SOMEF: Teacher Grants

All Grants Awarded for 2009-2010 School Year listed by school

School(s)

Applicant(s)

Grades

Project Title

Category

Dollar
Range

Objectives

Columbia HS

Linda Grasso

9,10,11,12

Student Incentive Program

At-risk students

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to promote student motivation toward academic excellence. It looks to improve attendence, increase money management skills, and develop the ability to set priorities, and foster the belief that hard work and perseverance does lead to rewards.

Columbia HS

Jennifer Dalton, Stacey Lawrence, Janet Mandel

11,12

Poetry Anthologies: Collected Works 2009-2010

Language Arts

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to have the funds to publish two hardcover books of each student's original, best work that illustrate what he or she has achieved in Poetry Reading and Writing throughout the academic year. One copy will be theirs to keep,

Columbia HS

Emmanuel Arguelles

9,10,11,12

Document Camera as an enabler for collaborative learning in the classroom

Math

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to make it easy for students to show their work to other students in the entire class. Once they are able to easily show their work to the class, this opens the door to having unimpeded collaborative student-centered learning

Columbia HS

Eugene Porta

9,10,11,12

Activities for Daily Living

Other

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to provide the necessary life skills that students with multiple disabilities need in order for them to become productive members in their community. Opening students to their community will not only give them access to learning skills but could also lead to possible employment upon graduation.

Columbia HS

Smita Dharsi

9,10,11,12

One-Bead-at-a-Time Community Project

Other

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to obtain "seed money" to purchase bead supplies and invite a "bead expert" to class (one time only) in order to identify examples of practical and marketable bead objects. The second objective is to raise money by selling hand-made bead objects for community projects identified by the students.

Columbia HS

Marian Hershey

Biotechnology in the High School Classroom

Science

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to rejuvenate my Biochemistry course and to supplement the AP Biology and Senior Biology classes by purchasing biotechnology equipment and supplies for the investigation of DNA related topics.

Columbia HS

Michael Novemsky

Floating Physics

Science

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to allow more (all) physics students to experience the physics concepts of kinematics (motion) and dynamics (forces) by being physically a part of activities that were once only demonstrations.

Columbia HS

Jessica Cavagnaro, Janet French Kahn

9,10,11,12

Student Motivation and Cooperation Through Ticket Exchange Program

At-risk students

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to encourage and entice students to participate and cooperate in the classroom, to complete assignments, and to be successful in Spanish 1 throughout the school year. With the ticket reward system, students will accumulate and exchange their tickets approximately once a month for various rewards.

Columbia HS, Maplewood MS, South Orange MS

Gail Salomon, Barbara Tsioni, Erin Murphy, Robin Patton, Terry Kohn

6,9,10,11,12

Pick a Book- Add One to the Library!

At-risk students

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to allow students in remedial reading classes to be part of the selection process of books to be added to the existing leveled library in their classroom.

Columbia HS, Maplewood MS, South Orange MS

Stephen MacPherson, Sue Logeman, Beth Johnson

6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Shakespeare Festival

Language Arts

$1,500 +

The objectives of this grant are to encourage students to be active participants in the planning and production of the CHS 8th Annual Shakespeare Festival; to make Shakespeare more accessible and enjoyable to all students; and to give students the confidence and courage to tackle other challenging subjects.

Columbia HS, Maplewood MS, South Orange MS

Nicholas Santoro

6,7,8,9,10,11,12

The Baird Jazz Masters Workshops

Music

$1,000 - $1,500

The onjective of this grant is to provide stipends for visiting jazz musicians to engage and play with the middle school and high school students involved in the jazz program.

Columbia HS, South Orange MS, Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, Seth Boyden, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Karen Weiland, David Connerty

K-12

Language Arts

Elementors Reading Buddies

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to support The Elementors Reading Buddy Program - a program which pairs high school students with a K, 1st or 2nd grade struggling early readers in a bi-weekly, read-together program. This grant asks for funding for tee shirts for the high school volunteers to be used as an incentive, thank you reward, advertising, and 'team - identification' builder.

Clinton

Lindy Rollo

1,2,3,4,5,8

Increase the Peace

Conflict Resolution

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to discourage and provide coping strategies for bullying by creating and training a student group in anti-bullying practices who will then bring the strategies to their peers through skits, mediation, and discussion.

