Learning Excellence Grant Awards

Page through for information about grants awarded in previous cycles.

FOUNDATION FOR BELMONT EDUCATION
CYCLE 2 – Learning Excellence Grants
Approved March 30, 2017

Applicant	Target School	Award Title	Grant Purpose	Amount
Colleen Cox	Burbank School	LEGO Storytelling Kits	to purchase Lego Storystarter kits to motivate reluctant writers to create and write their own stories and to be used as an alternative assessment tool when appropriate	$855
Colleen Foley	System-Wide	Authentic Resources and Assessment Through Modes of Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom	to provide professional development regarding the use of authentic resources in foreign language instruction and assessment through the three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational	$1,862
Kathyrn McLeod	Belmont High School	3D Printer for Belmont High School	to fund the purchase of an NVBots 3D printer to use in numerous classes across multiple departments at Belmont High School	$12,499
Monica Frender	Chenery Middle School	Health and Wellness Technology – iPad Cart	to purchase an iPad cart for safe storage and transport of iPads/tablets that will be used to enhance and improve the health curriculum for students	$1,700
Deborah McDevitt	Chenery Middle School	Chromebooks and Cart for Grade 6 Social Studies	to provide up to 30 Chromebooks and a storage cart for 6th grade social studies students to practice their research skills and create products for authentic assessments that demonstrate their progression towards mastery of content and skills	$7,830
Dan Richards	Belmont High School	Project Zero Perspectives: Making, Innovating, Learning Conference	to fund the registration of four Belmont High School faculty members to attend the ‘Project Zero: Making — Innovating — Learning’ Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	$3,300
Nichole Bukowski	Belmont High School	Yoga 4 Classrooms Implementation Leader Training	to train a cohort leadership team of Belmont High School staff members to receive, plan, and implement the Yoga 4 Classrooms Program at BHS	$5,394


Margot Reavey	Chenery Middle School	Chenery Auditorium Stage Portable Speaker System	to implement a portable speaker system for the Chenery Auditorium Stage Rehearsal Space to allow effective presentation of educational materials from devices already routinely used in orchestra rehearsals	$1,000
Janet Carey	Winn Brook School	Reflections and Connections	to purchase teaching materials which reflect students’ cultural background, ethnicity, and identity	$2,500
			TOTAL, 9 APPROVED LEGP GRANTS	$36,940

Foundation for Belmont Education
Cycle 1 – Learning Excellence Grants
Approved November 30, 2016

