For 2023, the Shrewsbury Education Foundation has awarded $15,954.73 in grants for eleven programs.

The SEF can't function without your help! To support the SEF in all its endeavors, please make a generous donation at SEFgrants.org.  Thanks to the teachers who have devised these innovative programs for our children!

This year's fantastic grants, made possible by your support are:

Sherwood Middle School Unified Social Club
Linda Berard and Erin Kennedy

Unified activities brings together individuals of different abilities to enjoy each other’s company and learn from each other. Members meet monthly and offers complex learners in the Sherwood community and their buddies a chance to share common experiences and create a community of belonging.  Funds will allow for material cost for the monthly crafts and games for 20-30 students.


Expanding Possibilities for Sculpture and Photography
Sarah Williams
Shrewsbury High School

This grant will provide funds to cover the cost for several initiatives for the Sculpture and Installation and Traditional and Digital Photography courses.  The funds will allow for the purchase of one DSLR Canon Rebel T8i camera, one sewing machine for wearable art and other installations, tabletop looms, and lighting equipment for both classes to utilize for a variety of projects.


Making the Cut!
Hilary Clegg
Sherwood Middle School
 
Grant funds will purchase a circuit cutting machine for Sherwood for teachers to create beautiful inviting classroom spaces that can be changed to reflect new units in a less time-consuming manner.


Amazing Animal-BOTS and Marvelous Makey Makey Golf
Sophie Straubel
Sherwood Middle School

Materials will be purchased to implement two-technology centered projects, one for each grade level.  Each project has been aligned to the Massachusetts STE standards and supports the acquisition of skills related to engineering design process. 

• 5th Grade – Amazing Animal-BOTS – Students will investigate the concept of biomimicry and learn about how living things have inspired a variety of inventions. Students will have the opportunity to build DC motor-powered robots that has been inspired by structural adaptations in different animals. 
• 6th Grade – Makey Makey Golf – Funds will be used to purchase a class set of Makey Makey invention kits as well as materials to support an electrical conductivity investigation.

Improving the District Approach to the Assessment and Treatment of Problem Behavior
Robert Parry-Cruwys
District Wide
 
Funds for this grant will provide training for all BCBAs at all school levels in conducting trauma-informed, brief behavior assessments and in the form of PFA and in developing reinforcements and skill-based behavior interventions able to be individualized for any student in the district.  This goal can be reached through on-demand training in the use of Practical Functional Analysis developed by Dr. Greg Hanley.


Making Music Come Alive
Jillian Falvo
Coolidge School
 
Grant funding will purchase instruments for all Coolidge students with the opportunity to play high-quality melodic instruments, where they can transfer their understanding of melodic concepts. The variety of instruments will allow students to learn about different timbres and help inform their decision making when arranging a piece of music or deciding which instrument should play which part.  In addition, the ability to transfer melodic activities that involve risk taking, like improvisation, can give students more freedom and psychological comfort to take risks in the music classroom.
 

Authentic Real-Time Interpersonal Communication with Native Guest Speakers
Heather Leger
Shrewsbury High School
 
The purchase of Guest Speaker Conversations will provide students with opportunities to apply their interpersonal skills with a variety of target language speakers from different walks of life and countries.  It will allow students more opportunities to practice and develop more natural, spontaneous conversational skills in real time. TalkAbroad organization provides a platform for making these authentic connections for students.  The platform will be used by teachers in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese in language courses.  In 2022, Ms. Leger was awarded a grant for this pilot project and due to the success of the program, sought additional funding to continue the work.


Revitalizing and Reinventing the Paton School Garden and Outdoor Living Space
Johanna Evans, Joan Carlson, Ashley Gallagher, and Scott Mulcahy
Paton School

Funds will be utilized to build a sensory garden, one planter garden, and a student interactive sundial.  This project will create learning experiences across the curriculum to support all students while enriching the Paton School Community.  


Dynamic Display – SHS Media Center
Emily Bredberg and Maria Clara Macedo-Wood
Shrewsbury High School

Funds will purchase a mounted LCD screen to communicate news, resources, and book recommendations with media center visitors through a rotation of captivating and colorful slides. Students will be invited to submit slide designs advertising books and other media resources.  The IT Department will be able to provide a license to the Carousal Design Signage system, which would allow the Media Center to us Apple TV to set up a rotation of slides.