Clinton

Ann Cosmas, Kathy Shelffo, Cris Swan, Carolyn Banks

Kindergarten Poetry Center

Language Arts

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to support and further the NJ Reading Standards for kindergartners and our district's Language Arts Curriculum by creating a visually enticing Poetry Center in each of our four kindergarten classrooms that will be effective for students with varied learning styles.

Clinton

Patty O'Neill

K,1,2,3,4,5

Translation Initiative to Reach All Families

Parent Outreach

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to reach our non-English speaking families by translating fliers, notices, a bi-monthly newsletter, and other written materials into Spanish and Hatian Creole. As the elementary school which houses the district's English Language Learners population, this kind of outreach is crucial to our students' success and to our effort to make all families welcome.

Clinton

Joseph Ferriero

Mimio/Media Project

Technology Not Primarily for One Subject

$1500+

The objective of this grant is to provide the third grade teachers/Clinton School as a whole, with Mimio boards and media projectors to replace, among other things, overhead projectors.

Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, Seth Boyden, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Lisa Ringler

K,1,2,3,4,5

Active Seating: Disc' O' Sit

At-risk students

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to provide teachers, through their school's Intervention Committee, with a tool to support students with attentional and/or postural challenges. The Disc' O' Sit provides support for students who require dynamic seated activities throughout their day.

Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, Seth Boyden, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Marilu Gregory

K,1,2,3

K-3 Reading Buddies

At-risk students

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to provide new books to "at-risk" K-3 students who are receiving support for reading aquisition skills from trained high school and middle school Reading Buddies. In an effort to promote an enthusiasm for reading we would like to provide a new book to each student at the completion of their Buddy experience.

Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, Seth Boyden, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Ann Bodnar

PreSchool-PreK,K,1, 2,3,4,5

Celebrating Diversity Through Literature

Character Development

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to celebrate diversity through literature.

Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, Seth Boyden, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Judith Hanratty, Donna Grohman, Janiki Watley, Katie Costello

K,1,2,3,4,5

Best Practices and Innovative Literacy Coaching

Language Arts

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant it to provide opportunity for the Language Arts/Social Studies K-5 Supervisor and District's K-5 Reading Specialists to attend The 4th Annual Institute on Literacy Coaching and Whole School Reform at Teacher's College. Attending this institute would equipt us with the innovative tools and powerful techniques necessary to provide staff development for the district K-5 staff and over 3,000 students.

Clinton, Seth Boyden

Karen Weiland, Marilu Gregory

3,9,10,11,12

Invention Convention Workshops

At-risk students

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to provide the opportunity for at-risk third grade students to successfully complete the Invention Convention assignment with the assistance of a high school partner. Parents of the younger student are encouraged to attend with their child and assist.Convention assignment with the assistance of a high school partner. Parents of the younger student are encouraged to attend with their child and assist.

Clinton, Tuscan

Jaime Falkin

K,1

Tuscan Twilight Tigers

At-risk students

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to provide extra reading support and stategies to struggling readers and their grownups resulting in increased fluency and comprehension.

Jefferson

Margaret Codella

3,4,5

Using Audiobooks and Multimedia Instruction to Help Struggling Learners

Language Arts

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to give language and learning disabled students multi-sensory activities to further meet their needs. This will be accomplished with the use of audiobooks and the educational website BrainPOP to create differentiated classroom instruction.

Jefferson

Camille Lewis-Francis, Rosemary Jessell, Erica Lawrence, Laura Swyberius

3,4,5

iread

Language Arts

$1000-$1500

The objective of this grant is to enhance the language arts curriculum at Jefferson School by providing struggling readers supplemental audio adaptations of books through the use of ipods. By ‘hearing’ what they read, students will improve their phonetic awareness and word recognition and gain the skill of reading for enjoyment.

Jefferson

Deborah Bialer

Let the Students do the Explaining

Math

$500-$1,000

The objective of this grant is to facilitate students ability to share and explain their work in a classroom in real time.

Jefferson

Karen Leary, Whitney Owens

Technology and Teaching for the 21st Century

Technology Not Primarily for One Subject

$500-$1,000

The objective of this grant is to purchase a document camera and LCD projector to improve the learning experience in our full inclusion class. Introducing more current technology will enable teachers to access varied materials to meet our diverse needs and build individual self-confidence and classroom community by sharing student-work instantaneously.

