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Over the past year the BEF has awarded over $16,000 in grant
money to Burlington teachers, and that money is hard at work
in several of Burlington's classrooms. |
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At the High School, Mr. Ethan Feinsilver, journalism teacher,
will be taking the Devil's Advocate (BHS newspaper) leaders
to St. Louis, Missouri. They will be attending a National
High School Journalism Convention entitled “Gateway to
the Best.” This convention will hold workshops, writing
seminars, on-site critiques, and student competitions. Our
Devil's Advocate writers and editors will return with advanced
design and writing techniques for the school paper. Watch
for these exciting changes next winter!
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Burlington High students will also benefit from Ms. Christina
Chang Riley's grant entitled “Banghra Boston.” An
assembly will gather all students to experience Banghra Boston's
traditional performance of South Asian music. This will provide
students with a better understanding of a classic, yet different
global entertainment. |
Francis Wyman School was also the recipient of a cultural grant
this spring. Mrs. Betty Kerr, art teacher, will introduce grade
4 and 5 students to “Kamishibai” traditional Japanese
story cards. Students will create and illustrate their own Kamishibai
tale. Afterwards, these tales will be shared with younger students.
This grant weaves reading, writing, and culture. |
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Ms. Lindsay Peabody, also at Francis Wyman, received a partial
grant for the music department. She requested funds for Elementary
Band Risers, which, although the BEF cannot support fully,
we are happy to contribute to. Band risers would enable better
visibility and a fuller and more complete sound. Ultimately,
students would thrive on their success as musicians.
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An additional art grant is the Display System for Fox Hill
School. Katalin Spang, art teacher, along with Jeanne Corniti,
music teacher are preparing for a Fine Arts Night at Fox Hill
to showcase the musical and artistic achievement of the 4th
and 5th grade students. The Fox Hill gymnasium will be transformed
into a beautiful gallery with chamber music and art exhibitions.
Look for the rolling panels provided by the BEF.
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Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, Jane Hundley, will
introduce a program supporting the new 2nd grade curriculum.
Her grant entitled “Social Studies and Literacy: Creating
Meaningful Cultural Connections” will bring author/educator
Norah Dooley to all Burlington elementary schools. Ms. Dooley
teaches story telling through publishing, emphasizing Burlington
effort towards enhancing our student's global perspective
and understanding. Recently, Burlington Public Schools have
worked to align the curriculum with the Department of Education's
2003 History and Social Science Frameworks. This BEF grant
supports the essential goal of Social Studies integration
with literacy.
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Dr. Cathleen Estep, Director of Pupil Services is the recipient
of BEF funds to support her grant “Executive Functioning
and Study Strategies.” Both BHS and MSMS Special Education
students will benefit from this technology grant. The software
program “Korowai” assists
students in accessing the curriculum. It will provide tools
to help students improve their reading fluency, learn critical
study skills, and complete writing projects. This Kurzwail
program employs a multi-sensory approach. This self-sustaining
grant will hopefully expand to the elementary schools the
following year.
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Revels, a Watertown-based performing art organization,
will work in collaboration with Pine Glen School to produce
a sustainable, participatory Summer Solstice Celebration. The
school-wide event will foster collaboration and inter-grade
level connections. Drawing on traditional music, dance, drama,
and visual arts, the event will honor summer’s arrival
and celebrate the school’s cultural diversity. Students
will rehearse and perform theatrical events, introducing them
to the rituals of various cultures that mark the season. This
inclusive event embraces all grade levels and offers opportunities
for students, faculty, staff, and families to join together
to strengthen community bonds. Watch for the event to take place
at the Burlington High School sometime in June!
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Francis Wyman Elementary School currently operates a used bookstore
most Wednesday mornings in the school cafeteria. It relies on
the help of numerous parent volunteers and the organizational
effort of Ms. Donna Murphy. The store has been supplied by past
students and a great recycling effort. This grant will provide
the store with a missing genre – Multicultural Books.
Francis Wyman’s student population is scattered with children
from China, India, Africa, and more. These books will provide
the opportunity for children to learn about various cultures
and then, share them with friends. This will increase their
knowledge and expose the students to cultural diversity. Knowledge
leads people to acceptance and stronger bonds.
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“Eleven seconds was all it took. Eleven seconds to stop
cold a shining career scarcely before it had taken off on the
ice.” This quotation, taken from the jacket of the book
Eleven Seconds, written by Travis Roy with E.M. Swift, serves
as a poignant introduction to Travis Roy, the collegiate hockey
player. Twelve years later, we meet Travis Roy, the college
graduate, the author, the artist, the foundation director, the
motivational speaker, and the person. In an assembly for the
entire student body of the Burlington High School, Travis will
share his unique story that includes insight into developing
core values, setting achievable goals, and adjusting to the
challenges that life brings.
