2009 - 2010
The Birthday Squad – TFHS - 28 students from Reconnecting Youth Program. This is a community service project for students who are at risk. The project is to bake birthday cakes for children living in homeless shelters (The Family Inn of Greenfield. and Jesse’s House in Amherst). They are also committed to baking birthday cakes for children of families that utilize the Survival Center.
Clay is the Way – GFMS - all students. This grant would, again, allow for the Middle School Art Teacher to purchase clay to help round out the Middle School Art Curriculum. There is not enough money in the budget to support this purchase. The use of clay is the students’ number one choice in art class.
Culinary Arts meets Science – GFMS - All eighth students. This is a culminating activity for a unit on changes of matter and properties of matter. The making of ice cream by using salt and ice is a concrete way of seeing how salt is effective in the winter months.
Exploring the Ski Slopes of Berkshire East – TFHS - open to any senior in the PE class, usually 25-35 students. This project will allow students to learn about a lifelong outdoor winter recreational activity. The activity will provide a safe environment for a student to ‘try out’ an activity at a greatly reduced rate.
Habitats - Gill School - 23 Grade 1 & 19 Grade 2 students. This project will be a field trip to the Hitchcock Center and the students will take part in the Center’s Habitat Studies program. The programs feature a guided exploration of their particular habitat, live animals, and information about the adaptations needed to survive in the habitat. Teachers will do pre and post activities in school.
Middle School Literacy – GFMS - all students. The money would be used to purchase SCOPE a magazine published expressly for young people. This purchase would provide 20 copies to be used in a related arts/language classroom once a month. The teacher plans to recycle the magazines for next year’s students. [These magazines help students practice their reading and analytical skills as well as address issues which are relevant to both their academic and personal lives. They are also great for motivating children to want to learn.]
The Science of Sustainability: Measuring and Understanding Physical Conditions in Greenhouses - TFHS—greenhouse students. This grant will purchase 3 Thermochron Starter kits and 15 thermochrons. These tools will provide the students with the equipment necessary to measure various environmental temperatures of air, water, soil, etc in a greenhouse. Data will be gathered and used in graphs, etc in order to apply physical and biological principals to plant growth and development under greenhouse conditions. Course is now a scientific based class.
Sheffield Gym Basketball Hoop Height Adjusters – Sheffield - entire student body. This grant is in conjunction with the Montague Parks and Recreation Department. This piece of equipment will allow for adjustability of the basketball hoops to fit the various sizes of the students in grades 1-5. The students at each age level will be able to perform shooting skills correctly. It will also help the MPRD in their offerings of youth programs. The Parks Department will help in funding this project.
Take In The Trash – Sheffield - fifth grade (65 students) this project will help Sheffield fifth graders to develop a new awareness of trash and the role it plays in landfills and in polluting the Earth. The money will be used for a presenter who will work with the fifth grade students to create fashion totes using non-recyclable trash.
TFHS Arts Night – TFHS - Any student who wants to participate (100-150). This grant will allow materials to be purchased for ‘framing’ various projects that will be displayed through-out the building. It will include all of the arts (graphic, computer, music); it is also open to staff participation.
Time Travel in New England-Pangaea to Pests – Gill - 12 sixth graders. The students are engaged in a project with the Harvard Forest Long Term Ecology Research schoolyard Program. The students are gathering data on hemlock trees and the Adelgid. The grant will allow the students to visit Harvard Forest in Petersham to learn firsthand about the project they are engaged in. A culminating project will be to create dioramas of the project and they will be displayed for the public.
Tools of the Mind Enhancement Grant – Hillcrest - Preschool (60) This grant will provide money for field trips to the various community areas that relate to a theme they are studying in class.
UMASS Fine Arts Center-Birdhouse Factory – GFMS - Sixth Grade (58 students). The students will see a performance that illustrates simple machines, aspects of the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Depression. Note taking and a writing activity will be d one before and after the performance.