Pedal Power! A Health and Physics Cross-Curricular Activity: Building a Bicycle Powered Blender
Erin Burtnyk and Patrick Collins
Shrewsbury High School

This grant will allow for skill development in both physics’ classes and health education classes.  Students in physics classes will obtain new knowledge to understand how a bicycle can power a blender and apply their learning though hands-on building of a smoothie bike.  Students in health education will use ingredients from various cultures to create recipes, test their ideas, and promote increased consumption of nutritious foods.   Funds will provide for the resources need to build this project.


Coding with Cubelets!
Sarah Matthews
Floral Street School
 
Cubelets are tactile, magnetic blocks that can be combined in a variety of ways robots based on Sense, Think, Act design cycle.  The use of Cubelets in the classroom allow students screen-free, open ended exploration and collaborative play. Cubelet blocks introduce coding logic in a developmentally appropriate way, while providing a rigorous learning experience that is accessible to all students.

SEF grants will be accepted November 21 through Friday, January 20th, 2023 (FIRM.)  Please send application and your cover letter ELECTRONICALLY TO: [email protected]. Funds will be dispersed in early February 2023. Grants are open to all school employees, including teachers, nurses, aides, curriculum coordinators and administrators. 

Please direct all inquiries to:  Sandra Fryc, SEF Grants Chair at [email protected] or (508) 981-8230. 

All applicants must submit a separate application cover page 

Please include the following info on the cover page: (1) The title of the grant, (2) the name(s) and titles of grant authors (3) the school(s) covered under the grant, (4) Mailing Address apart from school, and (5) permission from the principal if applicable.

Required Grant Information
​
Introduction - Briefly define the purpose of the project, why it is a creative approach and provides new learning opportunities for all students in order to further their intellectual, social/emotional and health needs.  Please include the number of students who will benefit (include number). 

​Statement of Need - Describe why this project will be beneficial and why outside funding is needed. 

Goals and Objectives- Describe WHAT the program will accomplish and HOW it will be accomplished.

Methods- Discuss the approach that will be used and how the project will be implemented to benefit the most students. 

Evaluation- Describe how you will determine whether your objectives have been reached and whether the project has been successful. 

Budget - Please provide details supporting your total dollar request. All budget items must be directly related to the proposed program. Salaries and food may not be included.

Continuity – Please briefly explain how your grant will benefit students in the long term.

Reporting to SEF - By applying for an SEF Grant, you may be contacted to provide a brief report that documents your grant’s journey. We may also ask you to include photos, video, or any other tangible visuals that SEF can use to tell its story. 

The Shrewsbury Education Foundation awarded $14,752.89 in grants to thirteen programs.

​Digital Innovations
SHS – Sarah Williams and Kris Cobb
This grant will cover the cost of several initiatives for the Traditional & Digital Photography course. The items requested include the materials needed for students to have access to cameras, which is the first step to working with digital cameras. The rest of the materials are to create posters as a way to display and highlight the work done in this photography class. Access to more materials will expand the possibilities for student work.

Edpuzzle
SHS – Heather Thompson
Edpuzzle provides educators the opportunity to introduce their own lessons in a video format. The dissemination of information in this format has proven valuable for all learners, as comprehension questions and educator’s voice notes can be embedded in the video lessons. Students can rewatch or pause the lesson to assimilate the information at the pace that works best for them. Edpuzzle is an excellent enhancement tool for the flipped classroom as it enables videos to be watched at home instead of taking up valuable class time. It allows educators to take a video of many sources; has a quiz feature; and student progress can be monitored. Edpuzzle can also be easily embedded into the district’s Schoology learning management system. The grant cost would provide access to all teachers at SHS to serve students better, in a modern, up to date fashion.

Authentic, Real-Time Interpersonal Communication with Native Guest Speakers
SHS – Heather Leger
The purchase of Guest Speaker Conversations will provide students with opportunities to apply their interpersonal skills in real-time, with a variety of target language speakers from different walks of life and countries. The conversations are recorded and could be used to debrief language/vocabulary with the current class, and have the potential to be used for listening comprehension at various levels. Students can use the recording to review the conversations, to increase their understanding, to learn from their mistakes, and to motivate them to do better and understand more the next time.

Sharper Skates, Sharper Minds
SHS – Paula Toti and Alesia Raczelowski
This grant is for funding to purchase a skate sharpener that will allow the physical education department to not only care and maintain equipment that they currently have, but also allow for reduced maintenance costs over time. Students will be able to continue to benefit by having ice skating offered as part of the physical education offerings.