Applicant	Target School		Award Title		Grant Purpose		Amount
Amy Spangler	Wellington School		Wellington Soar Academy		to increase achievement of low performing fourth grade students by providing targeted learning opportunities in ELA, mathematics, and social/emotional learning in the hour before school begins (or ends) twice a week for twelve weeks		$1,801
Ann Walsh	Wellington School		Fairytale Story Performance for Wellington Kindergarteners		to fund a visit by Odds Bodkin, internationally-renowned storyteller and musician, who will present three stories with Wellington kindergarten that touch on themes of empathy and kindness and engage students with music and a group discussion		$863
Julie Kim	Belmont High School		Motivating and Engaging Students through Dissections in Biology Class		to purchase equipment that will allow hands-on dissections of different animals so as to increase student motivation and engagement in all biology classes at the High School		$485
Kate Hayashi	Burbank School		Renaissonics Workshop		to fund a workshop for third graders on the recorder by Renaissonics, an innovative musical ensemble		$450
Janice Darias	System-Wide		Achievement Gap Professional Development – METCO Conference		to fund the conference registration fees for seven district leaders and teachers to attend the METCO Directors’ Annual Conference for Educators on December 2, 2016		$1,525
Adrienne Dinh	Wellington School		Animal Adaptations		to fund a Museum of Science Animal Adaptations program for third grade students, including two presentations by museum staff, DVD’s, and five sets of classroom books		$1,257
Kristin Ciappina	Chenery Middle School		Enhance Physical Education Curriculum		to purchase yoga equipment to enhance the physical education experience of all Chenery students		$1,804
Karen Duff	Chenery Middle School		Chenery Upper School Author Series		to fund a two day visit by Kekla Magoon for all grade 7 and 8 students, including presentations and mini-writing workshops, to enhance understanding of race and racism in American culture and history through the lens of literature		$5,000
Mark Abruzzese	Belmont High School		Data Acquisition Expansion for High School Science		to purchase data collection equipment to further High School students’ ability to design and carry out authentic scientific experiments		$9,873
Kristin Comment	Belmont High School			Facilitating Difficult Conversations		to fund an EDCO consultant who will train BHS faculty in how to facilitate difficult conversations about race, ethnicity, and other differences in the classroom so that they can help students to process new ideas and experiences in Diversity Programming	$1,920
FBE ID	Target School	Award Title				Grant Purpose	Amount
Janet Carey	Winn Brook School	Responsive Classroom Training				to fund Responsive Classroom training for two members of the Social Emotional Steering Committee at Winn Brook and purchase books related to this curriculum	$638
Paul Ketchen	Belmont High School	Marching Band – Battery Percussion Instruments and Carriers				to replace the current failing inventory of marching percussion instruments in order to enhance instruction, performance, and overall experience of all students in the Belmont Marching Band	$5,042
Ezra Flam	Belmont High School	Diversity Programming: Interactive Workshop Assemblies with Urban Improv				to fund two Urban Improv workshops to engage BHS students in sensitive and productive conversations about race and identity	$3,000
Janet Flaherty	Burbank School	Scholastic Book Library: Guided Reading for Daily 4 in Grades 3 & 4				to purchase fiction and nonfiction texts that align with the Common Core Standards to complete the shared level library for students in grades 3 and 4	$3,000
Danielle Betencourt	Butler School	Chromebooks for Third Grade Google Classrooms & Digital Literacy				to fund a pilot to purchase Chromebooks for a third grade class to allow ready and regular access to digital tools so as to develop skills necessary to collaborate, create, and effectively use and manipulate technology to solve complex problems	$7,304

TOTAL, 15 APPROVED LEGP GRANTS $43,962

Foundation for Belmont Education
Cycle 2 – Learning Excellence Grants
Approved March 30, 2016

Applicant	School	Title	Purpose	Amount
Jessica DeFrances	All Elementary	Improving Number Sense through Number Talks in Kindergarten	to purchase Number Talks and the accompanying Rekenrek materials to create student Rekenreks for every kindergarten classroom in all four elementary schools	$1,552
David Beebe	Chenery	Experiential Curriculum Aids for the Transportation Unit	to purchase materials for grade 7 students at the Chenery to use and enhance their understanding of the Transportation Unit, one of the newly adopted science standards	$250
Michael McAllister	Butler	iRover for Grade 1 Mathematics	to fund the purchase an iRover interactive easel to help first grade teachers at Butler make their classrooms more interactive and engaging	$3,531
Jessica DeFrances	All Elementary	Engineering Curriculum Pilot for Elementary	to support the pilot of three engineering units, including curriculum, materials, and professional development, for grades 2, 3, and 4 in all four elementary schools	$2,519
Jennifer Scranton	All Elementary	Traveling Field Microscope Lab	to create a traveling field microscope lab that can be used at all elementary schools in the district	$2,487
Jessica DeFrances	All Elementary	Engaging Students in Inquiry Based Science Instruction Using Picture Books	to enhance inquiry based science units for all grades in the four elementary schools by purchasing picture books to be used during read alouds to help capture students’ interest in scientific phenomena, and additional materials for students to use in investigations	$2,500
Colleen Foley	High School	Utilizing Authentic Interviews to Aid Cross-Cultural Proficiency and Linguistic Development	for authentic interviews, via online resources, to aid in cross-cultural proficiency and linguistic development, to enhance the existing French and Chinese curriculum at BHS	$2,800
Elizabeth Gentes	Chenery	6th Grade Science iPad Cart	to purchase an iPad charging cart and 30 iPad cases to be used by the sixth grade science classes at the Chenery (30 iPads to be supplied by the Belmont Public Schools)	$4,270
Lisa O’Sullivan	Burbank	Animal Adaptations Program and Materials	to fund a Museum of Science Animal Adaptations program (2 sessions), books, and DVDs about Animal Adaptations for grade 3 at the Burbank	$957
Lindi DeLorio	All Elementary	ESL Center Materials	to purchase materials needed to implement language-focused centers for ESL classes in all four elementary schools	$6,396
Jessica DeFrances	All Elementary	Supplemental Materials for Struggling Math Students	to pilot the purchase of a math intervention module for students in grades three and four at all four elementary schools	$4,022
Jonathan Marks	Chenery	Hands-On Physical Science with ErgoBots	to purchase six ErgoBot robots to supplement the eighth grade physics curriculum	$3,600
Victoria O’Regan	Burbank	Scholastic Leveled Library (Levels E-N)	to partially fund the purchase of the Scholastic Leveled Library (Levels E-N) book sets for the Burbank	$1,000
Jaynene Dellitt-Young	Winn Brook, Burbank	Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention – Gold & Red	to purchase Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention (Gold & Red) for the third grades at the Winn Brook and Burbank	$10,890
Erica Ross	Winn Brook	Teaching Reading With Rich Literature and Leveled Non-Fiction	to partially fund the purchase sets of leveled nonfiction and rich literature to support Grade 4 student learning in English Language Arts at the Winn Brook	$1,000