Jefferson

Laurence Seltzer

PreSchool-PreK,K

Spanish to Go

World Languages

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to prepare Fifth Graders at Jefferson School to act as Spanish teachers to the Pre-K and by doing so develop both their linguistic skills in Spanish and their empathy. To capture the students' interest, the Fifth graders will create age-appropriate materials which they will scan and project on walls or screens.

Marshall

Heather Merrigan

PreSchool-PreK,K

Teaching Social Skills Using Puppets and Role-Playing

Character Development

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to teach social skills to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students through fun, engaging and interactive lessons using puppets, role-play scenarios and social skills story books.

Marshall

Victoria Schodowski, Tracy Howard

Mathematics: Making A Literature Connection

Math

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to use literature to connect student's prior knowledge and experience to their understanding of essential math concepts and fundamental skills.

Marshall

Bebe Greenberg, Michael Wojcio

K,1,2

Science and Social Studies Literacy in Inclusion Classrooms

Professional Development

$500-$1,000

The objective of this grant is for teachers of inclusion classrooms(special education and general education teachers in the same classroom, sharing the teaching responsibilities)and one Special Education self contained (special education students only are in this class) teacher to learn and practice the teaching of content area subjects (science and social studies) through literacy (reading and writing) when attending a four day training in New York City.

Maplewood MS

Lori Neetz, Jessica Borenstein

6,7,8

Learn To Earn

At-risk students

up to $500

The objective iof this grant is to allow students to earn prizes as a result of completing assignments, displaying random of acts of "classroom" kindness. The aim is to reward "effective effort" that will lead to developing better work habits and more positive results from the effort extended in school. The eventual goal is that academic effort becomes it's own reward and the prizes earned have less signifigance than the new skills learned.

Maplewood MS

Danielle Elko, Kevin Mason

6,7,8

Annual Appalachian Hiking Trip

Character Development

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to provide our at-risk population with the opportunity to work on social skills, cooperative strategies, and gain character developing experiences to become more effective members of the community.

Maplewood MS

Mary Ford

Document Camera and LCD Projector Combination

Math

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to improve students understanding of mathematical concepts through the use of interactive technology in daily classroom lessons.

Maplewood MS

Mary Ford

Increase the Peace

Conflict Resolution

$500 - $1,000

Maplewood MS

Maureen O'Sullivan

6,7,8

Comics in the Classroom!

Technology Not Primarily for One Subject

up to $500

The objective of this grant is to cultivate literacy and academic success by exposing MMS Project Ahead students to the ground-breaking program Comic Life. However, students in all disciplines will benefit from the installation of this software since Comic Life motivates and engages students of all levels, regardless of subject.

Maplewood MS, Clinton, Jefferson

Laurence Seltzer, Tina Gomez

5,7,8

Bienvenidos a MMS

World Languages

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to expand World Languages literacy through cross-grade communication. Middle school students will create a virtual tour, public announcements, and videos skits in Spanish which to be used to familiarize the Fifth graders with the Middle School environment.

Maplewood MS, South Orange MS, Clinton, Jefferson, Marshall, South Mountain-South Mountain Annex, Tuscan

Karen Weiland

PreSchool-PreK,K,1,2,3,4,5,6,7

ADD/ADHD Parent Support Group

At-risk students

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to provide books and resources for parents who will be attending The Parenting Center's monthly ADD/ADHD parent support group.

Montrose

Michele Ruopp, Marcia Hicks

9.10.11.12

Writing/Righting Our Way: A Journal Project For At Risk Students

At-risk students

up to $500

The object of this grant is to provide students a framework in which to determine challenges and set goals. Through journal writing, each student will establish their challenges and goals, as well as record their actions, on an ongoing basis, that will, overtime, help to provide them insight into their positive and negative behaviors.

Seth Boyden

Lois Cardillo

K,1,2,3,4,5

Hands-On Speech Therapy

At-risk students

$1500+

The objective of this grant is to increase the effectiveness of the speech-language therapy for my "at risk" students by utilizing SmartBoard technology, which will increase multi-sensory experience. Research has shown this improves both learning, retention, and motivation to learn.

Seth Boyden

Maureen Koppenaal, Susan Lanzafame, Sheila Murphy, Brian Edgerton

Revolutionary Times!

Language Arts

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to develop a library of fiction and nonfiction books on the Revolutionary War to enhance the district curriculum and to serve as a reference source for a grade wide living history museum: Life in Colonial Times.

