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EBEF Awards Grants for a Variety of Projects

2007 Major Grant Recipients

First Lady of the Foundation Grant | Dr. David Lloyd Kabus Foundation Memorial Grant | Blue Ribbon Grants | Partnership Grants | Excellence Grants

First Lady of the Foundation Grant What is it?

All Elementary Schools – Columbia Reading and Writing, Debra Gulick and Beth Warren, The goal of this project is to bring teachers from our elementary schools to Columbia University’s Readers and Writers summer, week long project. Ten teachers will attend the Reading Workshop and ten teachers will attend the Writing Workshop. These individuals will then work with the Supervisor of English and Language Arts and the Supervisor of Staff Development to provide on-going staff development to all ILA teachers.

Hammarskjold Middle School – Using Graphing Calculators to Enhance Conceptual Understanding of Algebra, Teresa Thompson and Pam Volkmann, Students who take Algebra in Hammarskjold will now have access to TI-84 plus graphing calculators. The calculators will be used in many activities including, the Biggest Box. During the Biggest Box students will look to maximize volume by varying the height of the box, they will analyze the data and try to make a cubic equation.

Hammarskjold Middle School – We Are Your Voice Hank Stankiewicz, Susan Pomerantz and Stephanie Margolies, This is the second part of a grant funded last year where students in both the Verbal G.A.T.E. program and the High School Video Production program were trained by professionals in the areas of interviewing, cinematography, pre-and post-production. Individual DVDs were made outlining each Holocaust survivor’s story. The second part of this project will produce a composite DVD to incorporate all the survivors’ testimony as well as a visual summary of the process of taking oral testimony by students to create the “We Are Your Voice” project. This DVD will be able to serve as a lesson for each grade level studying the Holocaust.

Churchill Junior High School – We are getting SMART with our technology, Jay Eitner, A SMARTboard will be purchased for Churchill School to be used in the North wing of the building. This can be implemented into any curriculum on any grade level. Students respond favorably to board use, it is interactive, it can interface with other peripherals and it can accommodate multiple learning styles at one time.

Dr. David Lloyd Kabus Foundation Memorial Grant What is it?

East Brunswick High School – Interactive Whiteboards in the Science Classroom, Leslie Anderson and Karen Posluszny, This grant will provide for two interactive whiteboards to be installed in rooms L-5 and K-5 for use in chemistry and physics. The boards will be used to create and project images that illustrate physical science concepts to make them more easily understood by the students.

Blue Ribbon Grants

Central School – Reaching new Heights, Phyllis DiNatale, A rock climbing wall will be installed in the newly constructed gymnasium. Rock climbing is an exciting addition to the elementary curriculum. The students build muscle groups and exercise while focusing on an independent goal (making it to the top) and a team goal (how to watch out for your partner).

District Diversity Council – Books for Diversity Week, Jill Ventrice, The Diversity Council is planning a Diversity Week in April. Each of our eleven schools will participate in a variety of activities that support the Council’s mission of promoting an understanding of, and an appreciation for people’s similarities and differences. Books will be purchased for use throughout the district. These books will support the grade level topics that have been identified and will ensure that students will have opportunities to be exposed to a variety of issues.

All Elementary Schools- Linking Literature to Mathematics, Debra Gulick and Math Specialists, The goal of this project is to provide the classroom teachers with a collection of books which connect the mathematics units that they are working on to literature. The visual and verbal stimulation present in children’s literature is inspiring to students. Those students who enjoy mathematics as well as those who struggle with it will find the connection to the literature motivating and meaningful.

East Brunswick High School Math Department – Technology Tablets, Anthony Gugliotta and Debra Gulick, Funds from this grant will be used to purchase a tablet personal computer as well as the projector and wireless information to support the use of the tablet PC in the classroom. The tablet PC allows teachers and students the freedom to move about the room and for all to participate. For example, the teacher can work with a student at his or her desk on the tablet, and that work will project onto the screen for the class to view.

Churchill Junior High School – Bringing XXI Century Classrooms to World Languages, Maria Milan, A Smart Board will be used by students in Spanish language classes. Students will acquire information concerning Spanish language and culture through interactive activities. This will allow students to make interdisciplinary connections while gaining knowledge in math, social studies, art and economics.