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Art Quest is on the horizon again in Burlington! An art historian
from Art Quest will spend an hour with each class of children
in grades three through five at Fox Hill, integrating art history
and art appreciation into the curriculum for each grade level.
The visit will provide the students with the opportunity to
acquire knowledge visually. The classroom teachers have chosen
the topics for each grade level, and these topics will integrate
with the social studies curriculum that will be taught during
the year by the classroom teachers. Moms and Dads - keep your
eyes peeled for new art projects coming home relating to this
Art Quest visit.
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The Marshall Simonds Middle School Music Department
has invited the well-known, all-male a cappella group, The
Beezelbubs, to come perform for the middle school students
as well as some of the choral groups from the high school.
The Beezelbubs have recorded 25 studio and 3 live albums and
have won numerous awards for performing and recording. They
tour the U.S. and Europe and have appeared on Late Night
with David Letterman. In addition to the performance,
this grant will fund a workshop for a group of music students
at the middle school. This exciting talented group of singers
could inspire students to use some of their techniques in
their own choral groups, as well as energized the participation
of boys in the middle school and high school music departments.
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Fifth Grade students at Memorial School will have the opportunity
to participate in the Sons and Daughters of Liberty fieldtrip.
This unique and interactive field trip will include a historical
tour of Boston and sites of the American Revolution, as well
as hands-on activities through use of props, costumes, and creative
storytelling. This grant's impact will go beyond the students
at Memorial school. The 5th grade teachers will design lesson
plans and a Web Quest that can be utilized by all 5th grade
teachers in the school system to enhance their study of the
American Revolution as part of their 5th grade curriculum.
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This Science Department grant will allow students in Foundation
of Science, Technology/Engineering, and Environmental Science
classes to use Hands-on Science, Engineering, and Math LEGO
sets to experiment with the science of alternative energy. With
the stress on the supply and demand for fossil fuels in today's
society, students need to see the need for alternative sources
of energy and understand how they are developed technologically
and utilized to provide work and energy. This grant will fund
the equipment needed for students to build working models of
solar cars, solar heated houses, and other environmentally friendly
models, while learning the science and technology of that process.
This innovative grant not only engages students in dialogue
about the topic of alternative sources of energy and the need
for them, but also allows them a hands-on opportunity to learn
the science of improving this situation for the future.
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| This innovative grant awarded funds to help purchase
the hardware needed to build robots for the Burlington High
School Robotics Club for participation in the FIRST Vex Challenge
2006. By integrating math, science and computer programming,
students will design, program, and develop the FVC robot. This
project will enhance opportunities for the students by getting
them out into the real world of design and computer programming
by visiting Burlington-based business, iRobot. Most of all,
this creative program will give students the real world experience
of working with technology, collaborating as a team, problem-solving,
and working on using "Gracious Professionalism" in
competition. |
| Working across the curriculum, eighth grade students
in the middle school will be introduced to and experience concepts
related to the development and the use of heraldry, arms, and
armor of the Medieval Period in European History. The first
part of the project involves representatives from the Higgins
Armory Museum of Worcester coming to the middle school to present
a program that offers students in the eighth grade the opportunity
to handle armor and participate in hands-on demonstrations of
that armor. In language arts, the students will learn more about
Medieval Europe through the study of The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare. The highlight of the project will be
when the students will go on a field trip to the armory museum
to do a variety of investigative and hands-on activities. Finally,
the unit will culminate in a classroom activity involving the
creation of a coat-of-arms. This creative project involving
hands-on learning will meet the objectives for both language
arts and social studies |
| Marshall Simonds Middle School will use Unitedstreaming
from the Discovery Channel to incorporate on-demand video into
lessons across the curriculum. With Unitedstreaming teachers
will be able to download over 40,000 video clips and 4,000 full
video titles from Discovery School and other award-winning producers.
The site also offers access to creative lesson plans and other
great resources for the teachers. Students can use the video
clips in their multi-media presentations. This resource will
provide another vehicle for integrating technology in effective
ways into the curriculum in all subject matters. The grant will
serve as a pilot program, providing an 18-month subscription
to the service |
| PunOETRY is the perfect blend of fun and poetry! Jeff
Nathan is the award-winning author of There's a Hippo in My
Locker, Calling All Animals, and There's a Bear in My Shoe.