TOTAL, 15 APPROVED LEGP GRANTS $47,774

Foundation for Belmont Education
Cycle 1 – Learning Excellence Grants
Approved December 3, 2015

Applicant	School	Title	Purpose	Amount
Justin Lipomi	Chenery	SOS Signs of Suicide – Middle School Program	to assist in identification of at-risk youth by addressing the issues of depression, suicide, and self-injury	$395
Kristin Ciappina	Chenery	Updating Project Adventure and Physical Education Equipment	to purchase and/or replace Project Adventure and other physical education equipment to enhance the physical education experience for all Chenery students	$5,000
Jaynene Dellitt-Young	All Elementary	Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention – Green	to allow one guided reading intervention kit to be purchased for each first grade at the four elementary schools	$8,745
Kelly Hiltz	Winn Brook	Kindergarten Leveled Libraries at Winn Brook	to purchase a leveled reading library for each of the four Winn Brook kindergarten classrooms in order to support literacy goals for our youngest readers	$1,436
Karen Duff	Chenery	Tales2Go: Creating a Digital Audio Library at Chenery	to create a robust, readily accessible digital audio library of over 5,000 titles for the Chenery Middle School	$5,000
Ezra Flam	BHS	21st Century Lighting Control for BHS	to purchase a modern lighting control system for the Belmont High School auditorium	$7,108
Sharon Phipps	Chenery	CMS: Instruments for All	to provide musical instruments, with a focus on guitars and tubas, for use by Chenery students who wish to participate in music instruction	$5,000
Erin Gillies	Winn Brook	First Grade Listening Centers at Winn Brook	to equip each 1st grade Winn Brook classroom with up to date listening stations	$2,613
Arto Asadoorian	BHS	Recording and Playback System for BHS	to purchase a Light and Sound recording/playback system for use by BHS faculty and students in band, chorus, and orchestra	$10,000
John McLellan	Chenery	CMS: Band Room Sound System	to purchase an amplification system to enhance instruction by making audible all forms of technological tools used in the music class including iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, computer, and the metronome/tuner	$3,402
Briana Wall	Wellington	Music for Preschoolers	to purchase the ABC Music & Me program to help develop the essential listening, early literacy, and social-emotional skills that all pre-school students need to succeed in school	$2,435
Sarah Forrey-Pettit	Wellington	Playworks: Play and Recess to Support SEL at Wellington	to implement and establish Playworks recess strategies and activities for 3rd and 4th graders at the Wellington	$6,000

TOTAL, 12 APPROVED LEGP GRANTS $57,134