We Love Food’s Class a Waffle Lot
SHS – Shirley LeMay
This grant is request funding for four Cuisinart Waffle Makers for the culinary classes in the Family Consumer Science Department. The waffle makers will be helpful appliances in a variety of classes, including the “Waffle Iron Wars,” which allow for the creative use of different ingredients in this competitive challenge. Due to the lack of enough waffle irons, students need to bring them from home, which is not practical. Currently, the department likes to apply all of its budget towards ingredients that will enable students to do as many labs as possible while in foods classes. The purchase of these appliances will allow the department to continue to use their budget for ingredients instead of updating equipment.

Promoting Universal Messaging for Health-enhancing Behaviors in our School Community
SPS – Beth Morin
Students learn and demonstrate Health skills during their Health classes but don’t always make the connection that these are life skills. This grant will provide funding for materials to make posters to place throughout the district messaging about these crucial life skills to all grades.

The Wonderful World of Wellness
SMS – Alison McDonald
The grant funding is to purchase the Project School Curriculum kit to be used to create a 30-day experience for all students in grades 5 & 6. This program will address the dimensions of wellness that are crucial in the development of our students; in particular, social, and emotional health will be included in a way that is designed to develop life-long learning.

Building Student Success with “Hi-Lo” Books for Struggling Readers
Sherwood & Oak – Hilary Clegg and Andrea Collins
The grant request is to build a collection of essential Hi-Lo titles to support access to books for any student struggling to find age-appropriate middle level stories at their independent reading level. Expanding and diversifying the school’s Media Center collections will show the libraries belong to all students and that all students, regardless of their reading ability, are members in our community of readers.

Floor Hockey Equipment for Oak PE & Shrewsbury Community
Oak – Jeff LaRose
The grant request is to purchase the equipment needed to implement a new striking unit in the Physical Education curriculum called floor hockey. This game can be enjoyed by all ages from elementary school aged children through adulthood. It is a popular recreation, and physical education game, that has been around for over 40-years. It can be played inside and outside and has rules similar to ice hockey. The fundamental skills required for floor hockey are important foundational skills for learning other striking sports such as ice hockey and field hockey.

An Old-School Zoom-In: Stereo Microscopes for Shrewsbury’s Seventh-Grade Scientists
Oak – Sophie Straubel
This grant requests funding to purchase (4) Stereo Microscopes to help students engage in a variety of learning experiences throughout the school year. This microscope is easy to set-up and manipulate and do not require special preparation of specimens and can be easily integrated into lab activities or used spontaneously by students when the need arises.

Pillow Polo Equipment for Sherwood PE & Community
Sherwood – Lauren DeSantis
The grant request is to purchase the equipment needed to implement a new striking unit in the Physical Education curriculum called Pillow Polo. This game can be enjoyed by all ages from elementary school aged children through adulthood. It is a popular recreation, and physical education game, that has been around for over 40-years. It can be played inside and outside and has rules similar to ice hockey. The fundamental skills required for floor hockey are important foundational skills for learning other striking sports such as ice hockey and field hockey.

Creating a Culture of Purposeful Learners
Beal – Lisa Papazian, Christie Moore, and Kathleen Barnes
The third and fourth grade teams at Beal have made social emotional learning their goal for the 2021-2022 school year. An example of this goal is: “All of my students will strengthen their understanding of 3-4 character strong traits as evidence by participation in character strong lessons and responses in pre and post assessments.” This grant will provide funding to integrate meaningful literature into their instruction by purchasing additional books to help aid students’ development of the characteristics and behaviors of well-adjusted, caring members of the school community.

Exploration of the Essential for Living Curriculum for use in the SPS Moderate/Severe Special Education Classrooms
SPS – Robert Parry-Cruwys Clinical Coordinator
For many programs primary function is to close the gap between the learning of students with special needs and their non-disabled peers. However, for students for whom closing the gap may never be a realistic outcome, needed skills such as making requests or tolerating “no” are taught only as needed or when serious problem behaviors arise, rather than as a component of a clear and individualized scope and sequence. Invariably, despite the hard work of many educators and the efforts of motivated learners, progress towards increased safety and independence becomes variable or stale. The funding goal for this grant is to explore this curriculum for greater understanding of what it does or does not have to offer the SPS students and to prepare to pilot its use with a subset of SPS moderate-to-severe population in the 2022-2023 school year. The funding request is for materials and training in the curriculum. The costs are for the author and one special education teacher.

The Shrewsbury Education Foundation announces its grants for the 2020–2021 academic year.  Total funding for these TEN grants is $ 10,119.91.

