schools to attend this conference.

Redesigning the Senior Year: Alternatives for Authentic Learning: This grant will be used at the high school to establish a senior internship/service program. Fruitful internship or service learning experiences allow a senior to have a positive impact, and connect what they have learned over the course of their high school careers to real world contexts. Meaningful internship programs, though, need accountability, end products, and mentoring in their design. A teacher coordinator and teacher volunteers will design and implement a formal senior experience program that fits Arlington High School and allows for expanded participation.

Project to Integrate Art into the Curriculum: This project at the Brackett School will create in-class creative art activities, inspired by the curriculum frameworks, for grades K, 1 and 4. This project will build on a successful pilot project completed this year in the second grade. Educator Ann Wynne will develop six units for use next year, and will lead the projects in the classrooms.
     For further information, please contact Judy Weinberg at judyweinberg@comcast.net