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Mini Grant Recipients

The New Brunswick Education Foundation (NBEF) awarded 10 mini-grants totaling $5,800.00 to New Brunswick Public School teachers and staff to implement innovative projects and activities for their students in the spring 2008. This marked NBEF’s first contribution of mini-grants, and a special reception was held for the recipients on Thursday, January 29, 2008 at the New Brunswick Board of Education in New Brunswick, NJ.

The NBEF Mini-Grant Program was funded by the organization’s 100 Club Campaign, which generated more than $10,000.00 for mini-grants and college scholarships. The projects and activities funded by the NBEF Mini-Grants Program were as follows:

“Music In The Parks Choral Competition”
Project Leader: Libby Montiel Gopal, Music Teacher
New Brunswick High School
The New Brunswick High School Choir, “The Elite Chorale,” will hone their talents and presentation skills by competing against other top-notch high school choirs in the Six Flags Great Adventure “Music in the Parks” in Jackson, NJ. The evaluation process of this exciting state-wide music competition includes both written and recorded feedback from judges.

“My Gym – The Importance of Physical Fitness In Children”
Project Leaders: Theresa Strydesky, Teacher of Handicapped/Debbie Coates, Teacher of Handicapped/Toni Ficken, Early Childhood Education Master Teacher
Paul Robeson Community School
My Gym instructors will provide a fitness program devised for handicapped pre-school students. The monthly structured classes will incorporate music, dance, puppets, relays, gymnastics and other original activities. The purpose of the project is for special needs students to have fun as they increase their strength, balance, coordination, agility, flexibility and social skills.

“Give Us This Day Our Daily Read”
Project Leader: Dr. Natalie R. Kreitzman, Speech Language Specialist
Lincoln School
This grant provides books and resources for a comprehensive six month reading program that engages communication impaired students in disciplines that accentuate reading, comprehension, and vocalization. This is a student driven project with an emphasis on increasing word usage and various forms of expression, i.e. writing and performing skits as well as drawing illustrations based on the books that they have read.

“The Native Lands”
Project Leaders: Jessica Harris/Dayna Penchansky, 4th Grade Teachers
Lincoln School
Fifty-five (55) fourth graders will travel to Green Meadows in Parsippany, NJ for a presentation of “The Native Lands.” The students will engage in up-close and personal conversations with Native Americans as well as witness their lifestyles and culture, including various types of music and dance.


“Garden & Insects”
Project Leaders: Karen Asson, Pre-K Teacher/Christina Campasano, Kindergarten Teacher
Woodrow Wilson Elementary School
Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will create a garden of flowers and vegetables incorporating worms, butterflies and ladybugs; and supporting the local bird population, as well. The project would include getting the ground ready for a garden, preparing the soil, planting seeds, caring for the habitats, creating borders, and maintaining journals. The work involved will nourish students’ senses and will foster their creativity, curiosity, cooperativeness, and persistence.

“Here We Grow”
Project Leader: Karen Ellingson, ESL Teacher
New Brunswick Middle School
This grant will help expand an existing after school gardening program for Middle School students. The student gardeners prepare different types of soil, plant seeds, plants, and bulbs; and maintain the garden by weeding and watering. They work as a team in making a difference for their school and community; and have developed a strong sense of pride in their accomplishments. A notable goal of the program is for the students to successfully grow enough plants to one day establish a “Farmers Market.”

“Steps To Success”
Project Leaders: Stella Goyo-Shields, Bilingual Teacher/Karen Ellingson, ESL Teacher
New Brunswick Middle School
This project is designed to enrich learning for “English as a Second Language” (ESL) Middle School students with a Fifteen (15) week after school program involving peer leadership and tutoring. The focus will be on various aspects of language and culture with lessons that are theme-based and communicative in nature integrating listening, speaking, writing and reading practice. Highly motivating, hands-on materials will be used, as the Project Leaders will assist students and tutors in designing and producing their own language learning tools. Interactive games, technology and a field trip will also be incorporated in the program.

“Finding A Cure”
Project Leaders: Toni Austin, Chemistry Teacher/Elaine Foulides, Music Teacher
New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School
New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School students will be exposed to science through performing and visual arts. Students will dramatize the steps to developing drugs and treatments for a disease by creating storylines/scripts and acting out scenes. The story will follow a disease from identification of the disease to the drug discovery for treatment of the disease. As the story unfolds, students will show the importance of the scientific method in the process. The finished product will be videotaped performances that can be used for class instruction.

“Fun, Food, Friendship”
Project Leaders: Ann Seiderman, Pre-School Disabled Teacher/Debbie Grant, Pre-School Disabled Teacher/Irmaliz Minaya, Inclusion Pre-K Teacher/Toni Ficken, Early Childhood Education Master Teacher
Lord Stirling Community School
Kindergarten and Pre-kindergarten students of Lord Stirling Community School will explore literacy, mathematics, science, and motor skills through a “Cooking” theme-based program with small appliances, basic kitchen gadgets, linens, and storage carts. The students will utilize nutritional recipes to facilitate the growth of language skills, letter recognition, measuring skills, following of 1 and 2 step directions, and socialization.

“B.E.A.R. (Be Enthusiastic About Reading)”
Project Leader: Renee Rivaldo, Language Arts Specialist - Basic Skills Interventionist
Lord Stirling Community School
This grant will supply books and resources for a six month incentive-based reading program for students that will impact fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. The purpose of the program is to instill the love of reading in all environments outside of school with a built-in mechanism to involve parents in their child’s learning. A key emphasis is, “By making a big deal about children who read on their own and rewarding them for their efforts, children stop viewing reading as a difficult task, but as a fun activity.”
 

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            Middle School Garden Grant