He is the creator of PunOETRY, a unique way of helping elementary-aged
children to understand and enjoy wordplay. His interactive approach
to teaching language arts inspires his audience to find the
poetry inside of them. Mr. Nathan will visit Pine Glen and work
with all levels of students to increase their knowledge, awareness,
and love of poetry. Through his presentation, students will
explore components of the MA English language arts curriculum
frameworks, while preparing for the MCAS testing in the spring.
He will also work with individual classrooms doing a writer's
workshop and assist students in creating a school-wide published
book of poetry. This innovative program is educational, while
engaging students with an entertaining approach to language
arts |
| The Pine Glen is bringing back ArtQuest historian, Emily
Dreifus for a new program that uses art history and art appreciation
to raise students' cultural awareness of distant lands, people,
and lifestyle. Through the four day workshop, students in grades
two through four will study cultures including Ancient Egypt,
Ancient Greece and Rome, and India. In fifth grade, they will
look at art from several countries including China, Japan, Holland,
England, and America. The presentations will be followed by
hands-on art projects relating to the culture studied in each
grade. |
| Revels, a Watertown-based performing arts organization,
will work in collaboration with Fox Hill School to produce a
sustainable, participatory spring celebration. The school-wide
event will culminate during Spirit Week, Fox Hill's annual school
tradition. Drawing on traditional music, dance, and drama, the
event will honor spring and celebrate the school's cultural
diversity. This inclusive event, embraces all grade levels,
multiple curriculum areas, and instructional modes, while offering
opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and families to
join together to strengthen community bonds. This innovative
project will encourage respect and appreciation for the cultural
differences in our world and more specifically, in the Burlington
community. |
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The webcam and laptop provided by this grant creates
greater opportunities for the students of the five astronomy
classes at the high school to view images on the high school's
recently purchased Celestron telescope. This additional technology
makes it possible for more than one student to view an image
at the same time and then to transfer these images to other
laptops, a projection screen, or to the BEF funded StarLab
owned by the Science Center. The students can also use this
technology to do astrophotography to produce stunning digital
photographs of what they view through the telescope. This
grant takes technology already used in the classroom and multiplies
its uses for the students at BHS.
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The Burlington High School English Department has invited
the prestigious Shakespeare
Now! Theater Company to present Romeo and Juliet
to the ninth and tenth graders. Shakespeare Now! is a professional
theater company which brings exciting live performances of
the playwright's great works to elementary, middle, and high
schools in southeastern New England. The one-hour production
is a fast-moving, dramatic and professional presentation of
the story of literature's most famous star-crossed lovers.
The students and teachers experience will be further enriched
by the opportunity to dialogue with the cast and director
after the performance.
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Advanced art students from the Portfolio class offered
at BHS will have the opportunity to share their artwork
with the community by printing and selling packs of note
cards created with their best work. This project will have
the added impact of teaching students about the marketing
and presentation of their work, as well as accomplishing the
goal of any artist, to have their items seen by others. This
project is a self-sustaining one, where the profits from the
note cards sold will then be used to cover the printing costs
for the next year's Portfolio class.
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The Foreign Language Department is inviting the exciting
and innovative Inca Son group to perform for the entire
BHS student body. The award-winning group has performed at
Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Atlanta Olympics. Using
handmade instruments, the group offers a unique performance
including traditional songs and original compositions from
the Andes of Peru and other regions of South American. Inca
Son accomplishes its mission of introducing and sharing
the riches of traditional Andean culture by skillful musicianship,
colorful authentic Andean attire, dance presentations, and
the sharing of their knowledge of Andean folklore.
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The Portable Art Gallery will provide an additional
viewing surface for student-generated artwork at the Francis
Wyman school. The eleven panel tackable surface offers an
efficient way to display art, as well as a surface that can
be reconfigured and moved to display art anywhere in the school
for a variety of programs. Art will be displayed on this surface
for Francis Wyman's "Arts Night" as well as using
the gallery to display Fifth grade Science Project Reports.
The versatility of this product makes it usable for many projects
throughout the school year.
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Initially in 2004, The Burlington Education Foundation's Grant
Committee allocated $4,000 towards the purchase of an $11,000
STARLAB. The remainder to purchase STARLAB was awarded in 2005.
STARLAB is a portable, inflatable planetarium capable of accommodating
up to 35 students or 25 adults. Inside the dome, a special projector
shows the night sky devoid of any light pollution, taking viewers
on a captivating journey through the wonders of the stars and
our solar system. Everything from astronomy to geology can be
experienced through STARLAB, which supports the Massachusetts
Frameworks for Science/Technology (State Curriculum Standards)
for grades K-12 in the area of Earth Science, and which can
help prepare students for the MCAS assessments. System-wide,
all students will benefit from the addition of STARLAB to the
Burlington Public School's Science Center.
