WWPEF is happy to announce that we awarded four new grants as part of our Excellence in Education grant program. The four grants are:
- CMS Maker Ambassador Maker Fridays awarded to Rebecca McClelland-Crawley. This grant will fund projects using littleBits electronic kits to enable our Maker Ambassadors to help other budding engineers on the development of their own creations, like bubble blowing machines and handmade keytars. The students will be encouraged to present their inventions in a school maker faire and record their inventions through a video blog to share with the community.
- Modeling the Molecular World awarded to Dr. Kate Heavers. This grant will fund 3D molecular models of proteins and DNA replication. The goal is to provide a hands-on, kinesthetic experience of both replicating DNA and of transcription and translation into a protein. WWPEF and district administration agreed to extend this grant to cover both high schools.
- Change Through Chocolate: An Interdisciplinary Design Project awarded to Matthew Fleck. The goal of Change Through Chocolate is to fuse curricula across grade levels and content areas, providing students with a real-world learning experience surrounding the theme of custom-made chocolates to potentially be sold as a fundraising effort. Student teams will select an organization or cause that they would like to support. Teams will then design custom chocolates and packaging. The proposed activities encompass a variety of scenarios in which students will be self-directed as they use critical thinking skills, collaboration, effective communication and problem solving strategies. WWPEF and district administration agreed to extend this grant to cover both high schools.
- History Really Is Alive! awarded to Lisa Stamile. Students will dress up in historical costumes to perform skits they have written to re-enact famous events from early American history. This will help them to experience the social studies curriculum on another level. They would practice their skills in being an effective communicator while collaborating with their classmates in writing and performing the skits. This grant targets students in special education allowing them to practice their speech and language goals while building confidence in their communication skills.
The Excellence in Education Grant Program is designed to fund innovative programs in teaching to enhance the skills and performance of our district’s students. We congratulate the teachers above for their creative ideas and thank them for their dedication to our students.