Picture This
Kristine Cobb & Sarah Williams   (Shrewsbury High School)
 
This grant will cover the cost of several initiatives for the Traditional & Digital Photography Course:

• Visiting Artist: Ron Rosenstock for a Zoom Presentation
• Posters of students work to display in the building and note cards to be shared with faculty
• Additional new cameras

 
The Spreading Sunshine Project
Lisa Arteca & Laura Candelaria   (Oak Middle School)
 
Spreading Sunshine cards will let staff recognize students for doing a great job, improving in a class, or completing an act of kindness.  Outside funding will allow staff easy access to card that is blank inside.  This small personal connection with a student or family can make a huge difference.
 
Digitize the Walls with Rocketbook Beacons 
Melissa McCann   (Sherwood & Oak Middle Schools)
 
Rocketbook Beacons are four restickable, reusable triangles that convert the content on a writing surface into a digital image with the free Rocketbook app.  The Rocketbook Beacons and app help teachers make accessible to students and colleagues the content they routinely post on their whiteboard, easel and walls.  Whether a student is learning at school or at home, and whether a teacher is teaching from their classroom or their home-office, the written notes can be easily shared and accessed electronically long after the whiteboard has been erased and the easel paper recycled.
 
Picturing Diverse Experiences!
Hannah Hopkins & Hilary Clegg   (Sherwood Middle School)
 
This grant will allow for the purchase of diverse picture books for the Sherwood Middle School community.  Research shows that having rich literature that represents a variety of ethnicities, religious backgrounds, abilities and experiences is beneficial both for students who can see themselves in those books and for students who are being exposed to something new.  Picture books are the perfect way to provide texts that all students can access, so that they can apply concepts they are learning in class, support a variety of social emotional learning skills across content areas, demonstrate perseverance, represent a diversity of experiences, and adjust to new challenges.
 
 
Life is About Exploring Pasta-bilities
Gina Campo & Shirley LeMay   (Shrewsbury High School)

The Mediterranean Cuisine and Foods of the World classes teaches students about different cultures and cuisines, as well as opens their diverse minds and eyes to the ways of all different types of people.  This grant will allow student to learn the art of pasta and sauce making, including Italian and Asian dishes.
 
Holocaust Book Collection
Kelly Yellin   (Shrewsbury High School)
 
This grant will allow the Shrewsbury High School English Department to expand the existing book collection within the department so that students will have the ability to read and learn about a variety of different narratives that pertain to the Holocaust.  The past year there has been a steady increase in the number of antisemitic incidents across the country.  It is clear that conversations need to occur and through literature, more people will be reached.
 
 
Home Language Collection
Emily Breberg & Allison Berkley   (Shrewsbury High School)
 
Per year, SHS averages 50 ELL students from around the world.  The home languages of SHS can reach up to 38 separate languages and dialects.  36% of SPS students speak a language other than English at home.  Currently, the SHS Media Center print collection is exclusively in English.  This grant will allow the purchase of books to create a Home Language Collection in the Media Center.  Research shows that students who have access to their heritage language are better engaged and more successful in educational environments.
 
The Promise of Pickleball at Paton School
Jane Lizotte   (Paton School)
 
The grant will strength student, staff, and family engagement in fun, healthy activities that promote and celebrate teamwork, sportsmanship, community, and wellbeing.  Due to space limitations at Paton, the “cafegymatorium” serves as both the gymnasium and cafeteria.  The funding will purchase two ClassPlus Paddle Pro Pickleball Premium 4-Court Sets that can be used on the school’s expansive blacktop space before, during, and after the school day. 
 
Music in Motion: Developing Students Understanding of Melody
Jillian Falvo    (Coolidge School)
 
The grant funding will purchase Resonator Tone Bar sets for the Coolidge Music program to expose younger students to melodic concepts in the absence of singing.  Students will listen to examples of simple folk songs and will explore those songs with kinesthetic, aural, and visual exercises.  The tone bar ladder will enable students to experience familiar songs without singing them.  Through iconic notation and movement, students will see and feel the direction and the relationship the pitches have to one another.  From there, students will explore grade level appropriate melodic concepts and then improvise and create their own short melodies using the Resonator Bell and Ladder set.
 
Classkick
Heather Leger   (Shrewsbury High School)
 
The purchase of the Classkick app will allow teachers to provide students with a way to practice their interpersonal conversation skills with their classmates and teachers in real-time.  It also provides their teachers with a way to access their skills during Zoom (outside of the classroom).  The app allows teacher-student interaction to become interactive, mimicking what would usually happen in the classroom.  They can record questions, answers, dialogues, prompts, directions, etc., and students have the ability to listen and then immediately record their answers.