FAIRVIEW PARK EDUCATION FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE 2022 GRANT AWARDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,311
On April 26, 2022, the Fairview Park Education Foundation Board of Trustees approved $2,667 in grant awards for teachers of the Fairview Park City Schools.
The awarded grants are:
$305 has been awarded to Kelly Baughman for the purchase of several different manipulative sets to introduce prekindergarten students to “design, innovating thinking, problem solving, and creation involving mathematical concepts”. These learning materials “will help students to better understand cause and effect relationships”.
$250 has been awarded to Claire Kohl at Mayer Middle School for books and materials to promote social thinking skills. The purpose of this grant is to help special needs students to learn “coping skills, self-regulation strategies, and find positive ways to interact with peers both in and out of the classroom”.
$1,862 has been awarded to Matt Dunlap and Chris Kaminski for the purchase of “The Infento Pro Kit”. This kit would be used by 7-12 grade students to design and build modular electric vehicles. It is a reusable kit for students to “learn about mechanics, realizing and designing a plan, assembling, tools, braking systems, electric mobility and much more”. The students will work together in teams developing “skills such as patience, troubleshooting, critical thinking, and problem solving, in order to be successful”.
Mrs. Dunlap’s 7th Grade Steam Class building the modular electric vehicle:
$250 has been awarded to Colleen Ticherich to work with students that choose to learn American Sign Language in a club setting. The grant would provide materials for the students, such as books, puzzles, posters, etc. to aid in the learning of ASL, which would enable the students to better communicate with our hearing-impaired students.
On November 17, 2022, the Fairview Park Education Foundation Board of Trustees approved $4,644 in grant awards for teachers and staff of the Fairview Park City Schools.
The awarded grants are:
$796 was awarded to Erin Frank at Lewis F. Mayer Middle School to purchase Breakout EDU Kits and a subscription for one year to Breakout EDU. This will furnish “classroom teachers with the materials to provide engaging escape room style activities” for their students.
FINAL REPORT:
Outcome of Grant (Results Achieved): Students embarked on the inaugural escape room experience in my 7th grade science classroom, to explore weather and climate patterns in an activity called “New State, New Home, New Weather.” The design for the escape room came from Breakout EDU’s materials that came as a part of the grant’s access to their website. This was especially helpful, as everything that was needed (the story, the codes, the answers) were already constructed and tested by the experts. I was able to search for relevant materials and tailor them to my students’ needs.
Students worked in teams of 3-4 to complete each challenge at their own pace and were excited to try out the challenge answers to see if they were correct. Each team had a chance to try the code to unlock each box and move on to the next level. Several teams were able to finish all of the challenges in the allotted time and receive their reward!
This was an incredibly engaging experience for students- they stayed motivated and excited throughout the whole period. Many of them asked if they could do this type of challenge again, to which I said, “Absolutely!” All of the students were proud of the challenges they accomplished and demonstrated great teamwork skills.
I look forward to using this experience again and again throughout the coming years and exploring the Breakout EDU database further.
$524 was awarded to Kelly Baughman and Liz Loescher at Parkview Early Education Center to purchase supplies for their “Little Chefs Program”. This program will enable the students “to actively participate in preparing ingredients, work together, follow multiple step recipes, and bake the final product”.
$800 was awarded to Rebecca Hicks at Fairview High School to purchase supplies to create a cultural appreciation garden. The purpose of this project is for the students to “gain a further appreciation for each other’s cultural backgrounds” and share the garden and its message with other students.
Fairview High School Courtyard
$482 was awarded to Robin Schlesinger and Meredith Schulte at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School and Early Education Center to purchase supplies to “enhance the parent/home resource lending library”. These resource bags help parents be more knowledgeable about challenges their child is facing, and results in the children learning “more strategies to cope with these challenges”.
$473 was awarded to Heather Reyna, Laura Ponsart, and Mary Salco at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School to purchase multiple sets of board games “that will provide students with opportunities to reinforce topics in language arts, math, and science”.
$419 was awarded to Andy Bruening and Steve Ruic at Fairview High School and Lewis F. Mayer Middle School to purchase the supplies to breed the food for reptile pets in the classroom and to acquire two pets. The students would have a “genuine way of learning science laboratory skills and techniques such as charting, creating and following protocols” along with the care of reptile pets.
$1,150 was awarded to Shanna Kovi, Jessica Potraffke, and Kerry Sheldon at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School to engage a music therapist for ten weeks (2–30-minute sessions per week) of music therapy for their students. Music therapy has been shown to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities in many areas, such as: maintaining attention, increasing participation, and enhancing fine motor skills.
The Fairview Park Education Foundation provides grants for the enrichment of the Fairview Park City public schools for the enrichment of school curriculum, the enhancement of instruction, and the implementation of other appropriate activities to achieve specific education goals. The grants are funded through individual donations and through proceeds from various fundraisers.