Seth Boyden

Susan Brody, Suzanne Vine

3,4

It's a Boy Thing: Developing a Love of Reading in Reluctant Male Readers

Language Arts

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to provide an engaging variety of reading material--with the genres and types of books that appeal to boys--in order to entice third and fourth grade boys at Seth Boyden to read more.

South Mountain-South Mountain Annex

Ellie Esposito, Marci Koltenuk-Clarke, Jennifer Visco, Mary Figueredo

Follow the 39 Clues to the Weird School with a Pigeon

Language Arts

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to purchase three different book series (The 39 Clues, Weird School, and Pigeon) to enhance the classroom libraries of the three 3rd grade Language Arts teachers at South Mountain School.

South Mountain-South Mountain Annex

Serena Watkinson, Debbie Wright

got books?

Language Arts

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this project is to provide our students with a wide variety of non-fiction literature that will support independent reading at each child's "just right" level.

South Mountain-South Mountain Annex

Suzanne Ng

K-1

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Language Arts

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to provide curriculum and theme-based listening center kits for the K-1 teachers to borrow to use in the classroom.

South Mountain-South Mountain Annex

Leslie Glennon, Zipora Auerbach

1,2,3,4

Communication Exchange

Math

$1000-$1500

The objective of this grant is to promote active hands-on learning and monitor student's understanding at the same time.

South Mountain-South Mountain Annex

Lisa Heumann, Christine Paul, Rebecca Maier, Serena Watkinson

Kinder-Gardens: A Green Way to Help the Community

Other

$500 - $1,000

The objective of this grant is to build kinder-"gardens" to teach our students the importance of natural life cycles, healthy eating, nutrition and social conciousness through gardening, composting, harvesting and sharing the crops they grow with their community.

South Orange MS

Alison Steiner, Kathy Reany, Dori Christmas

6,7,8

Lunch time Support Groups

At-risk students

up to $500

The objective of this grant is to engage students who's anxiety or social issues are interfering with their ability to function academically by providing them with both a peer group for social-skills and a leadership roll in the cafeteria.

South Orange MS

Fran Cristalli

Study Skills/Time Management Group

At-risk students

$500-$1000

The main objective of the grant is to teach sixth grade students study and organizational skills in order to become successful middle school students. For most sixth graders, most are faced with many subjects being departmentalized for the first time. Therefore, students must learn to juggle homework, project deadlines as well as the demands of extra-curricular activities.

South Orange MS

Barbara Tsioni, Bonnie DiBlasio

Study Island NJASK Preparation

Language Arts

$500 - $1,000

The object of this grant is to use the Study Island NJASK program to help Special Education students master the New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. It enables students to improve their performance in all skill areas tested on the NJASK which leads to improved test scores.

South Orange MS

Kathleen Anderson, Rebecca Donahue, Danielle Levine

Poetry in Residence Project

Language Arts

$1,000 - $1,500

The objective of this grant is to obtain supplemental funding for a Poetry in Residence Project offered by the Playwrights Theatre for the 7th grade classes at South Orange Middle School. The South Orange HSA has pledged $2000 to support the residency and additional funding is needed to obtain the program and create a poetry anthology for all of the 7th grade students.

South Orange MS

Debra Myers, Carla Dos Santos, Ana Reyes, Katie Simpson

6,7,8

iPods for Spanish Language Learning

World Languages

$1,500 +

The objective of this grant is to purchase iPods and related equipment that will enable the Spanish teachers at South Orange Middle School to differentiate instruction for their Spanish language learners using iPod technology.

Tuscan

Theresa Murphy

Word Study - Home/School Connection

Basic Skills

Up to $500

The objective of this grant is to provide students with the means to practice and master word study skills taught in class. By providing students with the proper manipulatives to practice at home, they will have the opportunity to increase their phonemic awareness, improve decoding and blending skills, recognize word families and improve word attack skills.

Tuscan

Jennifer Thomas, Suzanne Cicolello

Audio Assisted Literacy Enrichment 2009

Language Arts

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to support students' reading fluency and comprehension using an in-class and at-home cd/book pack.

Tuscan

Claire Sinclair

Big Books Literacy Center

Language Arts

$500-$1000

The objective of this grant is to provide big books for Kindergarten students that span all curriculum areas, which can be utilized during center time and in large and small group settings.