CEEF Recently Awarded Over $30,000 to Cape Schools Through its Spring Grant Cycle

Pond Cove School

1.Universal Design for Learning - $2,500
Cam Rosenblum and Linda Alfiero

Funding for one faculty member to participate in the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Program for Professional Educators titled Universal Design For Learning: Reaching All Learners. The program will be held in Cambridge, MA, for a week in July, 2008.

2.Sensory Integration in the Classroom - $1,000
Tara Bucci

This grant will fund a pilot program to equip one fourth-grade general education classroom with items to support students with sensory integration needs. The grant will be used to purchase items such as wiggle seats, yoga balls, lap pads, sound filtering devices and squeeze balls.

3.IRA’s 53rd Annual Convention: Engaging Learners in Literacy - $1,535
Suzanne Hamilton

This grant funds travel and conference fees for the International Reading Association Convention held in Atlanta Georgia. One of Ms. Hamilton’s primary goals in attending this conference is to learn more about developing and training a group of “literacy volunteers”. There are several workshops geared specifically toward this and as Suzanne reaches the end of her graduate studies she envisions devoting time to an effort that would be broad based and expansive.

Middle School

4.Concrete Sculptures with visiting artist Clara Cohen - $2,000
Marguerite Lawler-Rohner

This grant funds some of the materials and the time of a visiting artist who would help the students design and create concrete sculptures. This actually completes a unit that was started last year.

5.Art and Literacy: Gelatin Printmaking with the written narrative - $2,500
Marguerite Lawler-Rohner

This proposal funds materials and the time of a visiting artist to work with 6th grade students on learning printmaking techniques with gelatin. Students will then create books out of their prints. Marguerite would also be utilizing this as a professional development opportunity for herself so that in the future she can teach these printmaking techniques.

High School

6.Page to Stage Literacy Project - $4,000
Richard Mullen and Lisa Melanson

A Page-to-Stage project in which High School students develop original adaptations of literature suited to young learners for live stage performances at the High School, with follow-up reading activities developed in which young readers read well-known folk and fairy tales in an after-school workshop setting. An emphasis will be placed on oral interpretation of texts for high school students; they will read for and with elementary students. The existing high school mentor program could be a conduit in facilitating this reader exchange. This stage aspect of the project, once mounted, would be shared with elementary schools from throughout Cumberland County. Funds approved in the grant would be used to pay for staging and faculty oversight of this project.

Multi School

7. Donation: Kids' Turf Phase II - $5,000
Kids' Turf

The Kids’ Turf effort intends to build bleachers for the outdoor classroom/athletic field which has been completed and is known as Hannaford Field. Funds applied for would go toward this effort.

Larger Impact Grant Proposals

8. Nutritional Design—Changing the Face of School Nutrition and Wellness at CEHS - $16,550
Elaine Brassard

This student and staff-driven wellness project, overseen by the CEHS Wellness Committee, will promote nutritional awareness in the High School and community at large by providing healthier food options, fostering collaborative relationships between Cape Elizabeth High School and the local agricultural and business community and the “Let’s Go!” health initiative, and creating a fundamental shift in the food selection process by enhancing the design, flow, and nutritional value of our food service program.

9. Cape Elizabeth Middle School Math Enrichment - $99,248 over 3 years

Improving math performance for all middle school learners is the primary goal of the newest large impact grant funded by CEEF for next year. Data has identified both strengths and weaknesses of the current Chicago Math curriculum but approximately 20% of Middle School students have struggled with the language-based program. The 3-year, $99,248 grant will help to create a cohesive, articulated math curriculum for the Middle school that provides a clear plan for research-based instructional strategies to help address the learning styles of all students. The grant will support a .8 math lead teacher to direct math programming research, extra support for struggling students and professional development for math teachers. The resulting cohesive math curriculum will potentially improve math performance not only across the middle school, but ultimately through the High School program where both science and math are integrally tied together.