Fairview Park Education Foundation Announces Fall 2015 Grant Awards

On November 19, 2015, the Fairview Park Education Foundation Board of Trustees approved $8,110 in grant awards for teachers and staff of the Fairview Park City Schools. The awarded grants included:

• $1,500 for partial funding of a visit by author Bruce Coville to Gilles-Sweet Elementary School. Mr. Coville is author of the popular book, My Teacher is an Alien.
• $804 to bring to Lewis F. Mayer Middle School the Shipwreck Challenge, a program in which 8^th graders will work as a team to design, build, and test sea craft prototypes.
• $300 to increase the availability of LGBTQ inclusive books at the Early Education Center and Gilles-Sweet Elementary School. Fairview High School Mosaic Club members will assess the current level of diversity in the literature available to students.
• $200 to purchase board books for a Pre-Kindergarten class at the Early Education Center. Board books teach fine motor skills while providing students with thicker pages that will allow them to better handle a book without teacher intervention.
• $200 to purchase Duplo themed logos that students can use to cultivate fine motor skills and team play without risking their safety. The large size of these legos reduces the risk of choking hazards while still fostering learning.
• $350 to purchase two sets of career costumes for a Pre-Kindergarten class at the Early Education Center. These costumes help students develop imagination through role play of future career choices as well as fine motor skills by teaching students to dress themselves.
• $1,787.50 to purchase K’Nex brand building sets for Lewis F. Mayer Middle School. These K’Nex sets will provide a deeper understanding of scientific topics like friction, energy, and motion through the hands-on activity of designing and building vehicles.
• $865 to purchase DNA model kits that will allow 9^th and 10^th graders at Fairview High School to construct molecular models of DNA. This hands-on activity will aid in the instruction of the structure, replication, transcription, and translation of DNA.
• $303.12 to purchase a class set of the novel Seedfolks and supplies to create a classroom community garden. Participating students will produce vignettes based on their planting experience to add to the novel.
• $900 for interactive activities to teach the 1^st graders at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School appreciation for plants and gardens. Students will view special exhibits at the Cleveland Museum of Art and create an impressionist garden landscape as part of an art studio class. An educator from the Holden Arboretum will then visit Gilles-Sweet and facilitate a “plant science” investigation focused on native trees and seasonal change. Fairview High School environmental science students will serve as mentors/”resident educators” throughout this process.
• $900 for partial funding to purchase a bike blender from Rock the Bike. Bike blenders are a fun way of raising awareness of the benefits of fruits and vegetables while also encouraging exercise.

The Fairview Park Education Foundation provides grants for the enrichment of school curriculum, the enhancement of instruction, and the implementation of other appropriate activities to achieve specific educational goals. Since 1984, the Foundation has awarded more than 250 grants to staff from Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. The grants are funded through individual donations and through proceeds from various fundraisers.

Click here for a list of all grants awarded in 2015.