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This grant supports a community celebration of Memorial School's
50 year journey, a cornerstone school in Burlington. The project
focuses on learning across the curriculum while fostering
community cross-generational collaboration.
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The Lunch Bunch Book Club grant allowed the purchase of several
book titles for fourth and fifth grade students of all levels
to "pursue their love of books." It is an opportunity
to provide enrichment for students in a creative, but simple
way.
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A creative, innovative, multi-disciplinary project, Art Quest,
enriched both the social studies and art curriculum for the
entire school community. The project was reinforced with the
experience of hands-on projects.
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The "Sympodium to Go" grant at Memorial Elementary
School is for technology that works as a mobile interactive
white board. This innovative award-winning technology allows
teachers to use a more interactive approach to class brainstorming
and organizing sessions by writing on the screen with a magnetic
pen which then gets displayed on the screen and finally converted
to text and printed for the entire class. Among the myriad of
potential applications, students can use the Sympodium to write
and illustrate their own books within the same document. This
technology is used across the curriculum and grades to excite
students about technology, but more importantly to help students
of all abilities to access the curriculum and take their work
a step beyond pen and paper.
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To supplement Pine Glen's study of Chinese culture, the BEF
funded a grant that enabled the construction of a book cabinet.
Age-appropriate resource books were purchased as part of this
Chinese Scholars' Garden Library. It serves as inspiration
to the other elementary schools to potentially create a similar
school community project based on a different culture.
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At Fox Hill Elementary School, Child's Play Touring Theater
members engaged Fox Hill students in discussion about the elements
that make up a good story - characters, setting, conflict, and
resolution. Child's Play challenged the students to create their
own stories and submit them via their teacher. The touring theater
group returned to Fox Hill to perform some of the stories written
by Fox Hill students and other young people. "This is a
great way to encourage and teach creative writing at the elementary
level. Children will get to see their written works come to
life. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of our junior
play-writes!" commented Mr. Cox, a second grade teacher
at Fox Hill.
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At Pine Glen Elementary School, as part of a school-wide study
of Chinese culture and history, students created a Chinese Dragon
mural. The Dragon was created out of ceramic tile. This project
was facilitated in part through a grant from the BEF. A slab
roller facilitates the rolling of clay into slabs. These slabs
are then used to create a ceramic tile. "Art is one important
way that we learn about and understand other people and cultures,"
said Jane Graham-Dwyer, Principal of the Pine Glen School. Graham-Dwyer
added, "As the world continues to become smaller and smaller,
it is increasingly important for our students to learn to co-exist,
respect, and value the successes and positive aspects of other
cultures. Development of such an understanding is a focus for
the students at Pine Glen and the creation of this mural is
one hands-on way to bring this point home to the children."
The slab roller is used system-wide for other needs in the Arts
curriculum.
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A prolific, local, non-fiction writer presented a workshop on
non-fiction writing to 2nd grade students at Fox Hill School.
This workshop was designed to get students excited about the
genre of nonfiction writing and to teach non-fiction writing
techniques. As part of this program, the students read one of
the author's non-fiction books and completed a report and oral
presentation on it.
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This equipment is used to produce high quality photographs allowing
the students of Pine Glen Elementary School to exhibit artwork
integrated with their study of history and cultures. First,
as part of a school-wide Chinese culture and history project,
the fourth grade students create hand-bound books featuring
photographs of their four Chinese art projects. In addition,
the photo equipment is used to create a time line around the
school cafeteria dating from 2000 BC to the present in hundred
year intervals. The exhibit includes artistic illustrations
done by the students that represent these different periods
in history.
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Application Deadline is Nov. 7, 2008
Award notification Dec. 5, 2008
Application Deadline is Mar. 6
Award notification Apr. 9
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For all the details of the grant process, and for application
materials, please see the Grant Packet.
2007
Grant Information Packet (PDF)
Grant
Writing Tips (PDF)
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If after reading the information packet you still have questions,
please send us an email:
Grant@BurlingtonEdFoundation.org |
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Grants will be available to enhance and broaden the knowledge
of students, to develop and refine teaching techniques, and
to provide teachers with opportunities that will support and
enrich the curriculum of the Burlington Public Schools. Proposals
are encouraged which demonstrate innovation, collaboration,
and have a potentially broad impact upon the school district
(although grants that involve a single classroom are also welcome). |
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Grant funds are not intended to replace or relieve the existing
responsibility for public funding of school programs, nor are
they intended to substitute for items funded by the PTOs or
included in the regular school budget such as substitute teachers,
textbooks, instructional equipment, classroom supplies, capital
improvements, retroactive compensations, and on-going curriculum
or staff development activities normally sponsored by the School
Department |
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