All Schools - Updating Technology in the Classroom, Hank Stankiewicz, Combination VCR/DVD players donated by Gabowitz TV & Appliance will replace outdated VCR’s throughout the district. This project will enhance the curriculum by allowing teachers to use existing materials (VHS) while still viable and allow then to purchase up-to-date materials being released only on DVD.

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Partnership Grants

East Brunswick High School – East Brunswick Poetry Festival, Daniel Moran and Michael Kenny, In cooperation with the Dodge Foundation the two-day Poetry Festival will bring published poets to the High School to interact personally with students. Eight poets will be available to work with students and teachers. On the first day, the poets go to classes to share and discuss their work. On the second day the poets read from past works as well as from works in progress. After these readings the poets conduct small-group workshops in which students’ work is discussed and critiqued by their peers and by working poets.

Frost Elementary School – Universal Access Expands Our Minds, Linda Rondinelli, This grant, in conjunction with money raised by the PTA, will help Frost School provide SMART Boards for use in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms. SMART Boards provide all students with a wide variety of classroom experiences that are not available to them in the traditional classroom. This technology has been shown to increase student engagement, learner motivation and knowledge retention.

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Excellence Grants

Central School – Big Books on the Go, Christine Smith, Jeanette Serraro and Kelly Desmond, A Mobil Language Center will be purchased to provide a display area for reading big books. This will also have a dry erase panel for written extension activities as well as storage for the big books.

Irwin School – Supporting English Literacy with Bilingual Books, Faith Klemick and Theresa Morreale, This grant will provide ESL students with a library of bilingual books. Beginner and Low Intermediate ESL students who do not yet read well in English are actually very capable of completing many ILA assignments, especially those that allow them to draw, design or build things. However, when they must read books far below their grade level they are left with little to think about on grade level. By providing these books, ESL students will have more opportunities to think about the literature and participate in Independent Reading and its associated assignments.

Warnsdorfer School – Writer’s Workshop – Inspiring 1st & 2nd Grade Authors, Susan Mizerak, Warnsdorfer’s first and second grade classrooms are involved in implementing Lucy Calkin’s model of the Writer’s Workshop. The goal of this grant is to help successfully implement this program. Materials purchased will help run an organized, predictable workshop that will support and foster students’ creativity. All students will publish one special story in hardcover.

Irwin School – Irwin Art Museum, Diane Forer and Greg McGann, Prints from ten artists studied in the elementary school curriculum will be framed and mounted in a hallway that will allow for art tours, study of artists, art history lessons and critiquing artist’s work. Students will be trained to act as docents for the museum. The museum area will be available to all art classes and the entire school for viewing and for art study.

Churchill Junior High School – Poetic Justice Project, Alyssa Kiefer and Christina Maffa, The Poetic Justice Project will help to start the dialogue with students, or introduce them to the concept of non-violent social change as a viable pathway to fighting against the injustices of the world. Sonnets by Marilyn Nelson entitled “A Wreath for Emmett Till” will introduce eighth grade honor students to a true, real world example of how one young man’s death directly impacted the civil rights movement. Modern music will also be used to introduce students to events that have shaped the face of America. Students will create projects that will be displayed during Violence Awareness Week.

Hammarskjold Middle School – Notes of Success, Danielle Blalock and Lindsay Schall, The goal of this grant is to create an after school program that will service the needs of students who have the potential to perform yet are in danger of retention due to failure to produce work. Music therapy will be used to establish social connections, increase self esteem and help students begin to view themselves in a different light. The students will work in pairs to teach one another how to play the guitar and read music. A contract will be entered into with the students and the advisors that must be met each week in order to participate.

East Brunswick High School – Planting the Seeds of Learning, Lois Moskowitz, Students in the multiple disabled class will have the opportunity to work in the High School greenhouse. These students will become proficient in the skills needed to successfully propagate and raise plants. Students in this program have been placed in positions at a local nursery; by providing them with experience in raising plants this will allow students the ability to practice the skills they will use on the job site.

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Where in the World are You? Lois Solomon, Lawrence Brook School

Maps of the world, the United States and New Jersey have been painted on the school playground to enhance the social studies curriculum. In-service training will be provided to the playground aides so they can help children in all grade levels benefit from the use of the maps.